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May 02, 2007

Lecture: Special Event: Serious Games

Key concepts: goals of active learning with simulations (student engagement, problem-solving, synthesizing, empathy, multiple learning styles), historically inaccurate, sexist, racist, and imperialist material in popular video games, interactions "around" or about learning technologies as a valuable classroom goal
Examples: Civilization IV InnisMod

GUEST SPEAKER: Karrie Karahalios, Computer Science Department

About the speaker: Karrie Karahalios is an internationally known expert on the design of online environments and an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She also directs the Social Spaces in Human-Computer Interaction Research Group. She recently won the prestigious National Science Foundation Early Career Development Award for her work in human-computer interaction. Her previous projects include the design of educational visualizations for children with autism. She holds the Ph.D. in Media Arts and Sciences from the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

This class meeting will be held jointly with the following UIUC Center for Advanced Study Special Presentation.

Serious Games:
Video Games in Undergraduate General Education
(A panel discussion.)

Do online environments and video games have a place in general education? Researchers and teachers are increasingly investigating the use of games, digital media, and virtual environments as a platform for active learning in undergraduate classes. This panel will discuss the results of an experiment using a modified version of the multiplayer game Civilization IV in the class "Communication Technology and Society." Most broadly, it will also address the question, what features do online social spaces need to support college-level learning?

This Presentation is Co-Sponsored by:
Department of Speech Communication
Program in Science, Technology, Information, and Medicine
Spurlock Museum

Textbook: 1984 -- appendix

Read the APPENDIX of Orwell, George. 1984.

Assignment: BLOG POST: Civilization Lab #3

The simulation Civilization IV describes imaginary societies. The class reading 1984 is also a description of an imaginary society. For this blog post, consider: How could you use Civilization IV to simulate 1984?

Part I. For this lab, continue to play the game Civilization IV, and concentrate on exploring features or strategies that you did not consider in the last two weeks that may be related to the society depicted in 1984.

Part II. Find at least one quotation from the book 1984 that describes the way that Orwell's imaginary future society works. For instance, you might consider: What are the important institutions in society and how do they work? How is communication technology related to the organization of society? What are the rights of individuals in Orwell's 1984? How are politics organized?

Part III. Suggest at least one specific modification to the game that would help you use it to simulate 1984. Your suggestion(s) must be your original creative work. To do this, suggest at least one change to the operation of an existing feature of the Civilization IV simulation. That is, the game already has a very large number of things in it: leaders, buildings, and pieces already exist. Don't suggest new things that should be added to the game, instead suggest modifications that change the way that the game works using the parts of the game that you already have.

IMPORTANT: Changing the way the game LOOKS does NOT address this assignment. Adding text or references to the novel does not address this assignment (e.g., adding "Big Brother" as a leader, or a picture of Winston). You should suggest a change in the way the simulation works, not in a way that it looks.

Include at least one quotation from 1984 in your blog post, and at least one screen shot from your game play to show what you mean.

Ideas and Suggestions:

• It may help to recall the class lecture about why simulations are important.
• This assignment will probably be easier if you don't suggest changes that would force all of the players to act like "Big Brother." Instead, you could use the game to compare the technology and/or political organization in 1984 to other possibilities.
• Many features of the simulation are organized as a series of steps. For instance, you must build a "library" to be able to build a "great library". What are the steps that lead to a society like 1984?
• Things that don't happen in a simulation can be as important as things that do happen. What would prevent 1984?

Just like last week, you may not write about game features you have already discussed in any blog post.

Post an answer of at least 250 words to your blog. DEADLINE: 11 a.m. -- one hour before class begins.

Announcement: Optional final review sessions on Thurs. and Mon.

Announcement: The Final Exam Review Sheet (PDF) is now online

Help/Handout: Final Exam Review Sheet

Download file (PDF, 3 pages)

Announcement: The FINAL EXAM is Tuesday, May 8 at 7pm