{"id":2147,"date":"2012-04-28T18:45:42","date_gmt":"2012-04-29T00:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/?p=2147"},"modified":"2014-09-12T11:48:17","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T17:48:17","slug":"where-ive-been-this-week-weekly-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/04\/28\/where-ive-been-this-week-weekly-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Where I&#8217;ve Been This Week (weekly)"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 3<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><h4>~ A record of places on the web I want to remember ~<\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul class=\"diigo-linkroll\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"diigo-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/usablelearning.wordpress.com\/2011\/07\/06\/why-clear-and-easy-to-understand-can-be-bad\">Why \u201cClear and Easy to Understand\u201d can be bad | Usable Learning<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"diigo-description\">So, as an instructional designer, part of my job is to make things clear and easy to understand, right?<\/p>\n<p>Well, it turns out that\u2019s not necessarily the best option.<\/p>\n<p class=\"diigo-tags\"><span>tags:<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/e-learning\">e-learning<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/learning\">learning<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/errors\">errors<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/being_wrong\">being_wrong<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"diigo-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/venturebeat.com\/2012\/04\/27\/non-gamers-heres-why-you-should-care-about-games\">Non-gamers, here\u2019s why you should care about games | VentureBeat<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"diigo-description\">As an early investor in social gaming, I\u2019m often speaking on panels to audiences of gamers, investors, and game company execs. At one such event \u2014 the Future of Media conference hosted by Stanford\u2019s Graduate School of Business \u2014 the opening question was why gaming is relevant to people who are not gamers. The panelists \u2014 folks from IGN, Activision, GaiKai, and Riot Games as well as myself \u2014 gave some interesting reasons for why non-gamers should care about the game market:<\/p>\n<p class=\"diigo-tags\"><span>tags:<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/games\">games<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/gamification\">gamification<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/social_gaming\">social_gaming<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/gamers\">gamers<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"diigo-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/mindshift\/2012\/04\/whats-the-secret-sauce-to-a-great-educational-game\">What\u2019s the Secret Sauce to a Great Educational Game? | MindShift<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"diigo-description\">Chocolate-covered broccoli. That\u2019s what designers of educational games call digital products that drape dull academic instruction in the superficially appealing disguise of a game. Instead of placing the fun of discovery and mastery at the heart of the game, these imposters use the trappings of games \u201cas a sugar coating\u201d for their otherwise unappetizing content, note Jacob Habgood and Shaaron Ainsworth.<\/p>\n<p>The two researchers, from the University of Nottingham in England, recently decided to find out whether children could detect such subterfuge, and whether they benefited more from lessons that masquerade as games\u2014or from games that make learning an end in itself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"diigo-tags\"><span>tags:<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/gamification\">gamification<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/motivation\">motivation<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/games-in-learning\">games-in-learning<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"diigo-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/computinged.wordpress.com\/2012\/04\/27\/thinking-about-expression-and-ways-of-thought-and-what-happens-to-those-who-dont-c\">Thinking about expression and ways of thought, and what happens to those who don\u2019t C \u00ab Computing Education Blog<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"diigo-description\">In his wonderful essay on Alan Perlis\u2019 1961 Sloan School lecture, Michael Mateas points out that Perlis explicitly saw programming as a medium.<\/p>\n<p>Here Perlis makes it clear that programming is a medium, in fact the medium peculiarly suited for describing processes, and as such, a fundamental component of cultural literacy, and a fundamental skill required of new media practitioners and theorists.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve always loved the idea of programming as a form of expression, and most CS departments used to teach different paradigms of programming as different ways of thinking about problems. Google searching, you\u2019ll find that \u201cComputation\/programming as an expressive medium\u201d is being taught out there \u2014 but not to computer scientists. Film students, digital media theorists, even social scientists are being taught about programming as a medium. But for the most part, not computer scientists.<\/p>\n<p class=\"diigo-tags\"><span>tags:<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/mark_guzdial\">mark_guzdial<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/programming\">programming<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/computing\">computing<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/education\">education<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/blog\">blog<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"diigo-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/stevensalzberg\/2012\/04\/22\/university-of-florida-eliminates-computer-science-department-increases-athletic-budgets-hmm\">University of Florida Eliminates Computer Science Department, Increases Athletic Budgets. Hmm. &#8211; Forbes<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"diigo-description\">Wow, no one saw this coming. The University of Florida announced this past week that it was dropping its computer science department, which will allow it to save about $1.7 million. The school is eliminating all funding for teaching assistants in computer science, cutting the graduate and research programs entirely, and moving the tattered remnants into other departments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"diigo-tags\"><span>tags:<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/computer_science\">computer_science<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/via:packrati.us\">via:packrati.us<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/university\">university<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/science\">science<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"diigo-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/view\/feature\/168647\/Making_Lean_Startup_Tactics_Work_for_Games.php?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GamasutraFeatureArticles+%28Gamasutra+Feature+Articles%29&amp;utm_content=Google+Reader\">Gamasutra &#8211; Features &#8211; Making Lean Startup Tactics Work for Games<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"diigo-description\">If you&#8217;re involved in the startup community or even just follow Hacker News, there&#8217;s a pretty good chance that you&#8217;ve heard about &#8220;lean startups&#8221; or the &#8220;lean startup method.&#8221; In his bestselling book, The Lean Startup, Eric Ries outlines a framework for small, innovative teams to more efficiently find product\/market fit for new products. At its core is a focus on evaluating product design decisions based on user data gathered from scientific experiments. Eric argues that by making &#8220;validated learning&#8221; your key goal, you shortcut your time to building a wildly successful mass market product.<\/p>\n<p class=\"diigo-tags\"><span>tags:<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/games\">games<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/business\">business<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/startup\">startup<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/game_design\">game_design<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"diigo-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/chronicle.com\/blogs\/percolator\/for-pygmies-size-may-not-matter\/29086?sid=at&amp;utm_source=at&amp;utm_medium=en\">For Pygmies, Size May Not Matter &#8211; Percolator &#8211; The Chronicle of Higher Education<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"diigo-description\">From the outside, evolution sometimes seems fairly obvious: Finch beaks got bigger to crack harder nuts, dolphins and sharks developed shapes that let them move smoothly through the water. A peek under the skin and into the genes, however, can yield surprises. Pygmies have just gotten such a close look. And being short\u2013their most obvious feature\u2013may actually be a sort of evolutionary side effect: What they really needed were genes that confer resistance to disease, and those same genes happened to disrupt growth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"diigo-tags\"><span>tags:<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/matter\">matter<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/chronicle\">chronicle<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/higher\">higher<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/genetics\">genetics<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/pygmies\">pygmies<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\/disease_resistance\">disease_resistance<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"diigo-ps\">Posted from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\">Diigo<\/a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.diigo.com\/user\/nirtak\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div class='wp_likes' id='wp_likes_post-2147'><a class='like' href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(2147);\" title='' ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-likes\/images\/like.png\" alt='' border='0'\/><\/a><span class='text'>Be the first to like.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class='like' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(2147);\">Like<\/a><\/div>\n<div class='unlike' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.unlike(2147);\">Unlike<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 3<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span>~ A record of places on the web I want to remember ~ &nbsp; Why \u201cClear and Easy to Understand\u201d can be bad | Usable Learning So, as an instructional designer, part of my job is to make things clear &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/04\/28\/where-ive-been-this-week-weekly-4\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-games","category-general"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Hsb6-yD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4801,"url":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/06\/19\/games-vs-game-based-learning-vs-gamification\/","url_meta":{"origin":2147,"position":0},"title":"Games vs Game-based Learning vs Gamification","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"June 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"So many people are confused about the differences between these terms. Unfortunately, this article just muddies the waters further. Games vs Game-based Learning vs Gamification | The Upside Learning Blog. It's a great effort, but I'm afraid none of these are quite right.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Book&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Book","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/book\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.upsidelearning.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/games-vs-game-based-learning-vs-gamification-key-differences.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.upsidelearning.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/games-vs-game-based-learning-vs-gamification-key-differences.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.upsidelearning.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/games-vs-game-based-learning-vs-gamification-key-differences.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3974,"url":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2014\/07\/04\/complexities-of-measuring-effectiveness-connected-principals\/","url_meta":{"origin":2147,"position":1},"title":"Complexities of Measuring Effectiveness | Connected Principals","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"July 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Complexities of Measuring Effectiveness | Connected Principals. We all seek an easy to understand table, chart, or graph to show our school district\u2019s performance. The media wants an info-graphic to show on the screen or post in the story. We want it to be simple, easy to understand, and straightforward.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/images-150x146.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2875,"url":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/09\/29\/theories-of-games-and-interaction-for-design-4-on-game-studies-scholarly-authority-and-interdisciplinarity\/","url_meta":{"origin":2147,"position":2},"title":"Theories of Games and Interaction for Design (4: On Game Studies, Scholarly Authority, and Interdisciplinarity )","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"September 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"These are public postings of my writings for the first course of the Graduate Certificate Program in Serious Game Design and Research at Michigan State University. Please note: these posts are not intended as any kind of commentary on or assessment of the course I\u2019m taking, or its instructor, OR\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2160,"url":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/05\/05\/where-ive-been-this-week-weekly-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":2147,"position":3},"title":"Where I&#8217;ve Been This Week (weekly)","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"May 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"~ A record of places on the web I want to remember ~ \u00a0 The Ups and Downs of Game-Based Learning | MindShift Games have shown great promise for learning, but it\u2019s not always easy to figure out the logistics of how to use them in class. Every student and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Games&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Games","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/games\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4795,"url":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/06\/17\/the-virtue-of-failure-designing-games-you-cant-win-for-learning\/","url_meta":{"origin":2147,"position":4},"title":"The Virtue of Failure &#8211; Designing Games You Can\u2019t Win for Learning","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"June 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Thought I should upload a few of my more recent talks. This one is from the CNIE conference in May 2014 that I did with Dana Ruggiero. [P] Presentation Ruggiero, D. & Becker, K. (2014) The Virtue of Failure: Designing Games You Can\u2019t Win for Learning, CNIE 2014 Confluences: Spaces,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6754,"url":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2018\/02\/04\/whats-the-difference-between-serious-games-educational-games-and-game-based-learning-episode-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":2147,"position":5},"title":"What\u2019s the difference between serious games, educational games, and game-based learning? Episode 2","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"February 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently posted a table explaining the differences between games, serious games, educational, games, GBL, etc. \u00a0 I thought a concrete example might help to understand the distinctions. Say we are using\u00a0The Parable of the Polygons\u00a0to help a high school class learn about diversity. This is a wonderful little game\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/game-gbl-gamification-2.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2147"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2596,"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2147\/revisions\/2596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}