Shiny! New Things

New web "stuff" I'm playing with currently (or that are on my "to-experiment-with-soon" list):

• Adventure Game Studio - engine that allows you (w/o need for real programming) to create a point and click adventure game. My goal with this or similar tool is to try and devise an RPG-like game where "library adventurers" go out on quests that reinforce IL skills, such as critical reading, citation skills, etc. Right now I have in mind an initial quest where the player needs to locate pieces of several missing magic books and assemble them (i.e., parts of the citation) in the correct order and then recite magic spells from them (i.e. paraphrase their content?) so that the kingdom can fend off attacking evil forces. Very initial stages of fleshing out this idea at the moment.
• AppsGeyser - tool to create Android apps from the content of any webpage.
• Electronic Literature Collection Volume Two - an innovative collection of digital and interactive stories and narratives. Many utilize aspects of gaming, multimedia or social media. Very cool.
• Mission Earth: The Search for Hamburgers - a National STEM Video Game Challenge submission that teaches the scientific method via video game.
• Mockingbird - dead-simple to use, browser-based, drag-and-drop wireframe tool (for mocking up website designs).

Seeking Motivation (on a Friday afternoon?)

via Flickr CC license, by kyknoord

Three completely unrelated statements have sunk their talons into me recently; the first an ancient proverb, one from the higher education literature, and one from a management seminar I took a few months ago:

"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."

"Lifelong learners become so because they find learning fun."1

"We can't motivate people, we can only create an environment that allows people to choose to be motivated." 2

It struck me that these statements are actually one and the same when it comes to library instruction. It boils down to this for me:

We can't teach people information literacy skills. However, we can create a learning environment that allows students to see the value to them in obtaining these skills. If we can do that, only then can we take the next step in supporting/guiding their exploration and eventual mastery of these essential lifelong skills as they apply to their own interests and needs.

The Smith-Robbins article quoted above discusses higher education in the context of gaming, which I think is one (but certainly not the only) path that holds lots of potential for us as instructors. If we can harness it effectively, gaming can foster a more interactive and fun environment in which our students might more easily overcome the ever-present barriers to learning: lack of motivation, relevancy and confidence.

This all came together for me, by the way, as I sit here on a Friday afternoon trying to tweak a lesson plan for an upcoming online synchronous workshop on using e-books and books. How can I make the alien and somewhat imposing learning environment of these workshops more "motivating?" In most cases, my students are at home, sitting in front of a computer after a day at work, probably with lots of distractions around, coming together via chat, audio, and applications like a whiteboard, in a virtual space with fellow students from different cities and different departments, and an instructor, all of whom they've never met before. Not an easy task...

1.  “This Game Sucks”: How to Improve the Gamification of Education. Sarah Smith-Robbins, EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 46, no. 1 (January/February 2011)
2. Cherie Cross, National Seminars Management and Leadership Skills workshop, October 27, 2010.

New WGIL Room podcast

Listen to podcast Episode 3: Adaptability and Delicious Sunsets over on the WGIL Room website.