SecretsThe Game Is On

Excelsior College The Center for Game and Simulation-Based LearningWashington, D.C.16 May 2014

Lee SheldonAssociate Professor

Games and Simulation Arts and SciencesRensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Photograph courtesy of the CareHart Foundation

Secrets The Game Is On

Excelsior College The Center for Game and Simulation-Based LearningWashington, D.C.28 January 2014

Lee SheldonAssociate Professor

Games and Simulation Arts and SciencesRensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Photograph courtesy of the Chromogen Corporation

Secrets The Game Is On

Lee SheldonAssociate Professor

Games and Simulation Arts and SciencesRensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Excelsior College The Center for Game and Simulation-Based LearningWashington, D.C.28 January 2014

Photograph courtesy of the CareHart Foundation

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This is not about a MOOC!

Here's some background…

Collateral learning occurs at the convergence of two distinct, undeniable forces:

and the human attributes of

that hunger for both.

storytellinggameplay

curiosity imagination

Introducing Collateral Learning

Gameplay

Tradition

“Good morning, you all have an F.”

“However you can all level up.”

We brought it. To the classroom.

Higher grades, better participation, better retention, almost perfect attendance.

Story

The Skeleton Chase

Skeleton Chase 2: The Psychic

Skeleton Chase 3: Warp Speed

Indiana University 2008-2009

The Lost ManuscriptRensselaer Polytechnic University 2011

Final exam:a police interrogation

Lost Manuscript 2: The Summer Palace CipherRensselaer Polytechnic Institute Emergent Reality Lab 2013

Well you can bet tonight it's raining in DublinIn the morning or the evening about the sameAnd thousands of miles awayI miss you more and more each dayBut the strangest thing is how I miss the rain... -Kevin McKrell

A New Land

These Far Hills

A New Land

Online

Gameplay + Story + Online

SecretsExcelsior College Fall 2014

“Greetings from the future! I tried for quite awhile to figure out how to open this video. I wanted to be impressive and welcoming. But when I finally said it on camera it sounded kind of silly. Oh well, hopefully you’re still watching!

My name is Audra Casey. And I am speaking to you from…get ready for it…the year 2084! I kid you not!”

The Collective

Video Script

Believe

Primal Empathy

“Primal Empathy or PE is a kind of psychic harmony that allows us to connect with one another, not really telepathic, but an ability to form a tight, instinctual empathetic bond that transcends national, cultural and racial differences.

If all humankind can learn to strongly identify with one another then hatred and war will be evils of the past.”

Video Script

“Hey there. So yeah, I expect you’ve seen The Collective’s peace and harmony speech. We heard they were going to try something radical. I guess that means we’re succeeding. They can’t defeat us in 2084, so they’ve reached back into the past to try and change the rules.”

Fortress 9

Video Script

Resist

“They probably painted a pretty rosy picture about how PE helps us to understand each other better, to walk in the next guy’s shoes, yeah? That’s actually kind of how it works with somebody else who’s also had their DNA “supplemented.” But what this has done is turn our world into the haves and have nots. Want all that good feeling directed at you? You better have had your DNA upgraded. Otherwise you might just get ignored.”

Video Script

Choose

Secrets: Gameplay, Story and Learning• Videos from the future?

• Primal Empathy?

• Research that was begun in our time?

• Are these really the questions that must be answered?

• There are secrets within secrets.

• Students must question what they are being told; learn about the nature of identity on the Internet; investigate web sites both real and fictional.

• Their investigations (research, solving puzzles) are tightly integrated with the curriculum of the class.

• Students will share their knowledge of the Internet with one another as they learn more, and as long as they trust each other…

• There are even secrets about their classmates…

Trust no one

Secrets OnlineTom Wetherall is a likable, intelligent member of the class who says he works for an Organic Health Food Company. He doesn’t. He is in fact one half of the hint system, and a character in the story (bad guy), controlled by the instructor and a teaching assistant.

Ann Bennett is another likable, intelligent student in the class. She is the other half of the hint system, a character in the story (FBI cybercop on the virtual trail of a dangerous conspiracy). Ann is also controlled by the instructor and a teaching assistant.

Together they drive discussion and the story.

Secrets

Collateral learning occurs at the convergence of two distinct, undeniable forces:

and the human attributes of

that hunger for both.

storytellinggameplay

curiosity imagination

Secrets

An online class that is also a narrative-driven game, deeply integrated with all aspects of curriculum and normal class interactions.

Students want to learn.

So they can discover the truth behind

Gameplay + Story + Online

Secrets

Secretsa new kind of online class

Thank you!Excelsior College Center for Game and Simulation-Based LearningWashington, D.C.16 May 2014

Chromogen for a Better Tomorrow