Malone and Lepper "c" the light, (boo)

Describe Malone and Lepper's point in three sentences or less.

Malone and Lepper are concerned with "the design of instructional environments that are intrinsically motivating; that is, environments in which people are motivated to learn in the absence of obvious external rewards or punishments (page 223)."

Identify a game (digital or not) that you have played that exhibits the four individual intrinsic motivational elements (challenge, curiosity, fantasy, control).

You should know by now that I'm not much of a game player - digital or otherwise. About as close as I can come is Freecell.

Challenge.

Relevant quote: "People prefer an optimal level of challenge. Activities that are trivially easy or impossibly difficult will be of little intrinsic interest (page 231)."

It is certainly challenging: each "deal" is different, and though it has never been proven, the thought is that every game is solvable. I think I have solved just about every Freecell game I've attempted. I have certainly had to start over. And there are those which I have quit because of other tasks I needed to tend to.

Curiosity.

Relevant quote: "Curiosity is stimulated by an optimal level of informational complexity or and optimal level of discrepancy or incongruity from present expectations and knowledge."

Given this definition, I cannot see any curiosity in Freecell. (Curiosity can be easily confused with challenge.)

Control.

Relevant quote: "There seems to be considerable agreement that it is the perception of control, rather than the objective level of actual control, that is the important psychological variable of interest (page 238)."

I suppose there is an element of control to Freecell: I get to choose the cards I move. I guess in the gaming sense, the opposite of control is random. I am in control of the outcome of the Freecell game: there is nothing random about it beyond the initial dealing of the cards.

Another relevant quote: "In fact, there is evidence that even an illusion of control may often produce powerful effects (Langer, 1975). Although we would not recommend it as a design strategy, it seems possible that even response-independent programs that appear to have been responsive to user input would produce enhanced levels of intrinsic motivation (page 239)."

This would appear to have significant relevance to the development of e-Learning courseware.

Fantasy.

Relevant quote: "We define a fantasy environment as one that evokes mental images of physical or social situations not actually present (e.g., darts and balloon or being the ruler of a kingdom). We believe such fantasies contribute to intrinsic motivation in several ways (page 240)."

Beyond the abstraction of a deck of cards, there is nothing "fantasy" about Freecell, though it does remind me of the concept of "amplification of input" that was discussed in class. Specifically, I say new game and -- poof -- the cards are all dealt.

Identify a situation you have experienced in a traditional learning experience that provided these elements.

I would have to go back to Boy Scouting:

• Challenge - advancement requirements become more difficult with each rank.
• Curiosity - wondering what the more senior scouts know.
• Control - some merit badges are required, but some are of the scout's choosing.
• Fantasy - the high adventure aspects of camping and hiking; "roughing it".