Aldrich article

Describe at least two primary barriers to the use of these technologies in your setting and how they might be addressed.

The following comments by Aldrich were relevant to me. Some of my comments relate to my game project (Bucket Logic), while others relate to the development and/or use of simulations in the workplace.


(1) Free play versus guided play.

"How much do you help the user along?"

"If you guide them too much, the point of the simulation falls away. Now they are getting linear instruction again, and just mindlessly carrying out orders."

Comment: How much help, indeed. I need to give the user (learner) more credit for their abilities to figure things out. And if it's too easy, they will probably get bored.


(4) Sabbatical, Not Seamless.

"Training departments have been pressured over the years to reduce the length of their programs."

"Through customization and smaller pieces of content, we expect a piece of content, a single moment of understanding, to be delivered when and where we want it."

Comment: I have said before (particularly in the context of project management training) that most clients don't want training: they want the laying on of hands. They want a miracle.


(8) One "Level" at a Time

"The instinct for a simulation designer is to do everything."

Comment: This echoes the sentiment expressed in (1) above.

"These (Star Trek) games did not do well despite how narrowly they focused, but because of how narrowly they focused."

Comment: I am adding "levels" to my game. Each "level" will have a focus. Level I will be read, write, and simple math. Level II will be selection (if/else/endif). Level III will be looping (while/wend). By adding "puzzles" (which for the time being will be listed on the web page), the user can check their own mastery at each level.


(11) Role of Standards

"LMSs have a hard time tracking them."

Comment: I have seen in my own work the increase in complexity (read: cost) of eLearning or simulations when tracking is required. In the past, I have attempted to "negotiate" that away.


(12) Evaluation

"It will be harder to evaluate simulation-based content."

Comment: Here the author is discussing the ability of the simulation to satisfy the learning objectives. This is difficult because the user can, in some cases, take many paths to the same goal. And part of the benefit of simulations is that the learner can benefit from mistakes. Who learns more: the user who "gets it" on the first try (was it just dumb luck?) or the user who makes mistakes along the way? I think part (but definitely not all) of the solution is to really nail down the performance based objectives of the course before beginning design and development. That sounds so obvious, but I know that it is seldom done.

Game Project Progress Report #4

OK, I fixed the GUI. In fact, the interface is complete!


Program now stands at 1,621 lines.

I still have to add the execution logic (to run the programs which the user writes) and make it accessible over the internet (probably as an applet).

I think "BucketLogic 1.0" will be complete tonight. But I can't say at what hour...!

BucketLogic 2.0 will include IF and WHILE/WEND constructs...eventually.

Game Project Progress Report #3

I made some changes to the GUI for aesthetic purposes...only another Java programmer would understand how easy it is to screw things up when you do that. Stupid layout managers...grrr...

Game Project Progress Report #2

I spent some more time on my project today. In an attempt to make it as visual as possible, I have decided to replace the "keyboard" with a "keypad". Therefore, the entire simulation will be button driven.

I have no significant design issues to discuss...just a progress report. Here's what it looks like so far:


FWIW, this is 859 lines of Java code so far (that count includes blank lines, comments, braces, etc.)

Game Play Reflection #5

At 2:03pm I started playing. Yes, I am timing it as I am not willing to spend more than the requisite two hours per week playing – and I am counting the time it takes to write my reflection in those two hours so as to minimize my suffering.

I am still trying to complete the Special Forces Escape and Evasion training. And it’s so hard to see! After about a half hour I went to the internet to see if there were any good hints. One post mentioned adjusting your brightness. Huh? I can adjust the brightness? It didn’t say how, so I just started pressing function keys until I saw some reference to brightness. OK, at least now I can see.

So I continue to stay low and slow. But it doesn’t matter. The “enemy” always sees me. When you are seen, the game zooms in from the perspective of the spotter. Sometimes I can see myself clear as can be. Oops. I was out in the open (but there wasn’t any cover!) Othertimes, I can’t see any hint of me. I have no idea what they saw. So it’s back to the start again.

A couple of game forums mentioned that this particular part of America’s Army can take three hours to complete: one hour per checkpoint. I have yet to make it to the first checkpoint.
I continue to try and to retry. In this picture I have gotten farther than ever before by going through the trees to the left of the enemy camp. I managed to get here three or four times, but I always get spotted.


I check the clock. 3:03pm. I’ve spent an hour. An hour I can never get back. OK, new strategy. From this point on – or until I adopt a new strategy – I will spend one hour in training and one hour in combat; that is, if I can find a combat mission to take part in. What I really need now is an hour of bloody mayhem to calm me down abit.

So...I’ll try “Infantry – Border Missions”. But wait...it looks like I have to enter a multi-player game. It’s probably full of nerdy kids and frustrated graduate students. I can’t face this kind of humiliation yet.


But somehow – no, I don’t know how – I’ve stumbled on a “map” game where I just walk through the map, picking up “briefcases” with sensitive information. No one shooting. Just the wind howling and the occasional dog barking. I don’t need to be Special Forces to do this! So I walk around, and I am understanding how the navigation tool works at the bottom of the screen.

Here’s some nice desert scenery. This is good. Afterall, I like desert.


And here’s a briefcase, just before I press “F” (how intuitive) to pick it up...


And approching another objective (B, C, and D turn out to be beat up pickups.)


Having accomplished all of the objectives (and meeting no resistance at all) I have no choice but to start playing the game. I choose a server, and then I am required to enable something called “Punkbuster”, which requires about 5-10 minutes. Finally, I “pass” and I am fighting with the likes of “IMA HOE”. I can see that Punkbuster is really doing its job. I have to join a side and pick a squad (at least I think that’s what this is...)


And eventually I am in the game. So I start walking around. I see a few friendly forces running around haphazardly. I attempt to find an objective. About three minutes into the game, some asshole shoots me in the back. This is me dead...


And this is my corpse rotting in the desert...


Actually, it’s just bad rendering, but I think it looks like my body has been picked clean by rodents.

OK, it’s now 4:18pm and I’ve gone over my required time by fifteen minutes. Seriously, enough is enough. I am going to buy “ToonTalk”, which I reviewed earlier in the semester, and start playing that game in earnest. I am far more interested in an educational game that teaches “visual programming” than in this piece of crap. With all due respect to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces, this Private is taking his leave now.

Gee Chapter 4 – Best chapter yet…

Describe an example of situated learning (meaning) in your video game.

First, I will give a couple of quotes from Gee as he describes situated meaning:

“In games like Deus Ex, the meaning of any event, object, artifact, conversation, written note, or any other potentially meaningful sign is up for grabs. …meanings in video games are ‘situated meanings; or ‘situation-specific meanings’, not just general ones.” (page 82)

“While video games actively encourage such situated and embodied thinking and doing, school often does not. In school, words and meanings usually float free of material conditions and embodied actions.” (page 84)

“Meaning is material, situated, and embodied if and when it is useful.” (page 87)

An example in my video game (America’s Army) is the use of various keys. Most important keys: “W” to go forward; “X” to cycle through standing, crouching, and crawling; and “F” to “use”, where the meaning of “use” is, itself, situational. “Use” can mean pick up a rifle, open a door, or flare your parachute.

Describe a learning experience in a traditional environment you have had that would have been much improved if it had been better situated, How could that have been done?

I think statistics classes are flush with opportunities for improvement! In particular, the notion of variation in a process. Around about 1996 I traveled to Christian Brothers University in Memphis to attend workshop for statistics instructors. We spent several days working with very simple hands-on examples which repeatedly “gave meaning” to the notion of variation in a process. The entire weekend we did nothing more complicated than calculate an average. I don’t think we ever calculated a standard deviation: no square roots all weekend! But I learned more about variation from those simple exercises than I ever had before. Indeed, concepts which were still abstractions to me finally became concrete. And this is after I had completed my MS in Applied Math. There were other teachers there with PhDs in Mathematics, and I know they felt the same way.

Any other thoughts?

Yes! Pages 84 through 86 are awesome! But especially the following quote, which is relevant to my experience at CBU as described above:

“Now someone’s sure to say: ‘But we cannot teach children everything they need to learn in school, things like science and math, in ways that make sense in terms of situated meanings and embodied actions. There just isn’t enough time, and, after all, they’re not all going to become scientists.’ There is a sort of good common sense in this remark, but the problem is this: There really is no other way to make sense. If all you know – in any domain – are general meanings, then you really don’t know anything that makes sense to you.” (page 84)

So true!

Game Project Progress Report #1

I have come up with a game for my course project. Actually, it's more of a simulation, and it's an extensive rework of a project I completed in 2001. It is a computer simulator, and the user can actually write and execute their own programs using a limited instruction set. It's written entirely in JavaScript, and it's a pretty cool program if you're into this kind of thing. Anyway, here's what the original looks like:


As you can see, the original was entirely text based. Well, I was profoundly affected by Gee pages 84-87, especially the comments about situated meaning, embodied experiences, and abstraction. It occurred to me that my computer simulator could be made less abstract if it was more visual. So I came up with a Powerpoint storyboard, the last slide of which appears as follows:

In this example I am using labeled bins to show the contents of memory rather than a text based "memory dump" as shown in the first image. I sent the storyboard to our professor, and he said to go with it, and so that's what I have done. He also suggested that I post my progress here. (I have an advantage over most of you in this area because I am a Java programmer by profession. And work is slow right now, so I have some time to kill.)

As I thought about it some more, I decided I want to make this as "visual" as possible. Now here is where you all have the advantage over me: I am not artistic at all! But the first thing I came up with is the use of buckets. Over the years I have often heard the term "bucket" used by programmers when referring to some place in memory to hold the contents of a variable. So I found a bucket on the web...

Now Java is a great programming language, but when it comes to designing the GUI; that is, laying out the screen, it is a terrible language. Creating the layout can be very time consuming, and usually involves a lot of trial and error. Anyway, here is my game so far...


Buckets will show their contents in text boxes. Buckets are "lettered" and the user will refer to the buckets (memory locations) by letter. I tried to come up with a clever name for my simulator, and the best I could come up with is "BucketLogic". What do you think of the name? I welcome your suggestions. I will keep you posted of my progress.