Reflection 6: Press Pause

This week served as more of a pause, a time to reflect, make notes, and ponder.

Jenny is currently working her way through a possible textbook, and I have downloaded two chapters to review as well.

As for me, I am spending the week with in-laws who, while wonderfully supporting and compassionate and caring, exhibit no real interest in technology  The older generation (mine) all have smart phones and review their email. Some use WAZE or Google Maps for directions, and others use i Pads. The younger generation (20s to 40) have phones but do not really handle email, and none play games. They do create videos for their band, so technology skills are present, but this group differs greatly from my own adult children and the students I teach.

So, I am pondering how to reach students who may not be as technology interested as others. Notice I am saying technology interested rather than technology savvy.

A gamified course or training needs to interest the participants along with being "do-able." Making a course/training interesting involves making the content useful to  participants, helping them explore the usefulness of the course content to their work, helping participants apply their learning to their work. Quests must engage and explain their usefulness from the beginning - otherwise participants will lose interest and drop out.... XP are not enough.

My task, then, is to make the narrative and aesthetics engaging enough to "hook" participants at the beginning, while focusing on the player journey, using onboarding, scaffolding, and mastery.

Onboarding is the initial experience that teaches the participants the "ropes" and sets expectations for what is coming.   I think of this as the Welcome Wagon, the Visitors Center, important training that allows participants to be successful.   This will resurface as needed throughout the course, keeping in mind the need to reiterate the application of knowledge to their work.

Scaffolding will help the "play" become habit-forming by sing triggers, activity loops, and feedback systems to turn participants into regular players.

Finally, mastery opens the course up to the enthusiasts who master the content and the lay and decide to go deeper.   While we hope this will include all learners, we realize that might not be so.

 My plan is to find ways to engage those not technology-interested to help them become interested....this should prove interesting.....