Observations on Story-based and Game-based Learning for School Kids

A few days back, I was checking some e-learning modules from company archives. In terms of graphics some courses were great. However, there was a severe lack of good instructional design in several modules.

For example, in some of the modules, a story and a game based approach were used while providing teach. However, I found a distinct jerk when a learner or viewer transitions from the story into the teach.

Now ruminating on the same, I can understand the strategy which has been used which is similar to my mom telling me a story while she fed me when I was a baby. The story which will tingle some quarters of the brain is meant to distract me from the eating process which is mechanical. So in the long run I will forget all my antics and finish my meal.

This strategy will not work in e-learning for youngsters. The reasons are listed below:

1. The story is taking attention away from the teach which is appearing as plain text.
2. The story, game, and the teach are not integrated harmoniously. This means the teach is not woven into the story.
3. High quality graphics are used for the story telling which grabs attention away from the teach.
4. The story, for example, a pirate story is not integrated into teaching algebra.
5. Unlike the storytelling during feeding strategy, the story and the teach both requires brain and cognitive involvement.
6. The vital portion of the course is the teach but the story takes the attention away and does not help the learner to remember or retain what he or she has learnt.


So when you are using game based learning or story based learning, do make sure that all the elements blend harmoniously. You might just end up creating a course, which is visually brilliant with a good navigation interface but fails in satisfying the learner’s needs in an adequate manner.

Alternate Reality Gaming (ARG)

A few days ago while in a discussion with peers from the eLearning industry, I came upon Alternate Reality Gaming (ARG).

I will share some of my views on this. Before I do that, let me borrow a line from Wikipedia which explains what ARG is about:

“An alternate reality game (ARG), is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions.”

As you can see from the explanation, ARG can be used to impart learning but how effective it will be? The story in ARG moves forward based on the decisions of a participant. Isn’t this similar to real life? Our future is based on the decisions we take today. What distinguishes ARG from all other gaming is that the game itself did not acknowledge that it was a game. There was no existence of an acknowledged rule set for players. The participants determine their own rules by trial and error method. The narrative in an ARG will present a fully-realized world. In this world any contact information that is provided is authentic like phone numbers or email addresses, websites. The game takes place in real-time and cannot be reset or replayable.

There can be a sort of puppet master who controls the characters in the game. These characters function like real people and respond authentically. Some events can involve meetings or live phone calls between participants and characters. No artificial intelligence(AI) controls the characters.

Some important reference sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game

http://www.seanstewart.org/interactive/args/