Week 4

This was the week for our ¼ project check-ins with ETC Faculty! We received a lot of very productive feedback and have lots to think about moving forward.

We had a lot of thoughts ranging from badge design to community learning concepts. Many of the takeaways revolved around playtesting. This was the main take away from this experience. It is very important to playtest and keep playtesting, especially with kindergarten students. So many things we think will work might prove differently with playtesting!

We also created our team photo! inspired after one of the decorations in our project room! We designed our room after a traditional kindergarten classroom and have a poster that says “Dive into Learning” with many jelly fish on it. It is a team favorite and the inspiration for our photo design:

Our ¼ project notes are below:

What are we giving the Children and the Teachers/Parents?

  • Child:
    • Giving a new way to feel
    • Something emotional
    • Something relational
  • Teachers/Parents:
    • Information
    • Data

Look into the parent/child relationship: Informational component vs. Emotional component

We are generating all kinds of meta data with about the badges

  • Can this have a teacher view?
  • Dashboards and visualizations
  • Also don’t want to create a problem for the teacher, by duplicating functionality
  • Could use simply as a planning tool

Things we can design for even if we don’t implement

The RITUAL is very POWERFUL

  • Revolve around the ceremony
  • End to end process:
    • What are they doing?
    • What is the journey of the badge
    • Diagram that process and follow it, where are the holes
  • Have teachers and students describe the process
    • Where do they differ?
  • Bring parents into this ritual
    • Does this extend home?
    • How?

Watch: Carla Fisher GDC Presentation

Privacy/Security Concerns

  • Do not want students to access other student’s accts.
  • Can work with Steve on privacy settings

Be sure we connect back to Learning

  • Do not want to lose track of where it came from
  • Appreciation factor

While pitching:

  • Tell them the WHYS not what it is.
  • This helps to leave enough room for imagination
  • EFSD is very receptive, so best to provide the whys!

Idea of SHARING is huge with kids

  • Look into this
  • Creating a community (see later)

AUDIO! Kids love sound!

  • Sensory elements
  • Think about touch and sound
  • BUZZLE

Seeing the students is going to be critical:

  • Don’t want to talk down to them
  • On their level
  • What are games they play?
    • What TV shows do they watch?
    • What apps do they use?
  • Assimilate a pattern that shows where their interests lie
  • Try to playtest with parents and students

Seasons are easy to relate to from a design standpoint

  • Match the breakdown
  • Provides color palates
  • Calendar concepts
  • Art therapy
  • Simpler, softer lines
  • Incorporate simple AI functions
  • Not just obtaining a badge, but also making a friend!
  • Difference from physical to digital, see badge come to life!

Creating a badge ecosystem

Not interested in fostering competitive learning – shift toward creating a community

  • Make a collective where students are supporting each other
  • Underplay the ceremony as much as possible
  • Take away from public ceremony
  • Community in the classroom
  • Reward is students helping each other learn
  • TEAM based games
  • Badge as keys to open a new doorway to learning
  • Activity is the reward
  • Foster the growth mindset

LOOK UP: Reggio Emilia Learning

If you made it this far, you deserve to see a nice normal team picture! Taken right before we started ¼ presentations – so we all still look very bright and full of energy!

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