adam jerrett, theo bothma and koos de beer - navigating the information landscape of an educational...
TRANSCRIPT
Adam JerrettTheo JD Bothma
Koos de BeerDepartment of Information Science
Navigating the Information Landscape of an Educational Alternate Reality Game
BOBCATSSS 2017Tampere, Finland
25-27 January 2017
Overview
• Introduction• Background• Research methodology• The ARG – Nomad• Findings
Introduction
• Information literacy is important for navigating information landscapes
• Core information literacy is taught at a tertiary level at UP
• Engagement suffer as students struggle to understand importance of learning these skills
• Learning suffers with a lack of motivation• Using ARGs to teach information literacy
Background - Why ARGs?
• ARGs are multimedia rich experiences• ARGs unfold in both the digital and real world• Navigating the landscape of an ARG requires player
collaboration• The information landscape of an ARG– game elements in both real and digital platforms– a fragmented narrative scattered across these platforms– a large game world that requires collaboration to make
construct meaning
Background - Immersion through integration
• ARG is immersive• Game events feel more real• Educational content can be integrated into
both the game and the real world environment in which the content is applied
Background - Fragmented Narrative
• Solving the fragmentation of the narrative is one way ARGs teach information literacy skills– Locate the information by utilising search strategies– Determine information relevance– Retrieve relevant information– Contextualise the information within the context of the
game– Organise the information
• This information behaviour aids in completing information seeking
Background - Genre scope and collaboration
• Collaboration is required to construct a cohesive narrative due to the wide scope of an ARG
• Individuals work together to construct this “shared meaning”
• Achieved through communicating and examining the game information
• “The exercising of such communication skills reinforces the learning and exercise of the information literacy skills”
Research methodology
How does the navigation of an ARG’s information landscape engender the exercise of
information literacy competencies?• Examine an ARG created for teaching
information literacy, Nomad• Qualitative evaluation• Focused on player experience
Nomad
• Players– Students registered within a specific department– Certain assumptions could be made– Audience of 300, 90 unique users on the game site, 20 active
players• Narrative– A time traveller needs help from the students – Students access information from specific periods in time to
help him– Narrative was driven by a fictional character investigating the
time traveller
Nomad• Information landscape
– The game showed the game structure in an abstract and cryptic way– Seeing game structure allowed for transparency– Players unlocked, discovered and revealed nodes by participating in
the game
Nomad
• Game puzzles– Reinforce information literacy skills• Searching for books in the library (title, ISBN, etc.)• Topical searches of online journals• Referencing journal articles correctly
– Ciphers and riddles– Aided by web based technology
Findings
• Players were aware of the educational nature of the game - “when you’re playing a game, you’re focused on the play, not the learning”
• The game provided engaging framing and purpose to the skill exercises
• Provides authentic context in which to practice learned skills
