Learning in conference 4.-5.7.2006

August in fields 

After having a holiday without being wired I came to make so new comments. At this visit i lerned to use BlogThis operation which seems quite useful when finding some interesting web pages which might be useful or funny for others, too. More information is found here:

Blogger Help : What is BlogThis! ?

Otherwise it's still summer, which in Finland means that all the cultural outdoor activities are at their busiest.

In Espoo conference there was some nice informal discussion about the generation of electric games and media. This generation, which is named homo zappiens by Mr Wim Veen, has seemingly different ways to act, play and learn, which was in the centre of discussions. One discussion, partly f2f, partly in web, handled the narrative side of (learning) games.

Tuomo Turja wrote to Mr Daniel Schwarz:
> Your ideas of gaming and learning were inspirating. I was especially keen on the narrative side of gaming. I find it somewhat different to narratives of literature. In books you normally think how the story will go on, when gaming you may even forget the story and concentrate merely to individual sections of the game (battles etc.).

How to help the learning idea to be kept in mind in learning games?

Daniel Schwarz wrote back:
Regarding your question about the notion of narratives in dynamic and interactive environments like computer games:

1. There is always a background story, it frames all the user-actions and game reactions in a meaningful way. The story gives MEANING to the gameplay ( in respect of: goal of the game, challenges and resulting tasks in the game for the player)

2. The speciality of (background)stories in games is: they are so-called task-oriented frame stories which means: there is a main goal of the game that is explained in the frame story and then along the course of the game and gameplay there are a lot of subsidiary tasks that could be also endowed with story elements. These tasks have to be related to the frame story in order to deliver a CONTEXT that makes the gameplay MEANINGFUL.

So, even if you concentrate on a specific battle in the game, the battle needs to be in the meaningful context of the background story: You should know what you are fighting for!!!

The same for learning:
We need to embed learning in the game, so that it becomes crucial for the winning of the game...to put it very simple.
I hope, that helps!

best regards from Cologne,
Daniel

Tuomo goes on, in his blog (this one):

As Daniel Schwarz mentioned above, in the core of learning is meaning: we learn when we are motivated to learn, when we find it meaningful. And the opposite. The same goes with playing: we play when it's meaningful. The meaning of playing is joy, the meaning of (formal) learning is more instrumental. The common thing fo those two activities is curiosity. That is the link to narratives of both e-plays and e-learning.

In the games there's often a mission, a goal that players aim to reach. In many cases the goal is formulated by levels ("at which level you are?") so that the goal is to get to the end of the final level. That is the simpliest way to tell the story of the game - and quite usual, too.

So, we need both awakeness and sleep, work and rest, connections and disconnections, communication and silence, openness and secrecy, brainstorming and emptiness of mind. In the world of life long learning we need to have also life long idling.

The Challenge is to make balance between these two sides of the coin.

Being idle has been cultural and ethical problem. The protestant ethics, term of Max Weber, sees idling as a form of sin, making especially the western people feel guilty if they were lazy - even when they are sick, retired or unemployed. On the other side people may feel good, get almost a taste of extacy when being busy working hard, having long work days and full calendar. One could see this as a form of greed. People may be greedy for wealth or power. At the same time they are greedy for the protestant virtue of diligence. When they work hard their greed may be forgiven: they can be wealthy and go to heaven.

From this point of view, it can be really hard for somebody to learn to work or study in a such way that one has every now and then idle moments of mental emptiness. At the same time, these moments are becoming vital for the new generation of information society - or post-weberian society.

Technically it's easy, in a few places already. You have your flaptop or mobile phone and you have access to internet. Fine. You start your process after a moment of inspiration. Everything goes all right, technically and psychologically. But socially you may arrange harmful situation for example when sitting with your friends in a local pub and starting your learning process there.

The problem is that others are not used to your ubiquitous learning. They feel they've been left out. When working, you should be at your work place. When learning, you should be at school. You just can't forget the others without consequences.

So, you should pay attention to cultural differences and social context when considering the possibilities and challenges of learning. Even the best available connections, technics, learning material or web architecture can't help if there's no space for learning, culturally or socially.

Step by step -ideology has been important when attempting make the life long learning principles true. The focus has been in skills. More holistic perspective is ecological. A learner - or a potential learner - is not individual atoms neither just part of the learning group but also part of her/his family, neighbourhood, village, net of friends or colleagues. After opening the computer and starting a web course this learner is perhaps alone but before she/he has got to that step she/he has taken many social or cultural steps, which can be much harder than the course itself. Sometimes they can be easy and natural steps, too, one part of the unavoidable personal growth.

One funny type of creating literature in a informal way is combining magnetic word or letter bits on a freezer door. You can create easily and fast when having breakfast! Often those works of art vanish during the same day but you can always take a photo and, if you like, put it to your blog.

Sorry to say but these poems are just in Finnish. If you do not understand Finnish you can taste the sound of the words and the rhytm of the sentences.

I'm still at home in Kauhajoki. Virtually I am right now communicating with other members of Espoo conference. Perhaps also with other curious persons who picked up this page.

Summer has evolved - now it's a bit rainy - and I'm looking forward to see what kind of new discussions and ideas I'll experience during the conference. I still remember many nice conversations and interesting speeches in 2005 Brussels eLearning conference.

During the process of writing this blog I also think which of the themes in the conference would be my theme right now. I can't split myself to different sessisons in conference even when I would like to. Will it be A, B, C, D or even E, I don't know yet. But I'll find it out!