Project DIRECT Travel Guide- Part One

Both locations can be found at:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Willow%20Walk/123/131/22/

http://secondlife.com/destination/saint-francis-church-and-monastery

Evoke-The First Mission

Today I accepted my first Evoke mission. The goal was to learn about social innovation and to take direct action by tackling one of our toughest problems. Upon reading Exhibit A in the objective of this mission, I realized how many regional tough problems my community faces. From unemployment, homelessness to a struggling educational system, my options for tough problems, unfortunately, are great. I chose to look at both unemployment and homelessness, since they often seem to be tied together. In fact, in 2009 Oregon’s unemployment reached 12.2 percent, which is the second highest in the nation and Oregon is leading the nation in the percent of the population experiencing homelessness (US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Community Planning and Development, The 2008 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, July 2009, page 12). In 2008, this saddening statistic has lead to a 10- year plan to end homelessness by the Oregon Ending Homelessness Advisory Council (EHAC). So far, not much has changed.

In Exhibit A of the Learn1 Evoke mission, Ethan Zuckerman posted seven strategies for “innovating from constraint”, which is more than appropriate when trying to tackle social innovation for unemployment and homelessness. Innovation that comes from constraint forces creative ideas in using and reusing many resources. Oregon is a green state, in more ways than one, and can easily adopt the notion of reusing, as it is part of our cultural tapestry. Being a five-year resident of Oregon, I can tell you there is a notable Oregon culture that boarders on cliché and stereotyping (at least on the west side of I-5). Tree hugging has never had as much meaning as it has while living here. Coop gardens, environmental awareness, vegan-fueled bike riders and locally owned biofuel gas stations are part of my visuals in a daily commute to and from work. Of course not everyone who resides in Oregon shares interest in these innovative ideas for sustainable living, but there is a strong enough presence of those that do.

So, my first objective is to “find out what it REALLY means to be a social innovator”. My answer, a social innovator is the Oregon resident that takes a step in sustainable living, no matter how small, for the purpose of longevity of our planet and selves. I believe that the Oregon resident, who cares for our environment, has the capability to care for our neighbor, homeless or not. I would like to explore how to call all compassionate Oregon residents to help address our community issues of unemployment and homelessness, but before I can do that, I suspect that Evoke has a plan for me and this will come out in time.

Next Gen Learner and the Epic Win

The Next Gen Learner might be a term you’ve been hearing a lot of lately, but did you know that the NGL includes most of us? It’s true. In fact, the NGL has grown up playing some form of digital game with learning value since the 1980s. For example, those born in the age of pastel colors, jelly bracelets and crimped hair can probably recall playing variations of Number-Muncher and Oregon Trail throughout their adolescents. I can personally remember sitting down for the first time to a green-screened Apple computer with brilliantly orange text. I was in digital heaven as I moved my monster from number to number, working hard for the “epic win” of successfully leveling up. The multiple streams of information, inductive reasoning and fine-tuned visual literacy skills hasn’t weaned for the present NGL, in fact these traits continue to evolve for every generation growing up immersed in the digital world. Because of this, digital gaming has steadily been taking precedence in educational discourse and with that comes the need for more awareness on what we can do to make digital games continually educational and engaging.

One suggestion for making digital games more educational and engaging comes from the enticement of an “epic win”. According to McGonigal, an “epic win” is an outcome so extraordinarily positive, you had no idea it was possible until you achieve it. She uses the World of Warcraft (WoW) as an example to show how a collaborative problem-solving environment will facilitate the “epic win” goal. WoW is an online game designed for collaboration with fellow players in search of a mission. This game has been so successful with the enticement of an “epic win” that some criticize it as being addictive, which leads to a concern over the amount of time children spend in digital gaming.

McGonigal has stated in various media outlets that we currently invest 3 billion hours weekly playing online games, but she would like to see that number climb to 21 billion hours weekly. Her reason, in order to solve the worlds problems like hunger, poverty, obesity, we need to play online games that have real world impact and play it as much as possible, resulting in the deep focus often exhibited in gamers. A recent statistic release from Carnegie Mellon University, noted that the average American by age of 21 has spent 10,000 hours of gaming. Coincidently, American children will spend 10,080 hours from 5th grade to high school graduation with perfect attendance (McGonigal, 2010, TED Talks). What does this mean? Well, according to McGonigal, this means that young people are learning as much about gaming as they are about everything else.

So, my fellow NGL, let’s take a look at Evoke once again with our “epic win” mentality and follow Malcom Gladwell’s 10,000-Hour Rule. So far I’m on hour 3 and have a bit to go, but I will update as milestones are made in this game for real world change.

Being “gameful” in the development and use of educational games:

Playing games to learn is not a new concept, yet in January of 2011, the first “Gamification Summit” in San Francisco met where they discussed the use of games for turbo-charging project, using levels and rewards to drive behavior and turning real world activities into games.  Jane McGonigal, a gaming developer, has honed in on the “real world activities” and using gaming as a means to solve real world problems.  In the February 2011 Smithsonian issue, McGonigal was interview about computer-game development.  McGonigal discussed her coined term “gameful”, stating, “when you’re gameful, your creativity is sparked, your curiosity is sparked and you’re more likely to collaborate with others.  Your more likely to stick with a tough problem, even if you fail at first.” 

Here at OWP/Project DIRECT, we thought we would try out a “gameful” game that was designed to teach people social entrepreneurship.  Evoke, a game McGonigal developed, was designed to be an interactive graphic novel focused on missions and quests rather than assignments and test.  Here is what we found.

After learning about the mission, we headed to the “how to play” tab.  Here we found a serious of video tutorials that gave a basic overview to the structure of the game.  After watching all of the videos, we signed up for a free membership.  Next we began by viewing the “Episode 001”.  True to comic nature, the illustrations and text bubbles provide a playful and engaging means for content delivery but with real world issues that have occurred in the past and/or are threatening the future of civilization.  As we move through the comic we realize this is an investment of time and not anywhere near mindless entertainment. 

More investigation to continue, but in the mean time why don’t you take a look for yourself: http://www.urgentevoke.com/

Project DIRECT

On November 5th 2010, twenty rural school teachers from southern Oregon embarked on a virtual journey that has forever changed the way they socialize, share ideas and learn.  In Ashlan Oregon, the group came together to hear about Project DIRECT and how this would revolutionize their relationship with technology and education and also the way in which they could network with fellow teachers.  The workshop moved to Medford Oregon the next day and it was here that the teacher began their journey into the 3D immersive environment known as Second Life.