Multi-modal learning is generally well covered, but muli-path learning doesn’t seem as well covered to me. The difference is simple. Multi-modal is like forms of transportation while multi-path is like the many combinations of roads you can use to get to your destination.
Is More Always Better?
Elizabeth Gilbert said that the responsibility of being the fount of all creativity and wonderment was/is too much for the fragile human psyche in http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html and I tend to agree. However, there is another angle to this when listening to Barry Schwartz talk about the paradox of choice. Each choice is a responsibility. I would hazard a guess that the responsibility of making all the choices of what tools, methods and such we use is too much responsibility.
WARNING: There is a single cartoon slide shown about 12 minuets into the TED talk that shows cartoon breasts. This is a courtesy warning for those who wish to avoid such things. The cartoon shows a man in three situations thinking how one of the others would be better.
http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html
The reason is that we already have the responsibilities of normal life. All our actions, thoughts and the results are our responsibilities as individuals. Diversity of skills, experience and expertise is supposed to be beneficial because the responsibility of making choices can be greatly lessened by those with more skills, experience and expertise related to the choice.
While doing research on how to format a blog I found a tip to limit each list to seven items. The reason was to make it easily consumable. This might be a good limit to keep in mind when giving basic choices.
Guiding the Wanderer
To many options without information just makes the choices uninformed. That’s the reason that open engagement is so important. The experiences inform the individual about doing that job as themselves. I do creative writing, and look at creative writing jobs, because I know that I’m at least a proficient creative writer. How do I know this, because I’ve done many kinds of writing and had a couple teachers tell me that I could be a novelist if I continued working with certain stories. Knowing this cuts down the potential jobs for me to look through. Sure, I can look for compute science positions. Sure, I can look for game design positions. However, those two are just two more examples of having done the task and found out I’m good at those things.
Motivation comes in part from the experiences and exposure, which helps guide a person’s choices. I was recognized as being good in math and science as far back as second grade. With that in mind, it isn’t such a surprise that I am a computer science major. What could be a surprise is that I am a tutor and experience designer. I was motivated by my communication problems to improve. This kind of motivation fits study very well, because it is the obvious lack and method to fix it that helps generate motivation to study.
So, the idea of guiding the wanderer is to inform them, help them choose a direction and repeat. This is where I get to the heart of the multi-path learning. In math, there are generally three kinds of people; geometry, algebra and both. Technically, you could teach a lot of geometry before teaching any algebra, but it isn’t done. Algebra is very linear, cold, dry and reminds me of a textbook. Personally, this doesn’t bother me. Yet, there are a lot of creative people who would probably do better learning enough geometry to see the value in learning the algebra, motivating them to choose to learn algebra. Unfortunately that option is not supported and thus becomes extra hard. Supporting that one extra path could do wonders for math and science education.
Now, before anybody takes that out of context, let’s discuss the support I mentioned. It’s not just offering the class, or other path, because that’s just offering the choice, not supporting it. To support the choice means that there should be a way to help a person make a good choice for them, to share expertise with them. I could see covering the basics of both algebra and geometry in elementary school, as is generally done, and noting the preferences. However those preferences could change over time. So, experiences and preference recording should occur throughout the educational process, to inform the experts and give optional information to the students. That gets to one of the problems that generally occurs with humans; we like to label things and then deal with the label, not the thing.
Supply the Solutions
A great example is an article ( http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/jul2009/ca2009072_489734.htm ) I just came across this morning through Stephen Downes OLDaily ( http://www.downes.ca/news/OLDaily.htm ). It talks about how the old solutions in business that have been taught at Harvard Business School, along with just about all the others, are a part of the problem. There is a lot to take in, but the article is a great read. Simply put, the us-them mentality doesn’t build trust or wealth. We should be concerned with how to help others if we want to produce wealth. Finding a filling needs is the key to good business, education and design. We are each different, but that shouldn’t lead to the dehumanizing of those different from ourselves.
Some people need more teaching than others. I know this because I’m one who goes back and forth from amazing whiz kid to dunderhead the dunce. There are a few things to remember. First is replay opportunities. Second is other viewpoints. Third is other ways to share the same information and views. If you allow an interested person to keep trying different ways to understand several viewpoints and the information, what you’ll find this is a very effective way to learn. It’s not the fastest, but it helps those interesting in learning more than just getting something done.
This is one of the reasons I’m excited about Push Button Labs. Besides it being a game company in my state I think will do well, it is based on providing solutions with a low barrier to entry. I intend to learn and use their Push Button Engine to make games, tools, toys and so on based on what I learn about learning science, game design, effective communication and more. Being easy to use, from what I hear, I should be able to generate a lot of prototypes of educational games, which I obviously think I’m good at designing. In truth, I might try doing the same as some guys who did/do the Experimental Gameplay Project ( http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20051026/gabler_01.shtml ) as they eventual form of the Weekly Specials, or at least for some of them. The point is to create, share and learn. Maybe it could become something like a Monthly special rather than weekly.
As always I’m looking for comments, feedback, contributions and intelligent discussion of the topic.
I’m really excited about making educational games, and I wish you the best of luck with that. However, I just spent four hours with the PushButton Engine trying to get a circle to show up on the screen! :p In its current iteration, it is a lot harder and more confusing to use the PushButton Engine than to just hack out a game in Flash.
I’m hoping that as the engine gets developed further, it will become easier. At the moment I know they are catering to experienced users, and will eventually transition to making things really easier for beginners. I hear they will be selling an easy-to-use editing tool for people without a lot of programming experience, which I’m looking forward to seeing. But as it stands, “easy to use” is not a phrase I’d use to describe the engine. :p
Thanks for the post. What advice would you have for exposing new players in an educational MMO to different paths they might take, which would have them learn different subjects?
Seeing as they aren’t even at version 1.0 of the engine, I’m giving them some slack. Plus, I haven’t played with it yet since I don’t know Flash. However, I do believe they will get it working well, and look forward to playing with it.
As for your question, I’d say motivate them. Show them the reasons for learning the subjects through experience. Why should they go down that path? That’s the big question to answer for the player. A mechanic may be able to build the engine for a draw bridge, but what does he know about materials, physics, local conditions and so on that are related to the task of building the bridge? This is making related fields of study a part of the design in a player need or quest requirement style. Perhaps a quest or task has several ways to be accomplished. Changing up the ways that the particular task can be accomplished each time could improve the gameplay and encourage players to explore the other paths.
Perhaps a better example is a sailor. In navigation there are several subjects to study; astronomy, map reading, geometry, the sensors like sonar and so on. Each of these are related fields to nautical navigation. Each of those also have their own related fields. The network of related fields shows beneficial paths to follow. It’s also how it works in real life. I started out as a computer science student, thought computer game design would be beneficial (and fun) and then added those to another area of interest, education. While working on team projects, I find going over effective communication to be beneficial, so it gets added in. In essence, the needs of the moment dictate the possible directions of going forward or retreating. Playing with those mechanics should give a natural motivation to the players and improve the game as a whole.
Another way to look at this is layering choices of specializing and generalizing. For instance the main subjects in school include math, science, reading, writing and so on. I choose math and science. In college I looked for a good combination of my skills and abilities in potential directions, which gave me a list of potential paths to choose from. They were specialized versions of math and science. First I choose to specialize in computers. Then I choose to specialize in general game design. This could be a variation on a class, skills or other growth mechanic. However, how you allow players to multi-class and go outside their class is where this gets tricky for balance and gameplay at the MMO level.
Beyond that, I would need to know more about the specifics of the MMO design. The basic motivation pattern of expose, inspire and enable is really the key to me. The rest is just adapting it to the specifics of the game.
Another piece of advice I’d give is to remember that in an MMO, if you allow the player to do something, somebody will do it. Then you are dealing with the social and community aspects of the MMO, which is a whole other area for introducing players to the ideas, but I urge caution in this path. Messing with community dynamics can be far more disastrous than messing with the game in the long run. You are expected to control the game, but the player community can be viewed as the realm owned by the players, not the game designers and developers.