“You are not entering this world in the usual manner, for you are setting forth to be a Dungeon Master. Certainly there are stout fighters, mighty magic-users, wily thieves, and courageous clerics who will make their mark in the magical lands of D&D adventure. You however, are above even the greatest of these, for as DM you are to become the Shaper of the Cosmos. It is you who will give form and content to the all the universe. You will breathe life into the stillness, giving meaning and purpose to all the actions which are to follow.”
– Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons & Dragons
This is an idea for an app that can be used to help D&D or other tabletop role players through the roleplaying aspect of the games, as well as for creative writing lessons in the classroom.
Click here to view.
A very creative presentation; I can visualize teaching and using this app for creative writing and listening tasks. One- on one sessions can fill the gap and will be helful in teaching process. Hopefully, it can also be adapted in Literacy and Basic Skills Math/Science class as well.
Dear Victoria,
I am here to praise the quality of content, mobile design, and educational rationale of your project. It is small, bright, optimistic, informative, and very useful for me.
Gaming is an important educational topic these days. As a person who never played D & D, I think your presentation gave me an idea about what unites the gamer and learner, the teacher and AI of the game, and how video games can contribute to studying English reading and comprehension.
It is very interesting, and I can compare it with the effect of studying A2 made by you and Catriona where I suddenly saw very clearly the similarities in a work of a designer and a teacher. You chose the videos of Tedde Van Gelderen very carefully. Thank you very much for organizing this discovery, ladies! I consider your A2 one of the best group projects and have no doubt that your stunning Experience Design Artifact truly deserves to be seen and enjoyed by future generations of ETEC 523-ers.
Back to the matter at hand, I am afraid I cannot evaluate the forecast substance of your A3, Vicki, because of my general inexperience in gaming, but I can certainly commend the beautiful Genual.ly presentation with its lovely colourful contrasts, the clear explanation of the problem you are solving with this artifact, the attractive fairy-tale elements, and masterful attention to detail. Great work in form and content; strong analytical and illustrative parts that impress. I copy pasted everything to be on the safe side.
Thank you!
Anna
Hi Vicki,
This is a lovely presentation and I can definitely see how it could be very useful in assisting with creative writing.
However, I’m wondering if this technology could be expanded to meet other goals, and have wider cross-curricular adaptations? For example, how would this apply in a math or science class as is? Could it be expanded to include more features? It seems very applicable to an English class, but seems to be narrowly focused on only that. I would have like to see links to other subjects, whether that be an emphasis on critical thinking, or actual use of other competencies.
Hi Catriona,
Thank you for your comment!
I’m stumped to think of how to use an app like this for a math class, beyond something like word problems that would expand on each other. However, I know there are other subjects that an app like this could be useful for. In Social studies, we could look at Ancient Civilizations and how they emerged and expanded over time. The app could suggest different scenarios to see the students understanding of what a civilization needs to survive. The same could work with Science, when we study evolution. You start with a base species, and then as time goes on, they adapt and evolve to changing environments.
I focused primarily on D&D and creative writing because this is something that I’m really passionate about, and that I find my students struggle most with year to year. I want them to take risks in their writing, be vulnerable to the creativity I’m trying to encourage out of them. And some people don’t have the mind to be creative, so prompts like this can help them move step by step through a story. I’m sure if this app ever came to fruition, that it could have variations that will allow for cross-curricular use.
Vicki
Hi Vicki,
The academic value you mentioned of assisting students in creative writing is very important, especially when they are not being able to focus and gather their thoughts. This is motivating and engaging. I really enjoyed reading and watching the multimedia elements within your presentation.
Hi Noor!
Thank you so much for your comment.
I have found that creative writing is one of the tougher subjects for students to engage in, often because they aren’t confident in their abilities to be creative. During our creative writing units, I have one on one sessions with them to help them expand on their ideas, and end up acting like the app I’ve mentioned above – give a few, generic ideas of how to help their story along and hope to inspire them (hopefully) to give more life to their story.
Vicki.