I decided to create a game that we could use to give public health practicum students an overview of the processes around investigating and managing provincially notifiable enteric illnesses. At first I started to make one focusing on the monk story for task 4 but quickly decided to instead do something I could practically use. If I had more time I would try to add more images, videos and some audio elements to make it more engaging.
The last time I did Twine for a group project we made a script and then plugged it into twine but this time I just worked in Twine directly. This method likely resulted in more grammar and spelling errors due to the lack of spell check in Twine. Overall I am still not convinced that Twine offers substantial affordances over use of Google Slides for “choose your own adventure” based games. Twine does provide a graphic overview (story map) and cannot be “cheated” by simply viewing the slides instead of playing the game as is possible in Google slides. However, Google Slides allows for easy collaboration, use on mobile devices, and does not require coding script to insert pictures or external links as Twine does. Twine, in some ways, is similar to the Vannevar Bush’s Memex in that pages are added by hyperlink and seamless collaboration on the device is not possible (Bush, 1945). I used many external as well as internal hyperlinks in the game to provide additional information and reference material. These external links create a bit of a “concept package” as described by Englebart (1963, p. 60) of Alberta enteric disease public health practices . I think I could also make a simplified version of the game for lay people or high school students for use in career exploration or health class.
Play the Game: Disease Detective (4).html
References:
Bush, V. (1945). As we may think. The Atlantic Monthly, 176(1), 101-108.
Englebart, Douglas. (1963). “A conceptual framework for the augmentation of man’s intellect.” In Hawerton, P.W. and Weeks, D.C. (Eds.), Vistas in information handling, Volume I: The augmentation of man’s intellect by machine. Washington, DC: Spartan Books. Available (as “Augmentation of human intellect: A conceptual framework”)
Jennifer, I just wanted to let you know that I clicked your link to your game, but it does not open a new tab, with the game, so I cannot see it. I am looking forward to playing it though! I am currently on a chromebook, so I will try on a different device and see if it works.
Sorry- hopefully it worked on your other computer! I found the SPAM filters on my work computer were very unhappy trying to open the html file as well. Also I wish Twine was able to work on mobile devices.
Hi Jennifer,
This is a really cool idea to use a technology such as Twine to create training and practice scenarios for med students. I love how it is risk-free and gives some feedback if you got the answer wrong, plus opportunities to try again. I can see so many ways this could be done in different professional fields and be a huge asset to job training.
Thanks Erin! I agree twine could be a great tool for formative assessment and for simulation type training.