This fourth linking post will be focusing on Task #5 which asked us to create our own game using Twine. For this linking post, I am linking my blog post with that of Binal’s. Although we each chose a different focus on the creation of our game, we both shared our journey and experience with using Twine.
My link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/meipsyshack/2021/02/14/task-5-twine/
Binal’s link: https://blogs.ubc.ca/bk540/2021/02/14/task-5-twine/
Right away I was drawn into Binal’s game idea as she had created an escape room experience which I loved. She also mentioned that she was looking to create her story based on something she could use with her students and in turn focused her escape room idea on that of the periodic table. Although I did not explicitly state this in my own blog entry, my intention was to become familiar enough with Twine that I could try to use it with my students as well. Binal’s escape room would allow her students to become more familiar with understanding the periodic table, whereas I wanted to use my Twine as an inspirational idea to motivate my students to create their own Choose Your Own Adventure story for language arts.
Both Binal and I explained our journey with learning to use Twine. However, Binal provided more step by step experiences with her planning and creation of using Twine. I also noticed that we both drew in the connections of using hyperlinks as well as allowing the user to follow the links that they were interested in. We both quoted the article by Miall and Dobson (2001) where they quoted (Landow 1997, p. 273) in saying that, “Hypertext increases individual freedom,” because, “users are entirely free to follow links wherever they please.” This reinforced what Binal and I both noted; that using Twine allowed that freedom of looping ideas together and circling back to make another choice.
I would have to agree with what Binal said about her experience with using Twine when she said, “Overall, I had a lot of fun making this Twine and it helped me make further connections between writing, planning, puzzle solving and representing it all digitally.” I also enjoyed creating my Twine, and although I had more of a Choose Your Own Adventure type story, I sure liked her interpretation of creating an escape room.
Over the past few weeks since this assignment, I did indeed show my grade 6 language arts students my Twine and helped them to get started on their own Twine story. The level of engagement was contagious and they were so excited to create their own. By far this was the most engaged and connected I have seen with my students in story writing. My students were so excited to start their stories and can’t wait to get back to their writing. I even have students that use their free time to get back to their stories and keep writing.
Binal has a nicely laid out blog that is easy to navigate. As I explored her blog, I enjoyed learning more about who she is, her background and how she interpreted the learning experiences with this course. One thing that did stand out to me is how she has created a separate section in her blog called Activities where she has a section called 1.4 Defining Terms. These are key terms from the course that she has collected in one place to provide a better understanding of words such as “Text” and their meaning. I actually found this to be a great idea of clarifying the terms and literacies from the course. This is something I think I would like to add to my own blog as it would help me to further understand these key terms and literacies that we have been exploring.
References:
Miall, D. S., & Dobson, T. (2001). Reading hypertext and the experience of literature. Journal of Digital Information, Retrieved from https://explore.openaire.eu/search/publication?articleId=issn13687506::feae30569d02fbf0a7451897e74be20b