Reshaping dominant stories : a poststructuralist approach to online role play

Online role play is an increasingly popular teaching/learning technique in higher education (Wills & McDougall 2009) but there has been little research into ways a poststructuralist approach may be supported in this format. This paper describes two very different means of incorporating a poststructuralist approach into role plays in higher education to problematise dominant assumptions in the language and content of the subject matter. The first method was a series of interventions in a face-to-face role play in which medical students practised consultations with adolescent school students. The consultations were interrupted repeatedly with activities designed to interrogate assumptions and the school students acted as coaches to improve the medical students' technique. Although this role play was performed face-to-face, some of its activities may be redeveloped to suit an online role-playing format. The second method was a feature of an online role play involving Middle-East politics and journalism students, in which daily online newspapers provided a reflecting and distorting mirror to the political events simulated by the politics students. Indications of ways in which the two methods produced changes in understanding were gathered using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods: questionnaires, focus groups, interviews, participant observation and analysis of online discussions and artefacts.

Story as a vehicle for learning in online role play : a case study

In online role plays, students are asked to engage with a story that serves as a metaphor for real-life experience as they learn and develop skills. However, practitioners rarely examine the characteristics and management of this story as factors in the students' engagement in and learning from the activity. In this paper I present findings from a recent case study which examines these factors in an online role play that has been named as an exemplar and has been run for 19 years in Australian and international universities to teach Middle East politics and journalism. Online role plays are increasingly popular in tertiary education, in forms ranging from simple text-based role plays to virtual learning environment activities and e-simulations. The role play I studied required students to communicate in role via simulated email messages and draw on real-life resources and daily simulated online newspaper publications produced by the journalism students rather than rely on information or automated interactions built into an interface. This relatively simple format enabled me to observe clearly the impact of the technique's basic design elements. I studied both the story elements of plot, character and setting and the non-story elements of assessment, group work and online format. The data collection methods include analysis of student emails in the role play, a questionnaire, a focus group, interviews and the journal I kept as a participant-observer in the role play. In evaluating the qualities and impact of story elements I drew upon established aesthetic principles for drama and poststructuralist drama education.

The magic circle and the mobility of play

Convergent media and communication technologies have changed what it means for games to be mobile, but play has a mobility of its own that often goes unacknowledged. This article draws together emerging theory from debates in game studies on the separation of the experience of gameplay from the everyday. It examines the metaphor of the ‘magic circle’ and analyses how play, as a mode of experience, is mobilized across dimensions of hardware and software, extending the functions of games beyond the imagining of designers and manufacturers. The article considers what the mobility of play indicates for the player in the creation and management of identity online in the light of game studies consolidation of the magic circle through Goffman’s Frame Analysis. It sees new opportunities in the play of Zombie Media and the role of digital game artifacts in the presentation of the gamer persona, recasting Benjamin and Baudelaire’s flaˆneur as the ‘gameur’.

Should we teach an old game new tricks?

The Middle East Politics Simulation (MEPS) is a simulation of diplomacy and political tension in the Middle East. This online role-play exercise is aimed at providing students with an improved level of understanding of the political dimensions of the region. Having been run since 1993, the MEPS has not had any major updates to its platform in all those years. However, as such a mature online entity there is the question of whether the MEPS will continue to engage students as their expectations of what constitutes an online role-playing environment became steadily raised by their familiarity with more graphically immersive platforms. The reliance on social media tools for students and political figures to use as conduits for communication is also unrepresented in the MEPS and the subject of some student dissatisfaction in previous years. This research assesses student attitudes towards the MEPS with an eye to balancing the demands of technology, functionality, equity of experience, security and, most importantly, learning outcomes.

Online role play stories, engagement and learning in higher education

This thesis studies online role plays as they are used in higher education. It finds that where students are able to develop engaging stories together, their story-building can promote a range of learning outcomes. It also identifies techniques to develop their critical awareness and skills, and makes design recommendations.

Invigorating play : the role of affect in online multiplayer fps games

This chapter reexamines the relationship between the representative capacities of violent video games and the military industrial entertainment complex. It proposes a study of the affective capacities of violent militarised online multiplayer games to expand the limited accounts of the dominance of the military discourse and better understand what is going one while gamers play.

The players’ perspective of Reach Out Central : a therapeutic interactive online game

Therapeutic online games are potentially a valuable way of improving the mental health of young people. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the qualitative component of a formal evaluation conducted on Reach Out Central (ROC), an online game for 16-25 year olds which aims to improve mental health. Participants completing a post-program survey from the evaluation (n=154) were required to respond to two open-ended questions; what they liked most, and least, about ROC. Responses indicate that online games can be a successful way of educating, as well as attracting and engaging, young people. Suggestions are made regarding issues future developers should take into consideration when developing programs of a similar nature.

Knowledge about sports-related concussion: is the message getting through to coaches and trainers?

Aim The need for accurate diagnosis and appropriate return-to-play decisions following a concussion in sports has prompted the dissemination of guidelines to assist managing this condition. This study aimed to assess whether key messages within these guidelines are reflected in the knowledge of coaches and sports trainers involved in community sport. Methods An online knowledge survey was widely promoted across Australia in May–August 2012 targeting community Australian Football (AF) and Rugby League (RL) coaches and sports trainers. 260 AF coaches, 161 AF sports trainers, 267 RL coaches and 228 RL sports trainers completed the survey. Knowledge scores were constructed from Likert scales and compared across football codes and respondent groups. Results General concussion knowledge did not differ across codes but sports trainers had higher levels than did coaches. There were no significant differences in either concussion symptoms or concussion management knowledge across codes or team roles. Over 90% of respondents correctly identified five of the eight key signs or symptoms of concussion. Fewer than 50% recognised the increased risk of another concussion following an initial concussion. Most incorrectly believed or were uncertain that scans typically show damage to the brain after a concussion occurs. Fewer than 25% recognised, and >40% were uncertain that younger players typically take longer to recover from concussion than adults. Conclusions The key messages from published concussion management guidelines have not reached community sports coaches and sports trainers. This needs to be redressed to maximise the safety of all of those involved in community sport.

Gaming privacy : a Canadian case study of a children’s co-created privacy literacy game

This paper reports the process and outcomes of the design of a game that educates children about management of privacy online. Using a participatory action research process, children worked with the researchers to develop and play a game which simulates certain aspects of online privacy management and allows for scaffolded experiential learning in a safe environment. The game allows children to develop autonomous skills and understandings, not only for more effective learning but also because it is only through autonomy that children can develop a sense of self which is necessary for understanding what it means to be private. The paper shows that children have quite sophisticated understandings of privacy, compared with some adult perceptions, and that these understandings include awareness of the risks posed by commercial organisations seeking to gather personal data from them. The paper shows how engaging children as research and design participants can lead to more successful approaches in the development of privacy literacy.

Literacy, identity and online fantasy sports games

Digital Games: Literacy in action is the result of a wide-ranging investigation into the educational possibilities involved in young people and games.

Bad sports : the risks associated with not 'fitting in'

This paper is about peer rejection and bullying in schools and the tragic consequences that it can have. The focus of the paper is in the ways schools interact with groups of young males and, more importantly, those who are left out of these groupings. My concern is that schools currently give too little attention to informing and/or shaping the peer group practices of young people. I argue that the current educational theory and practice focus too heavily on individuals and their potential to act independently and overlook the all-important socialization that takes place within and between groups. Drawing on two case-studies of young males who experience peer rejection, I seek to raise concerns about the contemporary socializing practices of young males and the burgeoning need for schools to play a role in bringing about change. Given the continued prominence of sport as a trajectory for defining the dominant masculinity, I believe that it is critical that physical educators engage with the discussions and debates that surround this topic.

Integrating highlights for more complete sports video summarization

Summarization is an essential requirement for achieving a more compact and interesting representation of sports video contents. We propose a framework that integrates highlights into play segments and reveal why we should still retain breaks. Experimental results show that fast detections of whistle sounds, crowd excitement, and text boxes can complement existing techniques for play-breaks and highlights localization.