Game Production
In addition to conducting research, I work with teams to make game-based learning solutions.
Mission Hydro-Sci
Role: Project Manager
Mission HydroSci (MHS) consists of various curriculum units that are each designed to teach a major topic within water systems. These major topics include: surface water, water pollution, groundwater, and atmospheric water. As students play through MHS, they will complete tasks that require knowledge of water systems. These tasks range from findings the source of pollution within a watershed to navigating through an underground puzzle using their knowledge of evaporation and condensation.
With our design priorities targeted, I act as our project manager, gauging our teams’ strengths and assigning tasks to over 20 team members. This diverse team includes professional developers, designers, and artists, as well as undergraduate and graduate students.
NutriQuest
Role: Producer
I am also deeply invested in NutriQuest, a prototype for a SNAP-Ed-aligned video game designed to support middle-school-aged children and their caregivers in gaining a deeper understanding of the crucial role of food in health. This two-player game represents a technical complexity that is novel within the realm of educational games. The potential for research in this area is extensive: What conversations does the game spark between players? How do students discuss nutrition after engaging with the game? What foods are they more willing or excited to try?
Collaborating with the University of Missouri Extension's Family Nutrition Education Program (FNEP), I am directing prototype production and efforts toward securing grant funding to further support the development of our prototype.
ScanBright
Role: Co-Producer
ScanBright is a safe and engaging space for radiology resident physicians and medical students to learn how to analyze X-rays, CTs, and ultrasound scans. The current training model is an apprenticeship. Residents learn “on the job” by interpreting patients’ scans as they are performed, with feedback from faculty radiologists. This training paradigm can result in trainee knowledge gaps due to a variable case mix, and it limits the learner’s ability to move through the material at their own pace. This creates an inefficient use of valuable learning time and unclear competency levels when residents begin to read studies independently on “call” shifts, only months after starting residency. This aspect of the traditional training model ultimately impairs the quality of patient care. To supplement curricula, ScanBright is be a mobile phone application offering a suite of learning games to optimize and equalize case exposure for residents.
Kresy
Role: Producer
Object-based learning includes the active incorporation of historic artifacts into educational environments, which may yield meaningful learning experiences. However, gaining access to artifacts and coordinating object-based curricula with museum staff pose immense challenges to educators. Furthermore, digital representations of historic artifacts are often removed from authentic, culturally-situated surroundings. Kresy shows how video game affordances, particularly interactive narrative, may support object-based learning in digital environments. To support object-based learning and engagement with 20th -century Eastern European history, Kresy weaves story through evidence collection and inquiry mechanics.
The Chroniclers
Role: Curricular Specialist
The Chroniclers is a 3D adventure prototype intended to teach both information literacy and world-history to middle-school students. Without information literacy, names, dates, and events may be simply accepted and tossed aside after each lesson. In this single-player game, students play as time-travelling guardians of history that solve problems in various ancient settings. To solve these problems, players must gather, evaluate, and, most importantly, create new information by grappling with sources that illustrate historical context and perspectives
Intended gameplay aligns with the Missouri Learning Standards, 6-12 Social Studies Grade Level Expectations, provided by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) as well as the National Council for Social Studies Curriculum Standards for Social Studies.
LibWay
Role: LexMizzou Competitor
LibWay is library orientation system prototype designed as an iOS application. LibWay teaches library users the foundational skills of searching and retrieving books and rewards them with access to a web-based tool that visualizes navigation. Additionally, this prototype is designed to be open-source.