Wow, can you believe it? We are actually publishing a tip of the week. In truth, I've been sitting on this one for a little while but it still a tool I love and use regularly. One of the valuable pieces that I have yet to explore is the ability of Survey Monkey to include logic in the questions to actually use it as a survey that might be able to form a conclusion. For me, I would like to create a survey that helps the participant understand what level of effort they may have to apply to a class based on their experience with uncertain areas of technology proficiency. It would serve as an evaluation tool more than just a raw survey. If you've never used it before, I highly recommend it.

Have you never taken a moment to analyze the video games do you play? Especially in the early stages of a game, a fair amount of teaching and learning must take place. If you're familiar with the system, the controller, the logic scheme, and the basic mythology of the game, it's likely that you enjoy and are highly engaged. But if the game is new to you, the controls are unfamiliar, or the exact purpose of your gameplay is veiled, you are more likely to put the controller down and go ride a bike.

Lately I have been buying older console games from eBay to explore the educational structures that exist in game design. I can think of no better way to "research" how games teach participants then to explore the structures myself. In an environment that requires engagement to be effective (much like formal education), observing techniques games used to teach participants while still a dancing gameplay is uniquely valuable. Learning and fun are often embedded together in these environments.

In one of my recent purchases, I acquired a game from the early 2000s called the "Mis-Edventures of Ed, Edd, and Eddie." My kids love this Cartoon Central staple but I have never been a fan. It's goofy, scattered, and the animation is shaky. However, the introduction to this game prepared in almost perfect cartoon form was engaging and interesting. Our three characters are trying to locate ice to make snow cones. It's a simple premise that aligns with the show's mundane world.

After outlining the objective, the game places the simple message "collect ice cubes to make snow cones" on the center of the screen with a simple button tap to confirm you understand the task. You control one of the three characters and as you approach items receipt prompts. The other two characters yell at you, call you names, and help to direct your actions. You make a mistake, they make fun of you. This fits a comfortable show premise perfectly. At one point it's necessary to find and throw a cat. This took a ridiculous amount of time to figure out. Instructions that require specific buttons need to include those buttons in the description. Engagement is lost while flipping back and forth between the reference materials and the game itself. Effective learning elements are situated. The task, tool, and instruction are situated to be used authentically. Eventually, much of this scaffolding can be removed to allow more immersive gameplay.

The take away point is effective game/learning design is situated, combining task, tool, and instruction.

The iPad has finally landed and looks to be a hit. The vast majority of opinions about the new tablet computer law its power, functionality, and ease. Critics contend that the platform is not really a computer.  Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Apple Senior systems engineer Dan Sinema to discuss these objections. He helped illustrate the compartmentalized approach to Apple's apps. For stability, each application is a standalone tool containing everything it needs to be successful. All of the media it produces fits within that compartment. With the exception of her rare few Apple specific tools (i.e. iPhoto, iMovie, etc.) each product creates and manages its own files and media within that application. There is no sharing. This feature makes the platform infinitely more stable than its predecessors and contributes to its criticism as a less than desktop-like environment.

Personally, I found this to be quite a revelation. I completely understand how my iPhone and iPad work now.

However, if you're interested in more of a computing desktop platform several new tools have hit the market. It seems like everybody's getting in the game now. Internet supergiant Google has announced they will be producing their own tablet device.  Expert reviews reports that Google, "plans to build its own slate device - with the likelihood being the company is partnering with smartphone specialist HTC to create the hardware, as has happened previously with Google's Nexus One handset."

It's pretty exciting, to say the least. Couple the new Google device with cloud computing and we are beginning to witness the emergence of an entirely new paradigm.  All I have to say is, "Wow!"