Learning Science Meets Game Design: Sharing Inside and Outside the Classroom

This is both a seperate topic and a sequel to Keeping People Involved. In that post I covered some of the lessons I've learned through my social media experiences. This is another part of keeping people involved, but also has a lot to do with being productive.

The reason for the title is that sharing ideas and views contributes greatly towards critical thinking. This is applicable to any group and game design, but as my readers know, I have a focus on education and game design which I see as fundamentally the same action with different goals.

http://opencontent.org/blog/archives/650
http://www.edtechpost.ca/wordpress/2008/11/08/just-share-already/
http://shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html
http://www.darcynorman.net/2008/11/08/scott-leslie-on-how-sharing-works/

Instead of talking about that contents of the links listed above, I'll share some of how sharing actually helps keep people involved and motivated.

Transparent Leadership

Telling the community what's going on is sharing. It shows respect and accountability. Both of which are part of good leadership. Showing respect to your community makes them feel like they matter, that their contributions matter and that it is worthwhile to participate. Showing accountability make you more a part of the community, leading by doing, rather than just telling people what to do.

Informative Updates

Not only does informing the team make them feel valued, it keeps the community up to date. That is something that should not be underestimated for value. When people don't think there is anything for them to do, it's bad, but when they think nothing is getting done it's worse. Still in the water is the next thing to sinking, and timely information about how things are progressing is a good way to keep people interested.

Inviting Feedback

Sharing what's going on and what you think gives people the ability to give feedback. Not only is that something that most anybody can do, it can be a worthwhile thing to do. Solutions, ideas, opinions and more are helpful to communications and moving plans forward. Showing that the feedback is valued will encourage the community to participate.

Empowering Contributors

Many solutions are generated by group members, but they need information to come across those solutions, or know they are needed. Sometimes all it takes is letting people know you are receptive to suggestions. Other times informing the group about the problem is how to leverage the power of the group. It's amazing how much talent goes unnoticed and how many solutions aren't found, just because information isn't shared.

There are many other ways that sharing information can help. Basically sharing is communicating. Good communication is vital to any group. The larger the group the better the lines of communications need to be. So, whether it's in a class, forum, design team or other type of group, sharing is generally a good idea.

Have fun, spread the word and tell me what you think,
Igen Oukan