This is for those who are not so sure about the term Edupunk. As a disturbance in a current, this seems fitting and comes from EDU and DIY. Plus it is technically a disturbance.
If you think about the path one takes through life as that taken by water via currents, affecting and guiding those currents becomes important. This is evident in a year old article I ran across about how Microsoft fine tuned the Halo games.
In that article it is covered how there is a group of people and tools with the sole purpose of gathering and analyzing gameplay data. The paths and choices players made is used to identify problems and potential solutions. The goal? Get the player to follow a path, to go with the intended flow.
When designing any sort of experience, there is a set of goals you have. This is true of game designing, team management, teaching and many other roles in life. Even parenting could be thought of in this way.
The fastest path is not always the best. In a game it could be like taking the fastest path and not getting the required amount of experience, leaving you in a situation where you can't go forward or backward. The same can happen in education and in the workplace. Businesses growing faster than they can handle sometimes go out of business. It's called growing pains.
So if the fastest method isn't always the best, another path must be found. A slower path that gives us what we need, such as the information learned from being around those who are commonly called giants. I'm referring to the phrase, "standing on the shoulders of giants". Those giants alter the current around them and give people reason to pause and consider, but more importantly they benefit those who take the time to consider. How the person does this isn't important, so much as the effect.
There are many things that affect the flow of current. Obstacles can do much the same. However the obstacles naturally hinder progress, such as mastering the curriculum or having fun in a game. Change the goal and the obstacles may help like the giants, and giants may become obstacles.
One last thing to mention is what these giants and obstacles are in real life. Anything like a tool, part of a tool, process and other thing we do or use. They can help or hinder us on our journey to reach our goals. Any action or inaction made by a person can affect how things go. In this way the situation, whether virtual, in a class room or both (anywhere in fact) can be the thing that needlessly slows down, gets people to consider or sends people past without much of a thought.
Have fun, spread the word and tell me what you think,
Igen Oukan
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