Thanks to a former student in my games class (and now current explorer and builder), Marshall, I’ve received and invitation to participate in beta testing of Metaplace, described on the home page as follows:

Metaplace gives you the power to create, share, and live in your own unique virtual world. Hang out with friends, build your space, grow your community, and have fun. It’s not just for techies anymore — it’s for everyone who uses the Web today.

I find this a very opportune invitation as we’re getting very comfortable with the potential uses of virtual worlds in class and sense that we’re ready to design both prototypes and research agendas. I’ve only had a couple minutes in world, but am pleased by the style and layout of the site. Although I don’t think I can spare too much time right now building a place in Metaplace, I will certainly put it on my To Do list and hopefully get back to it in early May to give it due attention.

Once it’s out of beta, I’ll share screen capture of my initial foray into Metaplace.

Last night in class I showed the below video - Jim Gee presenting a case for why games and game play demonstrates the type knowledge, skills, and interactions we should value in education. One of the strongest arguments one might extract from the clip is that there are is now a very strong impetus for being creative and innovative in the classroom and out. It is no longer an academic exercise, but an economic imperative to allow kids to be more sophisticated learners. BTW, I’m by no means the first to pass this excerpt along as others have earlier gotten the word out (see: Brainy Gamer).

Another term that came out of last night’s discussion, was design thinking. Although I have yet to find a definitive definition of the term, Fast Company has an article, Design Thinking…What Is That? that dances close enough around the idea to get the gist. From my understanding, it’s the type thinking exhibited by folks in professions such as industrial, interaction, and instructional design - a cognitive ability to deal with ill-structured problems in a disciplined, yet innovate, fashion. It’s an ability to deal with ambiguity and less-than-desired outcomes as well.