Computer Science Colloquium: Three Perspectives on Multidisciplinary Collaboration in the ImmersiveGame Development Studio

Wednesday, October 29, 2014, 3:00 PM, LB 125

Three Perspectives on Multidisciplinary Collaboration in the ImmersiveGame Development Studio

Charlie Ecenbarger, TCOM / Digital Storytelling
Paul Gestwicki, Computer Science
Elmar Hashimov, English / Rhetoric and Composition

Ball State University

Abstract

In Spring 2014, a multidisciplinary team designed and developed _The Bone Wars_, an original educational video game about the historic feud between 19th-century rival paleontologists Othniel C. Marsh and Edward D. Cope. The team comprised ten undergraduate students and one graduate students, and they worked with The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis in this immersive learning project. This colloquium presentation will provide three perspectives on The Bone Wars project. Paul Gestwicki, who served as the project mentor, will discuss the team’s design and development processes, how these were implemented in a shared methodology, and how this approach produced evidence of student learning outcomes. Charlie Ecenbarger will discuss the role of community engagement and digital media, including the incorporation of gaming conventions, blogs, and Twitter into the project. Elmar Hashimov will describe his ethnographic case study of the immersive studio environment, using the writing, activity, and genre research lens to understand students’ complex multiliteracies and reflective practice.

Ball State English Department to Celebrate Digital Literature Review

On April 22, @BSU_English and @BSUDLR invite the digital humanities community to the Schwartz Digital Viewing Complex to celebrate and explore its ongoing project, The Digital Literature Review. Founded on an immersive learning grant, the project has been directed this spring by Professors Adam Beach and Deborah Mix.

According to Mix, digital humanities projects occurring on and off campus provided inspiration for DLR, including Professor Miranda Garno Nesler’s blog “Performing Humanity” and ongoing series produced by Bedford/St. Martin’s. The goal was to use digital platforms to push students “to think about research not just as a kind of hothouse flower for the classroom but as something interesting and relevant to audiences outside the classroom context.” To this end, Beach and Mix oversaw the students’ creation of cultural contexts editions of public domain ghost stories and related critical essays, and they encouraged the students to see themselves as the producers rather than simply the consumers of editions.

The DLR will debut on April 22. The team invites participation, attendance, and feedback on what they envision as a long-term and continuing project.