Schooling Myself

Well, it's been about two weeks since I graduated with my M.S. in Educational Technology. I learned a great deal over the past two years, but now comes the hard work of finding a job and making a career.

I've had jobs before, of course. I liked some of them, and I didn't like others. In almost every case, there were things I enjoyed about the work or culture and things I disliked. Ultimately, I returned to school because I wanted to work on something that I felt passionate about. I have had a taste of that kind of work in the form of the research that I've been a part of in the past year. But even so, I have a hard time answering a question that I've heard a lot recently: "What do you want to do?"

I want to do all sorts of things, and few of them (if any) amount to a traditional career path. Which is not to say that they don't amount to possible careers, in various aggregations. I have always been happiest and done my best work in situations where I have the freedom be creative and to carve out an independent role for myself.

As a New Englander by birth and by temperament, I don't tend to use this blog for self-reflection—good fences make good neighbors, and all that—but what the hell. It's a new year, I'm looking forward to a new phase of my life, and I only have about twenty readers in any case. Here's a list of what I want, professionally.

• I want to continue to research how game mechanics and game-like interfaces can used to improve online (and blended classroom-online) education. So far, my colleagues and I have conducted one case study on this, and we are currently revising our technology and methodology in preparation for a second. My role has focused on game design, interface design and user experience design. Analyzing game mechanics and systems in order to predict their value and efficacy in a new context is a kind of creative synthesis that I really enjoy.
• I want to work with people who can challenge me in all sorts of ways. People who know a lot about pedagogy and/or games will question my assumptions and help me to think more clearly and reach better conclusions. I have been lucky enough to have research colleagues who can advocate strongly for student-centered learning and for good instructional design. I also hope to work with people who know more about game design than I do, and from whom I can learn.
• I want to experiment more deeply with game design. I am the kind of person who obsessively analyzes the construction of the media I consume—books, movies, games, journalism, everything. But I have much less experience designing game systems than picking them apart. I understand mechanics and genre, and I love listening to intelligent discussions of design minutiae (Idle Thumbs used to be fabulous for this, and Three Moves Ahead remains a must-listen), but this isn't good enough. I feel like someone who can read but not write. I recently picked up Challenges for Game Designers, an excellent book by Brenda Brathwaite and Ian Schreiber, and it's only stoking this fire even further. I plan to pitch my D&D buddies on trying to prototype a simple tabletop game tonight, so we'll see how that goes.
• I want to gain more hands-on experience in instructional design. My current position at the University of Arizona College of Medicine has evolved from simple web design and implementation to project management and instructional design, and this has proven to be a rewarding learning experience. I enjoy talking to educators and students about what they want and need, and then finding creative solutions that rely on technology, interaction and curriculum design.
• I want to write about games for a wider audience—or rather, I want to expand the circle of people with whom I have meaningful conversations about games. I'm in awe of sites like Experience Points, Lost Garden and The Brainy Gamer, whose authors manage to frequently produce insightful and interesting content about games. I find myself talking back to my iPod or my computer screen more often than can possibly be healthy. I've already begun to use Twitter more, and I also intend to actually communicate my responses to other writers and podcasters. Look forward to more comments from me on other sites. Or dread it, you know. Whatever floats your boat.
• Relatedly, I want to develop relationships with more of the people I admire in both academia and the game industry. I have a tendency to assume that people who I hold in high regard will have no interest in talking to me. This is a stupid thing to assume, particularly when it's repeatedly proven false. I suppose this stems from a fear of seeming like a sycophant, or of being ignored. I have had the opportunity to meet some brilliant people lately, including James Gee and Liz Danforth; and there are others with whom I've established contact online. Everyone has been kind and has gone out of their way to be helpful. I'm going to keep starting conversations with people when I have something to say to them, and if I occasionally come across like a doofus, so be it.
• I want to keep playing more games. I only recently got an Xbox 360. Between this and Steam support on the Mac, I've been spending far more time playing games lately than I had in the previous few years. I nearly skipped a generation of games, and that would have been a big mistake—I would have missed some really interesting and innovative games, and I would have been unable to understand how gaming culture, business and technology are evolving.
• I want to return to working on The Educational Games Database. I think it needs to be a true wiki, rather than a Drupal site. I need to focus on more practical content-alignment articles; that may not be the only way to teach with games, but it's the one that most teachers are looking for right now.

That's a start. I've pushed myself a lot over the past two years, and I see no reason to stop now. Here's to a fabulous 2011.