Hi, I'm Susan 👋🏻

Hello! My name is Susan Maynor, currently working on my EdSp in Learning Technologies and Design. I live in Kansas City, MO where I work as a learning experience designer/creativity coach in an elementary school. I also work/consult with several schools in Kansas and Missouri to help teachers create compelling learning experiences for students. I have two amazing boys, an awesome husband, and a dog who thinks she is queen of the world. I love to tinker in the garden, create digital stuff (videos, animations, etc), cook, watch movies, and have adventures with my family. 

I am not a huge video gamer, though I love board games. Family game nights are frequent in our house with Catan, Codenames, Villainous, Rummy Z and more. My eldest plays D&D so character development and storylines are often discussed. When I do play games, I tend to choose puzzles, word or task completion games such as Words with Friends, Block Puzzle, Word Crush, or Mahjong. I typically play one of the above on a daily basis for a few minutes to unwind and let my brain rest from navigating people and projects during the day.

One of my favorite games, which isn’t digital, is Bananagrams. Love the puzzle and strategy and the manipulation of words and tiles. I also love Apples to Apples for the interaction with all the players. We play with my husband’s parents (80 and 81) and kids (20 and 22) and it makes for a lovely evening of laughter and family togetherness. 

 

My gaming motivations, for the most part, are accurate. The combination of Architect and Gardener seems to blend my love for creativity in game play, with the need for strategic thinking and task completion. I like both task completion in the short term and the building of something meaningful in the long term. For example, in Words with Friends, it is all about the creation of words (utilizing each player's play) to ultimately use all the letters, which creates a unique design. With Catan, there are short term tasks in each turn to build settlements and cities and achieve victory points to win. The whole gaming motivations was interesting to read. Looking forward to learning more. 

Arch's Bonus Discussion

When players and learners are given agency, they step into the driver's seat of their own experiences, making choices that shape their learning journey and outcomes. Choice and ownership can ignite deeper connections with content, encouraging exploration, experimentation, engagement, even creativity. As an educator, I spend much of time designing and developing learning experiences rooted in learner agency. The more agency is woven into the experience, the greater the learning outcome. 

I would define player agency as the power to steer the game’s narrative through meaningful decisions utilizing thoughtful strategies and choice. I would define learner agency as giving students the reins to their learning journey, enabling them to make informed decisions and choices on what they learn (within the constraints of curriculum/learning standards) and how they learn (learning process and product). 

For me, agency is the heartbeat of both gameplay and learning. In games, it transforms a passive experience into a personal interactive adventure. As a little girl, I loved reading Choose Your Own Adventure stories. When I have agency in a game, I'm invested, I'm all in. I like to play when there is more than one way. In learning, agency can breathe life into the learning process, fostering motivation, creativity, and ownership. When I'm given agency in learning paths, my response is the same as game play -- I'm invested. I'm all in. I like to experiment in learning and not follow a direct path forged by someone else. As a bit of a maverick, agency is super important to me as a player and a learner. 


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