Susan Maynor's Creative Quest

  Several years ago, I completed a master's in digital communications, and one of my favorite classes in the program was video storytelling. The experience of this class led to years of crafting, editing, and producing various visual narratives, primarily for schools, along with teaching the production process to K-12 students.  In the production process, I discover and learn the beautiful nuances of stories, and as the story guides and unfolds, I listen and work creatively to put the pieces together. Gamestorming and designing a story for the learning process felt similar. Once I could see the characters, antagonists, and conflicts in my head, I let the story guide and unfold. As a visual-spatial learner, I think in images and visual patterns rather than words or sequential steps. Here are a couple of visuals of how my brain works:   🤪 Garden Heroes is my first game-storming experience. When I'm in school/taking a class, my creativity is reserved. The objectives, t...

Refinement:  After feedback from Danielle and attending the Twine workshop on Wednesday, I’ve refined my story. General idea of students being heroes is still there but instead of designing a playground, they will redesign a pollinator garden. The content will be less complex with more concrete options. Though gardening is nuanced, for elementary kids it is generally straight forward. The goal would be to teach about pollinator gardening and use the engineering design process to scaffold the game. My original idea was more focused on teaching the design thinking process, and in reflection, that is a tall order for a game, along with the content of designing a playground!  Learning Objectives:  Given the real—world design challenge of redesigning a failed pollinator garden, students apply garden ecosystem knowledge to create a thriving pollinator garden, demonstrating decisions that result in a thriving garden. Given gardening challenges, students analyze and apply solutio...

So this is my first draft of mapping my story. I need to go back and write out all the narrative components, but I think I have it organized in a way that will allow various outcomes based on decisions.  My next steps are to go back and fill in story details, develop the character of the Barren Beast a bit more, and flesh out some of the places that need the story to drive the decision. This is where the fun begins!  Learning objective:  Given the real—world design challenge of redesigning a failed pollinator garden, students apply garden ecosystem knowledge and solve garden challenges to create a thriving pollinator garden, demonstrating choices and decisions that result in a thriving garden. Decisions along the way include:  1. Deciding between native vs. non-native plants along with a water source for pollinators -- all impacted by the climactic challenge of drought.  2. Deciding to fix the structure of the garden to avoid issues with erosion.  3. Decidi...

Story Building....from Playgrounds to Gardens  For this project, I am leaning into Christopher Vogler's structure for writing screenplays detailed in his book A Writer's Journey: A Mythic Structure for Writing. I find his breakdown of the hero's journey within the three act structure of film lends itself well to game design.  Revised Learning Objective:  Given the real—world design challenge of redesigning a failed pollinator garden, students apply garden ecosystem knowledge and solve garden challenges to create a thriving pollinator garden, demonstrating choices and decisions that result in a thriving garden. Beginning (Exposition)  Ordinary world Call to adventure Refusal of the call Meeting with the mentor Crossing the first threshold Ordinary World The story begins with the main character (garden design hero) observing an overgrown school garden (raised garden bed, which is what most schools use.) I started writing the narrative so I could visualize the scen...

Proposed Title: Design Heroes  Learning Goal:   The goal of the game is to teach the design thinking process with creative thinking strategies by addressing the challenge of designing an inclusive playground that is accessible, fun, and safe for all students.  Intended Learner: Upper elementary students (3rd-5th) studying STEAM concepts such as engineering and physics. Learning Objective: Given the real-world design challenge of building an inclusive playground, students use the design thinking process (Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test, Iterate) to create a plausible solution that incorporates accessibility and inclusivity, demonstrating empathy and creativity throughout the design process.  Story Plot:  In a futuristic world where creativity, play, and empathy are all but forgotten, students are recruited by the Builders of Tomorrow, a secret society of inventors, dreamers, and designers who are working to build a better tomorrow using the design thi...

Ideation Techniques  This was an interesting experience for me. As an idea person, I often don't use a technique to ideate. I listen, I connect, I respond. However, throughout this experience, I learned what techniques help me dig deeper. Having the tendency to stay in the ideation space, I found ideation techniques helpful to scaffolded different experiences to explore the unknown.  Rapid Ideation and Refinement: I set the timer, did all the things, but struggled to focus and keep in the zone. Fifteen minutes was looooong. I came up with several ideas (by myself) in the first few minutes then was distracted by the dog. I was not productive during refinement as the way my brain works is for any idea to take flight, I need time and lots of marinating.  Idea Cards: This was an interesting experience, one I would do again. Rapid Ideation is pulling ideas out of thin air. This experience offered connection. I didn't come up with the game idea during this experience, but I d...

Defining Learning Content  Though the education landscape is vast and filled with diverse initiatives, philosophies, and communities, I spend much of my time as a learning experience designer standing on the precipice of what's next in education. The following four topics are ones that consistently pique my curiosity and interest:  Fostering Creativity in Teaching and Learning  Cultivating Creative Confidence in Learners (for teachers?)  Character Education | Compassionate Innovation  Design Thinking for the Elementary Classroom I have always been a champion for creativity in the classroom. From building a rainforest with 4th graders to creating short films with high schoolers, I am passionate about unlocking creative genius. After reading  The Collaborative Conflict Between AI and Creativity  by my educator friend, Dr. Sabba Quidwai, I have a game design idea: Warning, stream of consciousness ahead 🤪 What if students could see  themselves as des...

I played Spent and Domovoi. In typical Susan form, I completely missed the detail that I was to only analyze one...and did both! 🤪 Learned a ton, though, which is all that matters!! SPENT What emotional gameplay! As I played, I found myself transported back to when I was a young widow with two little boys, having lost my husband to cancer. Empathy bubbled up for my younger self, having to make trade-off decisions requiring both integrity and always prioritizing my children first. The decisions within the game were much more dire than the ones I faced, which prompted me to reflect on the more significant issues of hunger, poverty, and homelessness.  In  SPENT , the plot centers around the player taking on the role of a single parent with limited financial means. The goal of the game is to survive on $1000 a month. To achieve that goal, the player faces challenging financial choices and has to make decisions, many of which are blind, Hobson's Choice, and trade-offs. Insert wide...

Reflection on this week's play.  I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books as a child. Reflecting back with analysis, the reason I loved those books was because of the reader agency and multiple paths and outcomes. As in life, there was no one way. Zoombinis offers a similar play experience in that there are choices and different paths to take. In both Zoombinis and the books, the player/reader makes decisions that directly affect the outcome. In Zoombinis , I can choose which path to take and how to solve puzzles based on the Zoombinis' attributes. In the books, I can choose a different option that leads to various different narrative branches. As a reading/playing experience, I'm engaged and invested.  Both experiences offer multiple pathways and outcomes. In Zoombinis , different routes lead to varying puzzles and challenges, and in the books, different choices lead to alternate storylines. Because of the variance, both can be replayed. In the replay, new strategies might...

Mentor Game Details Back in the 90s, inspired by research on data literacy and a children's visual data tool, Broderbund and TERC (non-profit) teamed up to create a fun educational game called Logical Journey of the Zoombinis.  Released in 1996, this game featured adorable blue creatures with unique personalities, escaping from the evil Bloats to reach the safety of Zoombiniville. It quickly became a hit loved by both parents and teachers for its blend of learning and fun. The game inspired many kids to pursue careers in computer science. In 2015, TERC, with FableVision Games and Learning Games Network, relaunched Zoombinis for modern platforms, bringing it to classrooms today including research-backed support on its educational impact (Zoombinis: About). The game primarily targets children aged 8-12. However, it could definitely appeal to a broader audience, including older children and adults who enjoy logic-based puzzles. Zoombinis, as a game, includes twelve math-based logic ...