07 Nov Persona Design Challenge Game
As part of a presentation at OLC Innovate 2018 in Nashville, TN, Jess Knott, Breana Yaklin, Nick Lepeschkin-Noel, and Caroline White created a game to teach people about the different people associated with the Monomyth Online Framework. The presentation, I Need A Hero—Incorporating Monomyth And Narrative In Online Course Design, explored the role of Joseph Campbell’s “hero’s journey” in establishing students as the “epic heroes” of online courses. Participants played three original games inspired by old favorites Dungeons and Dragons, The Oregon Trail and Carmen San Diego, and reflected on narrative in the design of online curriculum, environments and processes.
This game, The Persona Design Challenge Game, takes its roots from Dungeons and Dragons, and guides players through the process of thinking about the uniques abilities and needs of learners in the online classroom.
To play the game, you do the following:
- To start the game, each player draws one card from each pile, 1 – 4 and places them on their persona board (1 minute)
- Roll the die. The player with the highest number is the round facilitator.
- Next, each player takes two minutes (timed by the round facilitator) to write a biography for their persona based on the information they’ve placed on their persona board.
- The round facilitator rolls the die, and selects the corresponding challenge number. If a six is rolled, the round facilitator randomly draws a challenge from the pile.
- The round facilitator reads the challenge. Each player then has five minutes to design a solution to the problem.
- Each player has two minutes to share their solution.
- The round facilitator selects the solution that most resonated with them (made them think, challenged their assumptions, or resonated with their educational philosophies) and gives the designer a token. This step is subjective and intended to facilitate conversation and sharing.
- The person to the right of the current round facilitator becomes round facilitator for the next round.
- The game ends when all scenarios have been designed. The player with the most tokens wins.
Want to play the game yourself? Download a copy below:
Persona Design Challenge Game (.pdf)
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