About Melanie McBride is a researcher at Ryerson University’s Experiential Design and Gaming Environments (EDGE) lab. See her About page for more information.
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By Melanie, on May 19th, 2011 The following post was originally published for Ryerson University’s EDGElab blog
This is a picture of learning in action. It’s what happens when you go off-road and really explore and test the limits of things and disaster becomes success. It’s also the basis for meaningful, autonomous and open ended learning and play. And the starting [...]
By Melanie, on March 23rd, 2011 “In search of diamonds” Blocky mix (minecraft machinima)
Last week I finally got around to playing the lavatacular 8-bit sandbox PC game Minecraft! In addition to having lots of fun, I’m also thinking all the great forms of learning it engages. Bryan Alexander, was among the first to identify the educational virtues of the game’s [...]
By Melanie, on March 5th, 2011 Remix artist Pogo’s Disney remix “Alice”
In 2009, I came across the inspiring work of self-taught Australian remix musician Nick Bertke (aka “Pogo”). As a media teacher doing remix in my own media production classes, I was interested in learning more about Pogo and his creative process. So I interviewed him about it.
What I [...]
By Melanie, on February 12th, 2011
“Gee and other educators worry that students who are comfortable participating in and exchanging knowledge through affinity spaces are being de-skilled as they enter the classroom”- Henry Jenkins, Convergence Culture
Every day, I’m struck by the differences between the experiences I have in situated affinity spaces and those of my educational communities [...]
By Melanie, on February 5th, 2011 Know your Meme: Leeroy Jenkins (if you don’t know this meme, read on :)
“By convergence, I mean the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation of multiple media industries, and the migratory behaviour of media audiences who will go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences [...]
By Melanie, on September 22nd, 2010
My second Machinima: Epic Journey: Travel forms in WoW
Have you ever wanted to fly (like a bird)? This is just one more thing you can experience in a synthetic world that you can’t do in reality. And I stress the word “experience” versus activity – because the brain doesn’t distinguish between “real” or [...]
By Melanie, on September 19th, 2010
Hurrah! The other day the New York Times feature “Learning by Playing: Videogames in the Classroom” was the big talk among many of the Twittering teachers I follow. While many edu-gamers have long known the value of games for learning (and I’m not talking “educational” games), the really interesting story for me is the [...]
By Melanie, on September 8th, 2010 “The reward, in other words, doesn’t have to be a useful or fun thing in itself, it need only be an obvious outward sign that the wearer of it has done some difficult work to get it.”
- Edward Castronova, Synthetic Worlds : The business and culture of online games (2005)
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By Melanie, on September 2nd, 2010
After a wonderful and reflective summer I’m readying myself for a new school year at a new board in a new city. Though I will be shifting to part-time teaching in order to write a book, I am enthusiastic about the opportunity to meet diverse learners in varied learning communities throughout this [...]
By Melanie, on August 22nd, 2010 My first-year teaching at an inner city school was one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, of my life. Despite five years instructing post-graduate industry tech courses at the college level, I was very much the noob high school teacher. But it wasn’t just any high school but a program for at-risk learners, aged 18-20, [...]
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