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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[machinima] Epic Journey: Flying to learn

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 [...]

Situated Learning in WoW: Exploring Random dungeons (PUGs)

By Melanie, on February 24th, 2010

In my ongoing quest to locate the pedagogical value of games (via game play, research and dialogue), I have come across an interesting example of situated learning in WoW: The random dungeon, or “PUG.”

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, here is an excellent and educator friendly overview.

“A PUG [...]