NEWS: Gainful gaming

Computer games need not be just an after-school activity — it could also motivate students to learn.

The past decade has been the decade of online social networks, where Internet users could connect with each other, wherever they are.

The next decade will see the rise of what is called game dynamics.

Game dynamics has always been a part of our lives and for a long time, has been determining many of our actions that we assumed were independently and consciously made to suit our own purposes.

Possible future?: Imagine a game that makes students intrinsically want to learn, without them realising they’re learning. — File photo

Petrol stations attract repeat customers by giving prizes and rewards to those who accumulate points to a certain level, using an aspect of game dynamics called Progression Dynamics.

Bars and hotels control your movements so that you are present at a certain time and at their premises in order to enjoy the benefits of happy hour, banking on Appointment Dynamics.

Banks make their credit cards appear the most prestigious and stimulate you to crave an imagined lifestyle, employing Influence and Status Dynamics.

Facebook, through its farm game, has influenced 70 million users to log on every 24 hours to farm their virtual gardens. I wonder if people realise the level of power this gives Facebook!

How can we employ this powerful application called Game Dynamics to help captivate and motivate our students to immerse themselves in 21st century education that requires creativity, deep thought and innovation?

How can we apply game dynamics to subtlely infuse new ideas and motivations that will transform our education system?

Let’s start playing with game dynamics and discover how it could change the way students view and interact with education.

Appointment Dynamics can be used by teachers to ensure students actually revise and look through material that had been learnt in the classroom.

For example, a small window of a few hours can be given after school, during which students could SMS or email with answers to specific questions that are sent during that window.

Students will need to have access to their learning material at home in order to answer these questions.

The points derived from just participating could lead to a chance to further improve their standing on a class or school achievers list.

The student only gets bragging rights, but it does cater to intrinsic motivations that direct purpose in the student’s life.

Progression Dynamics follows through on the list above. Once a student reaches the top and stays there for a fixed time, then he becomes part of an exclusive club, meaning he levels up to another group that will be posed with much harder and challenging assignments and projects.

This uses the principle of Influence and Status Dynamics, because the club is exclusive, and now, students in this club can influence teachers to determine what type of questions will be sent out at the lower level.

They can increase levels of difficulty so that lower level students find it harder to enter the exclusive levels, since too many members in the exclusive club would make it lose its exclusivity.

This is where Quests Dynamics comes into the picture.

Quests are an established gameplay mechanic that can be broadly applicable.

They work because they give people something to do when they first show up and thereafter.

Quests that offer measureable goals, broken into small achievable quantities, work best.

One of the recent discoveries that have come out of masses of players exploring virtual worlds on similar quests is another very powerful dynamic termed Communal Discovery Dynamics.

This is based on Collective Intelligence (CI), which harnesses the collective brain power of team members to solve problems and create novel knowledge.

This coming decade will see very innovative software taking over the roles of consultants and advisors, and providing real time, just-in-time intelligence for decision makers, based on automated CI software.

In other words, what I am talking about is not just games as an after-hours activity for students. With the right support, this powerful brain and learning-shaping tool could be brought directly into the classroom.

Just imagine, instead of teachers chasing after students and punishing, bribing, rewarding, scolding them to learn, students will be chasing after teachers to explain lesson modules that they need to understand in order to solve quests.

From a neuroscientific point of view, learning occurs best when the brain is not trying to learn.

The focus becomes the game itself, and the content mastery becomes a tool that has to be utilised for one to progress to the next level.

Even though this will sound very fishy to old-timers — who will say, “I studied with no technology and I turned out fine!” — remember, this is the 21st century.

We are looking and an exploding evolution of the human brain — an explosion which is accentuated and augmented by technology.

NEWS: Making history

INSTEAD of the conventional role-playing game where the gamer just aims and kills to earn points, Form Two student S.Sarvesh, 14, has designed a unique quiz/game to test a player’s knowledge on what has been taught in History at local schools.

In fact, little did he know that the game he created for a competition would actually help his friends build up a keen interest in history.

He decided to develop the game for Microsoft’s inaugural Kodu Kup competition with help from schoolmate Eng Kok Leong.

Sarvesh and Kok Leong showing Farad (standing, left) and Zainuddin the game they created for the competition.

It took him by surprise when Kok Leong began to show a serious interest in the subject, which the latter had previously viewed as “dull and dry”.

“At first, I thought he would not be enthusiastic about my idea of coming up with a game that quizzed players about what we learnt in history at school.”

“It turned out that he liked the game very much and actually found it useful for it helped him remember dates and understand facts better when preparing for History tests,” said Sarvesh after conducting a demo of the games he developed over the past few weeks.

The Kodu Kup also made history in his school — SMK Taman Bukit Maluri, Kuala Lumpur.

“We were never allowed to play computer games in school before,” said Sarvesh.

“This is the first time that we are allowing students to play computer games in school,” said ICT teacher Zainuddin Zakaria.

“We want to encourage children to produce their own content and be creative,” he added.

Launched in July, participants must develop a computer game using the Kodu Game Lab — a simple and visual programming language developed by Microsoft Research.

Malaysia has been chosen as one of the first three countries in the world to host the competition, together with Australia and Singapore.

Schools, students and teachers stand to win attractive prizes including notebook PCs, an XBOX 360 Arcade console gaming system, along with various Microsoft software and hardware.

At the end of the competition, students, aged between nine and 15, will be judged on the design and creativity of their games, the flow or gameplay, the depth of the game and what they learnt through development of the game.

Microsoft Malaysia education director Farad Alhusaini said that with its touch of fun, Kodu could be used as a learning tool that would give children a headstart in technology.

Farad acknowledged that computer games, while not usually seen as a learning tool, had the potential to be educational, if students themselves took the opportunity to participate in a competition such as the Kodu Kup.

“Instead of wasting their money and time at cyber cafes, students could take the opportunity to acquire critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

“Do something interesting with your friends. Create and share your works with your peers,” he said.

Meanwhile, Zainuddin said the challenge is for students to “think out of the box”.

As such, Zainuddin said he refrained from giving his students too many instructions.

“A teacher’s role is to be a facilitator in the competition.

“It will kill the students’ creativity if we give too many instructions and dictate what they should do,” he opined.

Responding to the concern whether students would neglect their studies when spending too much time in developing and testing games for the competition, Zainuddin said students must know how to manage their time effectively.

“We also ask for full co-operation from parents to ensure that their children do not neglect their studies and spend, say, only two hours a day on the game development,” he said.

In Microsoft’s efforts to build “School 2.0” – schools for the future – with the use of technology in education, Farad said teacher training was important as ever.

“Teachers need industry exposure so that they are are well-prepared and confident to lead their students. Schools also need to be flexible when responding to the teaching and learning trends,” he said.

NEWS: Creative content developers earn MDeC boost

CUTE: One of the winners of the animation category of MSC Malaysia Intellectual Property Creators Challenge Series 2010 was Enershia, which impressed the judges with a two-minute Flash animation clip about a 60-year-old villager, Pak Deman, and his pet monkey.

KUALA LUMPUR: We may soon see these Malaysian-made games on various devices next year. They are all winners in the recent MSC Malaysia Intellectual Property Creators Challenge Series 2010 competition.

Featuring exploration, battles and brain teasers, these games are still being developed and their creators have won RM50,000 each to turn their idea into a prototype.

Touch-based adventure game Nikki Holiday and the Pirate Star is the brainchild of Studio 212 Sdn Bhd, which is targeting it for Apple Inc's iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Abdul Sani Abdul Jalal, senior software developer at Studio 212, said the game was influenced by Adventures of Monkey Island, a classic PC game developed by LucasArts.

"The player needs to go exploring and will have to overcome all sorts of obstacles, as well as fight enemies, in our adventure game," he said. "It took us about two to three weeks to conceptualise."

Nikki Holiday and the Pirate Star also has a local flavour; there are several Malaysian landmarks in it, such as the Kuala Lumpur City Centre Twin Towers.

INTERESTING: TVBoy was one of the winners of the computer casual game category of the MSC Malaysia Intellectual Property Creators Challenge Series 2010 (MSC Malaysia IPCC) competition. The 2D game puzzle was created by Plentiful Sdn Bhd.

"We will be adding more local content over the next six months," Abdul Sani added.

Then there's Team P's TVboy, a 2D game puzzle for the PC. Programmer Lee Thin Guan said it took him and two graphics artists a fortnight to develop the game.

There are 80 levels in TVboy to challenge the player, comprising various puzzles that include mazes and blocks. "The purpose is to test the gamer's analytical skills," Lee said.

Apart from game ideas, there were also animation projects in the winners circle.

Enershia Sdn Bhd impressed the judges with its two-minute Flash animation clip about a 60-year-old villager and his pet monkey. The short has environmentalism as part of its theme.

"The story is about Pak Deman who rescues Zulu, a stray monkey, after its jungle home is bulldozed for urban development," said Hira Zahari, chief executive officer and producer at Enershia.

After that, Zulu will not leave the side of Pak Deman.

"Pak Deman and the monkey then go on an adventure, supporting themselves on their travels by plucking coconuts and doing street performances," Hira said. And the old man also learns a few things about life from the monkey.

Enershia's RM50,000 prize money will go towards its dream of making an animated series.

Expert help

The competition was divided into four categories - Animation, Computer Casual Games, Mobile Games and Digital Interactive Comics.

More than 50 finalists were pared down to 26 winners. The winners in the Digital Interactive Comics received RM20,000 each to further develop their ideas.

All the winners have to show results in the next six months.

To help them, they will undergo mentorships with several prominent industry players and receive access to development facilities at the MSC Malaysia Animation and Creative Content Centre (Mac3).

Mac3 is the Multimedia Development Corporation's (MDeC) incubation facility for content developers that is located in Cyberjaya.

MDeC, which is guardian of the national MSC Malaysia initiative, organises the annual competition. It then markets the developed products at content fairs worldwide, including the MIPTV and Mipcom events in France.

Ng Wan Peng, chief operating officer at MDeC, said 141 entries were received for the competition this year. This is a 32% increase over the number of entries last year.

"With each passing year, the level and quality of the entries show that our local talents are increasing in creativity and skills," she said.

NEWS: Webstore to push Malaysian books globally

KUALA LUMPUR: An online bookstore - www.booqc.com - has been set up to promote works by Malaysian authors and publishers.

"QuaChee," the founder of the online bookstore which was launched in March, said it is about time Malaysian authors and publishers get a place for them to be recognised internationally.

The online bookstore will be a gateway for local authors and publishers, especially the independents, to break into the international market, he said in a statement.

According to him, the webstore not only lists available Malaysian books, but also reviews and promotes them via social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

In conjunction with National Day, the store is having a "Quote it and win" contest, which offers 15 Malaysian books - including Malaysia's Living Heritage - Batik Inspirations - as prizes. - Bernama

NEWS: High-speed learning

Interacting in real time with experts from various countries simultaneously – without them being physically present – used to be a dream, but such technology is available today in various universities worldwide, including Malaysia.

At the Malaysian Research and Education Network (Myren) seminar themed “Harnessing Technology for Global Collaboration” recently, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) representative and speaker Dr Masami Nakata said that Myren was the answer to Unesco’s focus and overarching objective to achieve knowledge mobility in the areas of science and policies for sustainable development.

Currently based in Jakarta, Dr Masami said, “Myren is a very powerful tool.

Dr Masami says a lot can be achieved if the network was fully utilised.

“With high-speed intranet dedicated to education and research, we can achieve a lot if people know about its existence and make full use of it.”

The RM30mil network, which launched its second phase recently, sees an improved version of up to 14 times in speed and bandwidth capacity.

It offers direct linkages to other global research and education networks including Tien3, a network covering the Asia Pacific region, and Geant, which covers the European region.

The network also boasts high-speed bandwidth connections, covering 28 participating public and private universities in Malaysia, which will be joined by another 40 polytechnics and community colleges by the end of the year.

Dr Masami said, “Unesco has been using the Internet to spread information since 2006, but the Internet speed in South-East Asia is slow and very expensive. Because of that, we cannot really use it for video conferencing of live lectures, unlike Myren.”

She added that it was important to have an intranet connection that is able to link to other networks around the world, as global research and education networks (NRENS) have the ability to bring together all the best people in a particular field, without having to do it the old-fashioned way of being physically present.

“Asia already has a lot of expertise to share, so what we want is to add to the knowledge that is already there. This is easy with NRENS.”

Using agriculture as an example, Dr Masami said, “Because the climate and culture here are very different from those in the West, you cannot simply import expertise from the US because they may not fully understand the variables.

“However, NRENS are useful when you need help from other experts to share knowledge.”

Dr Masami, who coordinates the Engineering Science and Technology programmes, said that Unesco offers free courses in energy and sustainabality for anyone interested, particularly for students and lecturers.

Those who sign up would be immediately connected to the assigned lecturers in real-time from any institution with the Myren connection.

“Of course, the courses are also available online, but they are not interactive,” she said.

At the end of the day, Dr Masami said that the system is already available, so it is up to the individual institutions to make use what they have.

“A network needs users to sustain it. I would encourage academics to make full use of it,” she added.

NEWS: Staying ahead with IT

Already a premier institution in IT studies, MMU now aims to take on more initiatives that will give its graduates the extra edge.

THE country needs to revamp the information and communication technology (ICT) industry if it wants to stay relevant and become an information technology (IT) hub.

Multimedia University (MMU) president Prof Dr Zaharin Yusoff says the best way forward is for Malaysia to move away from being an IT-consumer nation and become an IT-producing nation.

It will then put Malaysia on par with other developed nations such as the United States (US), Japan and France as the country will be exporting its own software and applications.

“By then, we will stand the chance of having our own equivalent of Microsoft and Oracle, ” he says.

A view of the MMU campus in Malacca.

However, the MMU president admits that it may take some time for Malaysia to become a leading IT-producing nation until investments are available to develop IT products. Insufficient human capital in ICT, he shares, is also another factor which hampers the development of the industry.

Prof Zaharin adds that the launch of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in the 1990s created a hype and interest among students who suddenly were keen on pursuing higher education in ICT.

However, he laments that more IT graduates are working in other sectors compared to those who are servicing the ICT industry.

Prof Zaharin says that universities should focus on research and development projects

“The cause of this problem could be traced to the supply-demand mismatch in the human capital needs of the ICT industry and the skills of the crop of IT graduates rolled out by the universities and colleges.

“There was a misconception among the tertiary institutions then regarding the type of graduates actually needed by the industry,” he adds.

On hindsight, Prof Zaharin says more courses on computing or computer science should be offered instead of IT programmes which are product specific.

“This is to prevent the graduates from becoming ‘helpless’ when the products and tools used in the said programmes become obsolete,” he says.

He reveals that MMU, together with a few public universities, have decided to put an end to this problem by re-tuning the curriculum of their IT programmes.

R&D roadmap

Nevertheless, Prof Zaharin stresses that the effort of restructuring the curriculum of the IT courses is still not sufficient to propel the country into becoming an IT-producing nation.

“Universities should focus on research and development (R&D) and develop a R&D technology roadmap to give the ICT industry a boost,” he says.

Being the premier institution in IT studies, MMU is spearheading the initiative to work out a R&D technology roadmap with the support from government agencies and industry players.

“The roadmap will identify the direction that the ICT industry is moving into, besides laying the groundwork for R&D on ICT products and applications which will be produced by the industry, ” says Prof Zaharin.

He explains that the strength of a university lies in its R&D effort and his vision is to inculcate the R&D culture at the varsity.

For a start, he says MMU’s academic staff have a reduced teaching load so that they have more time to carry out research.

“Lectures will be made more real and interesting when the academic staff bring students’ attention to elements of their R&D work.

He adds that the students are not left behind as they are also actively involved in the R&D projects, gaining hands-on experience that will prepare them to serve in the ICT industry.

To complete the spectrum of R&D exposure to students, Prof Zaharin says the university is gearing towards commercialising its R&D projects.

“Through commercialism of such projects in IT, students can observe how technopreneurs and the ICT industry work,” he says.

Riding on the strength of the R&D culture, the university has centres of excellence which will be offering niche programmes such as knowledge management technology, a course which encompasses artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.

“Currently, there are special interest groups in every faculty and MMU is well-known for its specialisation in robotics,” says Prof Zaharin.

Other niche programmes in the pipeline include health informatics focusing on wellness, and laws which touch on the legal aspects that arise when technology crosses borders.

“The university is also planning to offer Sports Science with special focus on badminton,” says the MMU president.

Upcoming programme

With 4,500 international students coming from 79 countries, MMU is a melting pot of cultures that is very much alive and vibrant.

“The students bring an international flavour to the university and they love to perform,” says Prof Zaharin.

The university, he adds is planning to venture out its technology and business domain by offering a course in Experiential Performance Arts..

Prof Zaharin explains that it is a programme which marries creativity with IT.

“The course is something like Sports Science analysis in which technology is utilised to enhance the performance of the athletes or artistes,” he shares adding that this course will be handled by both the Faculty of IT and Faculty of Creative Multimedia.

On other future plans by MMU, Prof Zaharin says the university hopes to expand its global footprint by exporting its programmes overseas.

“It is not just internationalisation within the campus but also beyond,” he adds.

Currently, MMU exports its programmes to countries such as Iran, Kenya and Sudan.

MMU was ranked as a tier five university which is equivalent to “excellent status” in the Setara rating released by the Higher Education Ministry recently.

“We believe that it is our strength in R&D which had given us the extra edge in being ranked as one of the top institutions of higher learning in the country,” says Prof Zaharin.

Multimedia University is a contributor to the Star Education Fund.

NEWS: Staying ahead with IT

Already a premier institution in IT studies, MMU now aims to take on more initiatives that will give its graduates the extra edge.

THE country needs to revamp the information and communication technology (ICT) industry if it wants to stay relevant and become an information technology (IT) hub.

Multimedia University (MMU) president Prof Dr Zaharin Yusoff says the best way forward is for Malaysia to move away from being an IT-consumer nation and become an IT-producing nation.

It will then put Malaysia on par with other developed nations such as the United States (US), Japan and France as the country will be exporting its own software and applications.

“By then, we will stand the chance of having our own equivalent of Microsoft and Oracle, ” he says.

A view of the MMU campus in Malacca.

However, the MMU president admits that it may take some time for Malaysia to become a leading IT-producing nation until investments are available to develop IT products. Insufficient human capital in ICT, he shares, is also another factor which hampers the development of the industry.

Prof Zaharin adds that the launch of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in the 1990s created a hype and interest among students who suddenly were keen on pursuing higher education in ICT.

However, he laments that more IT graduates are working in other sectors compared to those who are servicing the ICT industry.

Prof Zaharin says that universities should focus on research and development projects

“The cause of this problem could be traced to the supply-demand mismatch in the human capital needs of the ICT industry and the skills of the crop of IT graduates rolled out by the universities and colleges.

“There was a misconception among the tertiary institutions then regarding the type of graduates actually needed by the industry,” he adds.

On hindsight, Prof Zaharin says more courses on computing or computer science should be offered instead of IT programmes which are product specific.

“This is to prevent the graduates from becoming ‘helpless’ when the products and tools used in the said programmes become obsolete,” he says.

He reveals that MMU, together with a few public universities, have decided to put an end to this problem by re-tuning the curriculum of their IT programmes.

R&D roadmap

Nevertheless, Prof Zaharin stresses that the effort of restructuring the curriculum of the IT courses is still not sufficient to propel the country into becoming an IT-producing nation.

“Universities should focus on research and development (R&D) and develop a R&D technology roadmap to give the ICT industry a boost,” he says.

Being the premier institution in IT studies, MMU is spearheading the initiative to work out a R&D technology roadmap with the support from government agencies and industry players.

“The roadmap will identify the direction that the ICT industry is moving into, besides laying the groundwork for R&D on ICT products and applications which will be produced by the industry, ” says Prof Zaharin.

He explains that the strength of a university lies in its R&D effort and his vision is to inculcate the R&D culture at the varsity.

For a start, he says MMU’s academic staff have a reduced teaching load so that they have more time to carry out research.

“Lectures will be made more real and interesting when the academic staff bring students’ attention to elements of their R&D work.

He adds that the students are not left behind as they are also actively involved in the R&D projects, gaining hands-on experience that will prepare them to serve in the ICT industry.

To complete the spectrum of R&D exposure to students, Prof Zaharin says the university is gearing towards commercialising its R&D projects.

“Through commercialism of such projects in IT, students can observe how technopreneurs and the ICT industry work,” he says.

Riding on the strength of the R&D culture, the university has centres of excellence which will be offering niche programmes such as knowledge management technology, a course which encompasses artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.

“Currently, there are special interest groups in every faculty and MMU is well-known for its specialisation in robotics,” says Prof Zaharin.

Other niche programmes in the pipeline include health informatics focusing on wellness, and laws which touch on the legal aspects that arise when technology crosses borders.

“The university is also planning to offer Sports Science with special focus on badminton,” says the MMU president.

Upcoming programme

With 4,500 international students coming from 79 countries, MMU is a melting pot of cultures that is very much alive and vibrant.

“The students bring an international flavour to the university and they love to perform,” says Prof Zaharin.

The university, he adds is planning to venture out its technology and business domain by offering a course in Experiential Performance Arts..

Prof Zaharin explains that it is a programme which marries creativity with IT.

“The course is something like Sports Science analysis in which technology is utilised to enhance the performance of the athletes or artistes,” he shares adding that this course will be handled by both the Faculty of IT and Faculty of Creative Multimedia.

On other future plans by MMU, Prof Zaharin says the university hopes to expand its global footprint by exporting its programmes overseas.

“It is not just internationalisation within the campus but also beyond,” he adds.

Currently, MMU exports its programmes to countries such as Iran, Kenya and Sudan.

MMU was ranked as a tier five university which is equivalent to “excellent status” in the Setara rating released by the Higher Education Ministry recently.

“We believe that it is our strength in R&D which had given us the extra edge in being ranked as one of the top institutions of higher learning in the country,” says Prof Zaharin.

Multimedia University is a contributor to the Star Education Fund.