I became very skeptical that I could work on an edtech product until I talked to Andrew at Frankenstories. The big difference was he perceived something he wanted students to learn and know and then develop a tech tool from there, rather than asking "What can I sell to schools that they'll buy."
I think it’s worth pointing out that I don’t consider myself an edtech person and never use the term. (I even wince when John uses it here, but I get his point.) I think everything is technology, so “educational technology” is redundant. But it is worth asking what unique experiences a given piece of technology can create, and Frankenstories is one of those rare cases where you actually get something new: the combination of timers, peer voting, and automatic sorting creates a kind of high-speed hivemind that you can’t get any other way. The closest analogue is team-based improvisational theatre. And yes, it’s almost excessively fun.
It's amazing what can be invented when one removes the requirement of a "grade-able assignment". Also feels like a good example of game-mechanics without addictive elements. Thanks for sharing.
That's a good observation about engaging without being "addicting" in the point and click way that dominates phone games. It's fun, but it's also taxing enough mentally that you're happy for the challenge and then you've had enough. It's a lot like other forms of practice, like on an instrument or with sports. You have periods of engagement and then necessary breaks.
I'll just add a comment: the challenge with any educational game is finding a core loop that matches the skill you're actually trying to teach. That's why 90% of educational games are quizzes wrapped in candy and/or punctuated by otherwise unrelated games. Frankenstories is powerful because the core loop is literally Write > Read > Analyse > Adapt, which is exactly what real writing is. And players repeat that loop over and over again, both within the game and across games. (And that loop isn't restricted to stories: you can "play" poems, arguments, analytical passages—anything.)
Great point about distilling the mechanics of the "ideal" behavior, and then gamifying that loop. It's a reward for meaningful practice, not just "time in app"!
I was *just* trying to decide what to do as a way to review some of the narrative techniques we learned in class this unit, before they do a big writing piece! Thank you!
Use round instructions to point to specific concepts or techniques from your unit! And consider using the Hall of Fame or Prompt Library to show some examples of high-quality games; it's a quick way to lift the quality of everyone's responses.
I’m usually not a edutech fan, but this DOES sound fun!
I became very skeptical that I could work on an edtech product until I talked to Andrew at Frankenstories. The big difference was he perceived something he wanted students to learn and know and then develop a tech tool from there, rather than asking "What can I sell to schools that they'll buy."
I think it’s worth pointing out that I don’t consider myself an edtech person and never use the term. (I even wince when John uses it here, but I get his point.) I think everything is technology, so “educational technology” is redundant. But it is worth asking what unique experiences a given piece of technology can create, and Frankenstories is one of those rare cases where you actually get something new: the combination of timers, peer voting, and automatic sorting creates a kind of high-speed hivemind that you can’t get any other way. The closest analogue is team-based improvisational theatre. And yes, it’s almost excessively fun.
It's amazing what can be invented when one removes the requirement of a "grade-able assignment". Also feels like a good example of game-mechanics without addictive elements. Thanks for sharing.
That's a good observation about engaging without being "addicting" in the point and click way that dominates phone games. It's fun, but it's also taxing enough mentally that you're happy for the challenge and then you've had enough. It's a lot like other forms of practice, like on an instrument or with sports. You have periods of engagement and then necessary breaks.
I'll just add a comment: the challenge with any educational game is finding a core loop that matches the skill you're actually trying to teach. That's why 90% of educational games are quizzes wrapped in candy and/or punctuated by otherwise unrelated games. Frankenstories is powerful because the core loop is literally Write > Read > Analyse > Adapt, which is exactly what real writing is. And players repeat that loop over and over again, both within the game and across games. (And that loop isn't restricted to stories: you can "play" poems, arguments, analytical passages—anything.)
Great point about distilling the mechanics of the "ideal" behavior, and then gamifying that loop. It's a reward for meaningful practice, not just "time in app"!
I was *just* trying to decide what to do as a way to review some of the narrative techniques we learned in class this unit, before they do a big writing piece! Thank you!
Use round instructions to point to specific concepts or techniques from your unit! And consider using the Hall of Fame or Prompt Library to show some examples of high-quality games; it's a quick way to lift the quality of everyone's responses.