Got Game: Watching new teams form as South Africa looms

The student teams working on the UN Violence Against Women game are getting ready for their trip to South Africa.

They are conducting secondary research. They are asking a lot of questions. They've had a presentation on the "Sabido" method from Bill Reyerson at Population Media Center. They've got their passports and they have their shots.

The biggest challenge right now? Building a cohesive team that can work together and rely on one another. A few weeks ago it was clear that things were a little tough for the Marketing students. The eGame art and design students have been working on projects together and know one another very well. The research team (comprised of Marketing and e-Biz students) know each other well. But bringing the two groups together ... well that there is a different kettle of fish.

How do students who don't game talk to students who do game? How do students who understand promotion and target market talk with students who are focused on aesthetics and story?

Wait...this sounds JUST LIKE REAL LIFE!

It's the perennial challenge for the marketing professional. Having to come into a project and work with people to ensure that the end product/service can reach the right audience and the messaging is relevant.

I impressed this on the students last week.

And then the project team at the Emergent Media Center broke the students up into different research "pods" mixing up the disciplines.

At our last meeting I saw more integration and watched as students from all disciplines sat intermingled, brainstormed and listened to information about their itinerary and talked about branding.

They are learning the most important part about forming a cohesive team -- get to know one another. Learn from one another. Respect one another.

I think they are realizing that they are getting ready for the trip of their lives. They are being asked to do what others before them have been unable to do. They are being asked to take a proven behavior change model that works in "soap opera" form and translate it for gaming. They have less than 10 days on the ground in South Africa in which to gather as much information they can to better understand the culture and beliefs. And then they have to come back, start their classes and work through their research to get them to proof of concept by December.

Frankly I believe that no matter what the end product is, these students are embarking on a life-changing journey that may change many other's lives as well. And that, folks, is what education is all about.

Teaching from the sidelines and watching them FLY!

I've been on vacation. Well to be exact I've been on the very trendy much sought after "staycation". But of course that means I have access to the web and besides playing mass quantities of WoW I've also been more in-touch with work then I probably should be for someone "on vacation".

Why stay in touch?

For a very simple reason. I've been asked to be the co-advisor, along with my colleague Asst. Prof. Megan Frenzen, of a group of Marketing, e-Business and Education majors as they work on a very exciting project for the UN. Yep, the United Nations. Champlain College is the recipient of a grant from the UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) to create a game prototype to help change behaviors around violence against women in South Africa. There is a large team of students comprised of e-game design, art and animation, e-game programing, software engineering, marketing, e-business and education majors who will be working through December on creating this game prototype.

I was asked to recommend a group of students for the project and as a Professor this is perhaps one of the most rewarding and most challenging things I can be asked. I considered this request for some time actually, thinking about the many different students I have had the pleasure of working with, the demands of the work that must be done and the fact that this work has the potential to have an amazing impact on others lives. In the end I recommended ten students. Then it was out of my hands.

Now the students who were interested and were selected by the project team are scrambling to get everything in order before they head out on the first part of their research -- travelling to Cape Town, South Africa the week prior to the beginning of classes to conduct on the ground research.

It's an amazing thing watching them struggle to find direction, to figure out what they should be doing and how to approach it ... and to provide advice and recommendations ... but not tell them what to do (smile).

I won't be going on the trip with them. Meg gets that honor (with my blessing). However I will be following their progress and providing my advice from afar using the methods of communication that seem to work depending on where they are at the time.

They have much to consider. Research areas, asking good questions, listening and working together as a team. They have already started thinking about branding, logo, etc.

We have much to consider. How to advise, yet let them lead, how to encourage but not let them go down the wrong path, how to empower but keep them grounded.

Keep up on our progress by reading some of the different blogs and other social networking sites that have been started by the students and by the folks at our Emergent Media Center.

1. Perpetual Reflection by Nicole Magoon
2. Persnickety Creative by Amanda Jones
3. Champlain's United Nations South Africa Project at Facebook (a open group)

Or, follow me on Twitter or Plurk to find out things as they happen!