[Xmca-l] Re: Welcome to the "xmca-l" mailing list - an introduction from Mick

[Mick Chesterman]

Hi there,

I’ve just joined the list and wanted to quickly introduce myself. I’m Mick Chesterman. I’m working and doing a PhD part-time at Manchester Met UK, in the ESRI (education) there. Before that I was involved in activist/community work often doing web/media training. Indymedia (for anyone that recalls) was a big part of that time. I still run a related free software documentation project https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://flossmanuals.net__;!!Mih3wA!RMQWWH8R95meDhmGcZWbHjZZi-qp2F_7we2v-HFtUhD9ZsU0kH89S6RleelCyUh6PFLWnQ$ 

I’ve signed up to the xmca list as I’m starting to lock down the framework and methodology I’ll use for my PhD thesis. I’m becoming aware of the need to prioritise beyond “something around design experiments and CHAT” to pick key concepts to elaborate. So I’m here to pick up info that will help me do that work, perhaps ask questions if I get stuck, to keep an ear out for suitable conferences or development opportunities and possibly find future research partners.

My research has evolved pretty organically from working with Home Education families, responding to their requests (for Educational Game Making), meeting my research interests and providing opportunities for students (https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://edlab.org.uk__;!!Mih3wA!RMQWWH8R95meDhmGcZWbHjZZi-qp2F_7we2v-HFtUhD9ZsU0kH89S6RleelCyUiU6q2UYQ$  ). My colleagues in ESRI tell me I have an aptitude in messy pedagogies. It’s true that my research strives to emulate the kind of chaotic learning that I saw happening in media activist spaces/projects in the different context of family game making. I’m aware that there is quite a lot of similar, international research in the area of project/informal learning from a socio-cultural perspective and I’ve been enjoying reading that. I am also concerned that mainstream computing education seems to struggle to adopt cultural approaches

I’m starting to share early fruits of my research. A really significant factor in my game coding activity is the use of game design patterns to help overcome tensions inherent in remixing and adding to the code of a platform game to make it your own. Familiar game patterns are used by participants for initial engagement, navigating learning, and as a way of promoting a craft approach to coding (as opposed to learning from first principles by leading more abstract Computational Thinking concepts).

So help to find other studies addressing design patterns or craft-based approaches to novice creative coding explored in a socio-cultural perspective would be really appreciated. It would be great to not duplicate existing work.

I know some similar work has been done using Agent Sheets (Scalable Game Design) but not from a perspective of drawing on funds of knowledge or creating a third space/ playworld ( both a part of my learning design). Also many studies in this field use constructionism as a framework. While some literature is interesting in exploring abstract and concrete approaches to coding, it seems quite limited in other ways compared to socio-cultural approaches. It strikes me more as a set of design principles than a theoretical framework as such.

For those interested in the technology and supporting documents, I’m happy to share resources.
I’ve been using phaser as a text/ javascript framework - https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.flossmanuals.net/phaser-game-making-in-glitch/_full/https:/*en.flossmanuals.net/phaser-game-making-in-glitch/_full/__;Lw!!Mih3wA!RMQWWH8R95meDhmGcZWbHjZZi-qp2F_7we2v-HFtUhD9ZsU0kH89S6RleelCyUgZ57_gbw$ 
This year I’ve adopted MakeCode Arcade (block-based) which is really promising. My current learning design is probably best represented at this page -
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://mickfuzz.github.io/makecode-platformer-101/methods__;!!Mih3wA!RMQWWH8R95meDhmGcZWbHjZZi-qp2F_7we2v-HFtUhD9ZsU0kH89S6RleelCyUgdAXZkIw$ 

I’d be really interested to share more detail with individuals who do similar work. Also if anyone or group was interested or had capacity to do joint work in this area, I would love to chat.

Many Thanks
Mick Chesterman


Mr Mick Chesterman | Tutor | Childhood, Youth and Education Studies | Manchester Metropolitan University

m.chesterman@mmu.ac.uk | Phone +44(0)161 247 2085 | Pronouns He / Him
Working Days | Monday - Thursday
EdLab Project - https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://edlab.org.uk__;!!Mih3wA!RMQWWH8R95meDhmGcZWbHjZZi-qp2F_7we2v-HFtUhD9ZsU0kH89S6RleelCyUiU6q2UYQ$ 
________________________________________
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> on behalf of xmca-l-request@mailman.ucsd.edu <xmca-l-request@mailman.ucsd.edu>
Sent: 23 December 2020 16:26
To: Mick Chesterman
Subject: Welcome to the "xmca-l" mailing list

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