A Reflection on OUR Educational Game

This was the final activity we carried out for the course. It was about creating an educational game from scratch. I have to admit it was a challenging task, however, implementing the tools and creative thinking skills we learned in throughout the semester, we managed to come up with an idea of an interesting game. I worked in a group of five members. We called our game “Knowledge Escape”.

Idea of the game:

The game consists of two competing teams, the mission of each is to overcome the colored obstacles and cross to the other side of the beige board. In order to move the colored blocks, players must pick a card and answer the question on it. The choice of the card’s color is dependent upon the color of the block the team wants to move. The questions on the cards tackle the seven different basic types of intelligences. Playing the game develops different cognitive skills.

Process:

The process of designing the game was both challenging and fun. When we first gathered as a group to discuss the possible ideas, we have an endless list of ideas! We practiced the idea fluency exercise we learned in the course. Brainstorming led us to divergent game ideas such as traffic, road directions and astronomy. After we prepared a list of ideas, we had a discussion tackling the possibility of employing each of the given ideas. The conclusion was that we were going to design a game that tackles all the seven basic types of intelligence. These intelligence types are mathematical/logical, bodily, musical, artistic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and linguistic. The logical intelligence was manifested in developing tactics for moving the blocks and reaching the exit across the road whereas the other six intelligence types were addressed in the question cards bearing the colours yellow, red and orange.

The fact that we encountered other games throughout Module 3 is what facilitated the process of deciding on the design of an educational game. The confidence that Dr. Maha filled us with was another reason for such an achievement.

 

A Reflection on the twitter game TVSZ

 

“You will not understand the game until you play it. As you play, you might change the rules.” This was Dr. Maha’s response to the questions we carried for her the week before we started the game. Back then, I hadn’t a clue how the game would turn out to be, however, I was pretty enthusiastic and excited about the game. I felt that we were doing something together as a class, so this was relieving and encouraging. Unfortunately, I got terribly sick and was being hospitalized two days before the game started. The day the game started, Friday, was my first day back home and I started playing the game to keep myself distracted from my illness. It was a great medicine indeed! We started the game with recruitment and at first, I missed the first rule of recruiting one person at a time, but Dr. Maha clarified the rule and I was back on track. Everything flowed smoothly afterwards. I started off on the technology team, but this didn’t last long. A while later, I was dragged to the nature team by my classmates. I got convinced we should all ally and get going. The second mission I participated in following recruitment was the food stacking one. I enjoyed the process of collecting photos manifesting the beauty of food available in nature. This blog post includes a collage I prepared for some of the pictures I gathered with my team.

Besides the team spirit that sponsored our class, there was also collaboration with instructors and students who were playing the game from different countries of the world with us. For instance, Mr. JR Dingwall offered his help to me when I tweeted inquiring about how I can edit the rules sheet from my iphone; to propose new rules to the game. He responded to my tweet and also sent me an e-mail (check the photos attached) explaining how I could solve the problem. I also received useful responses whenever I posed questions on the Tvsz twitter account.

Finally, I luckily got the chance to participate in suggesting some changes to the rules of the game. I did so near the end of the game after I had a clear view of how some of the missions proceeded. The suggestions were as follows:

Suggestion 1: I think we should eliminate the constraint of the 30 minute gap between recruitment attempts to allow for the first mission to occupy a shorter period of time. This would dedicate more time for the other missions.

Suggestion 2: The game should reinforce team meetings (within the same country, of course) for settling issues like food stacking. This could be ensured by taking a group selfie with the food and tweeting it.

Suggestion 3: There should be a rule necessitating that group members show evidence of any social media conversations they have to prepare for the game. This fosters the team spirit and increases the efficiency of accomplishing tasks.

It is noteworthy to mention that Dr. Maha encouraged the suggestions and promised to take them into consideration in the future. The final mission I went for was the Folklore one where I posted Soaad Hosny’s famous song “El Donia Rabiee” in addition to poetry and a quote by Albert Einstein about Spring (Check the links attached below).

The experience was beneficial as it fostered the team spirit amongst my class in addition to raising our level of openness to untraditional methods of educational assignments.

Last but not least, I would like to conclude by thanking Dr. Maha for being available and patient to receive questions throughout the entire process. She was always encouraging to me. Thank you dear Doctor 🙂

Here are links to my twitter account bearing all the work:

https://twitter.com/lamees_sultan (My account)

https://storify.com/salmaeiwada/folkore-mission (Folklore mission)

https://twitter.com/lamees_sultan (Mission 2)

My account includes evidence of how Mission 1 was executed.

A Reflection on “The Twitter Scavenger Hunt”

Yesterday we had our first encounter with Module 3’s twitter game. I have to say it was quite an enjoyable class. Dr. Maha was such a great helping hand to us whenever we faced trouble. She also provided us with a cosy atmosphere in which I felt I was working at home. At the beginning of the class, I thought we had a difficult mission ahead of us, but as we walked through the instructions and got to come in contact with Nifkin students on twitter, I was gradually relieved and started to get the hang of it. What made me even more excited yesterday was the prompt responses I got from the people I approached on twitter.

This mini-learning experience I had in class yesterday made me realise that influential education doesn’t necessitate a pre-set environment of whiteboards and classroom notebooks, it can rather manifest itself in several different activities that are conducted in the classroom. I have to admit that I am looking forward to the learning experience we will be part of in Module 3. I’m inclined to think that it will be one of the most distinguished experiences we witness at AUC. I hope that we will easily grasp the concepts and rules of the game and finally manage at the end to create our own unique gamesJ

A Reflection on Module One

“Capturing Creativity” was the theme of Module One for our “Creative Thinking and Problem Solving” course this semester. As a matter of fact, the module did a wonderful job unleashing and harnessing the creativity within me. This finding I arrived at by the end of the module was not astonishing to me since I was very enthusiastic about the module from the very beginning of the course. As I mentioned in one of my previous blog posts, the activities we were assigned in class and the way we performed them are a great prototype for our beloved Egypt to mimic. The way we were free from the constraint of having a certain methodology of thinking to follow or having to abide by a set of correct answers for any work we do were the driving forces behind the success of the module. Throughout the course of the module, I was comfortable doing the work because of this aspect which made room for my creativity to show and grow the way it should.

One of the activities that tapped me on the inside and me realize how wise and lucky I was to register this course was the creative mind map activity we ended the module with. As I sat down to gather my thoughts and select which of them I wanted to include in the map, I came to the conclusion that there was a lot I actually acquired from the module. To better understand what I am explaining here, I recommend you check my upcoming post displaying my mind map images. Numerous ways of thinking and approaching problems were on my mind. Not only did I manage to learn different ways of tackling problems, but also I learned how to view problems in a different manner than many other people would.

Thank you Dr. Hoda for making Module One as enjoyable and productive as it was 🙂

A Reflection on Dr. Galal Zaki’s Session

   “If you are in the same business, in five years, you will be out of it.” This was a statement made by Dr. Galal Zaki, whom we were honoured to have in class on the 13^th of this month in class as a guest speaker. His entire talk was pretty inspiring and eye-opening to me, however, this statement touched me significantly. Perhaps being a senior who is about to face the outside world is one of the main reasons why I hung on to this statement in particular. In fact, he got me thinking to myself of the possible ways by which one can change his business every couple of years. Is it a message urging me to keep on alternating between jobs? The fruit of my thinking was: NO. The message Dr. Zaki was sending across was a wake-up call to those of us who falsely think that we should follow the sequence of graduating, getting a job, awaiting the promised/expected promotion by our boss, and getting into disputes in case we do not get this promotion even if we are not deserving of it. The essence of the statement was to warn us from blindly following the sequential future like the majority does, but rather to encourage each and every one of us to have passion towards ourselves and our futures. He meant that we ought to work on improving our skills on the technical and interpersonal levels in our jobs. Being flexible and adaptable in today’s market is a crucial asset since it is somehow a guarantee that if things go wrong with the current job, the skills possessed can help efficiently perform another.

   In addition to the statement discussed in the paragraph above, the phrase “Innovate or evaporate”, used by Dr. Zaki to conclude the part of his talk tackling the “Sila Oil” campaign tactics, was a remarkable one for me. I found it the most suitable title for module one of our class and thus, decided to use it as a guide throughout my preparation of the mind map I am developing.

An Interesting Article I’d Like To Share With The Class

https://openideo.com/challenge/creative-confidence/inspiration/defining-creative-confidence

A Reflection on “The Innovative Engine”

Whilst watching the video, I could picture the statement “Creativity starts from within” being written before my eyes. Seeling explains the innovative engine and how it works inside-out, but in order for this engine to be adopted in our beloved Egypt, it needs to be inherent to each citizen, to begin with. Our class is a successful live example of the fact that creativity can be induced to the thought of individuals if they happen to exist in an environment that encourages and fosters novel thinking. In class, the concept that is highlighted to us all the time is that there isn’t a wrong answer. This is why when attempting any activity we are assigned, we put aside the fear of being criticized for a wrong answer and we direct all our efforts to producing a unique output that would live up to the expectations of our professor. If this system we follow in class is unified and implemented throughout Egypt, at large, the result will be citizens who care about nothing but coming up with innovative ideas that serve     their country and drive it to the front. The result will also be individuals who don’t suppress some of the possibly extraordinary ideas because they fear being rejected or laughed at. The change must be initiated by the internal engine planted in each of us and then it is to be promoted by a healthy environment.

Let’s call for people to take our class as a prototype for how we hope Egypt to be one day!

A Reflection on “Find Your Confidence!”

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” This quote by William Shakespeare, the English poet and playwright, is vastly relevant to the concept of “creative confidence” that is discussed in the video. In the English dictionary, confidence means “the feeling or belief that one can have faith in or rely on someone or something”. The keyword in this definition is faith. A better naming of “creative confidence” would then be “creative faith”, in my opinion. Let’s picture a strongly opinionated lawyer, an articulated television presenter, or a prestigious marketing manager in Nestle. Now, let’s think of how many valuable ideas manhood would have been deprived of had they not been trustful of their creativity. Would the lawyer be capable of finding an outlet for his client from his complicated case if he doubted each and every idea that crossed his mind whilst exploring options? Would the television presenter succeed in convincing her audience to donate money to “Supporting Egypt Funds” if she didn’t trust her ability to present the economic situation and the dangers associated to it in a creative way? Would Nestle come up with its light Coffee Mate if its managers thought the idea was humbug when it first popped up? The idea behind creative confidence or faith is that one ought not to detain ideas the moment they come to life. They should rather be given some time, depending on the time frame set, to speak themselves out of our minds and if they seem, not necessarily prove, to be promising then they should be nourished, structured, and implemented.

Having faith in our in ourselves and our ideas is an essential principle in creativity, without which the greatest ideas would be trapped in a black container.

A Reflection on The Video “On Being Wrong”

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“I am right therefore I am.” I sincerely apologise to Sir René Descartes, the French philosopher and mathematician, for manipulating his widely used quotation “I think therefore I am”. I present apologies on behalf of many of the human generation, who mistakenly believe they are always essentially right in whatever attempt they pursue, problem they suggest a solution for, or a natural phenomenon they propose an explanation for. Several people are prone to the “I am ALWAYS right” mania; they refuse to admit the fact that not a single person on this planet, created by God, is possibly right in all attempts. To be fair in presenting the case, one shouldn’t be in oblivion to the causes of the problem. In any given situation, people fear admitting they did any wrong. The problem is rooted in the childhood stage where some children would rather lie to their parents instead of admitting the wrong they did. The reason is clear; they fear punishment. Fearing punishment is the fundamental key behind the “I am ALWAYS right” mania, but do grown-ups fear punishments like youngsters do? Yes, indeed.

In the case of adults, punishment is not being trapped in the naughty corner for two consecutive hours. It is not being deprived of the all-time favorite Nutella jar for a day or two. It is not being locked home for a week and missing the fun in the club’s kids’ corner. The most painful punishment grown-ups face for their wrong-doings and mistaken decisions is the aching conscience. Putting aside all the negative comments and judgments we receive from the society we live in, the cause of your dizziness when you lie down in bed at the end of the day is the conversation you have with your conscience. The conversation entails your conscience throwing at you the blame for what you did and in turn, the justifications and elaborations are brought to the surface.

Bottom line is, being sometimes wrong is absolutely accepted; we won’t be punished in the French Bastille. My advice is that you make peace with your conscience and keep going!

A Reflection On The Article “Learning to Think Outside the Box”

“Learn how to think out of the box!!” How many times have you been told this statement? Did it ever drive you to think where on Earth this box, that everybody is asking you to keep your ideas away from, is? What colour is the box? Is it made in Egypt or is it imported from another country? I am not being sarcastic here, but each question of these carries its implications. So, please “think out of the box” if you are attempting to answer my questions. Now, where is the box? As a matter of fact, I perceive the box as the boundaries that line our conception of each and every problem or situation we encounter. The greater the distance between these boundaries, the wider and more divergent your scope of thought is. Another important question proposed here tackles the nationality of the box; is it unique to Egypt? Are Egyptians the only ones who are at all times accused of staying within the boundaries of the box? No, I don’t think so! Sticking to the traditionally accepted ideas while approaching problems is a manifestation of functional fixedness, that is in other words, cognitive bias. Some people not only lock themselves within the box, but also narrow down the area of the box in which they allow their ideas to rotate. This implies that the core of the problem of functional fixedness can be attributed to staying in the box as well as disregarding the unoccupied areas of it. To put my message in a more comprehensible manner, it is, by all means, accepted to keep thinking inside the box. Nevertheless, bare in mind that you alternate between two options; either to embark on expanding the box or to have a crystal clear, see-through box.