Process
This product must be developed in stages: math, then English components will be developed first and considered the endogenous components of the activity – where the context is the game play (Squire, 25). Last, we’ll bridge the gap of both literary skills with an exogenous story line that includes the music. By doing learner testings that answer questions about the best way to present this activity to the learners, the best story line will be learned? If we include all the bells and whistles offered through technology, this exogenous story line could simply be a virtual simulation game with an avatar in a SimCity environment, wrapped in a story line that appeals to our target audience. It would include incentives or badges that are calibrated to help with the transitions, keeping the user doing math problems and writing. For this reason, I am thinking Edubeats could ultimately reward learners with beats for their educational prowess (captured by Math Swag Points) they demonstrate by participating in the activity. Having access to real live beats provided by real musicians inspiring to keep the learner learning – that would be ideal in a utopia. At this point, the endeavor of this project seems larger than a Master’s project, however, this is the overall direction of where I would like this project to move. Since the products to be developed during each stage can function as two separate products; independent of the overall virtual simulation (exogenous component), there will be many opportunities to develop more than one valuable product based on the fact that many topics (i.e. the order of presidents), could be mapped onto the keyboard, and our learners’ musical interest are not monolithic. So, in dealing with literacy, the topics become math and English.