Reflection

 For this blog post I am reflecting on the semester as a whole, what I learned, what I am proud of, and what will be the most helpful moving forward. Thinking back on all of it as a lump sum... I think the biggest take away for me is that the line between a game and a simulation can be very blurry and is not as clearly defined as I originally thought. The idea of gamify a simulation isn't something new, as there are a lot of main stream games out there that are specifically built as simulators, but with gaming elements designed into the concepts (rewards, levels, and achievements to name a few).But even with those games in mind, I always assumed they are games and specifically designed for "enjoyment", not necessarily meant to teach the player anything. In the course as we learned more about simulations, games, and gamified simulations my view changed at the prospects of these type of titles and the value they can bring to a player over just entertainment. Reversely, using that idea for a "true" simulation and how it is possible to gamify a learning environment to make a more engaging experience for learners is a very intriguing idea for me, especially with the field of work I am in. 

For this class, I am most proud of the effort my team and I put in for our group project. The larger sense of that project felt more like an assignment in project management rather than game design and it became something I really enjoy and am proud of completing. I say that it feels more like a project management, because we started to workshop ideas and who is doing what, I feel upon the strengths of my team members and let them shine of what they were good at. This allowed me to help when needed, but focus more on the things I am good at as well. I am going to take away some valuable lessons in building a game for learning from this class and some concepts I can possibly implement at work, as I work more with our simulation educators on potential simulations we can run. 

Gaming is really all around us in modern society, and I have seen it popping up more and more at Medical Simulation conference yearly. This class just further feeds the idea that learning environments can be easily infused with gaming to make a more well rounded experience for learners. 

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