IXD Interview Answers

Case Background

Interview Particular

Date: 26 FEB 2025

Time: 1430 to 1545 & 2000 to 2245

Venue: Hybrid; 1. Face-to-Face (Dinner Meeting) and 2. Teams (Afternoon Section)

Personal Detail

• Idaline Cheng

• 29 years old; Female

  
  

Social Position / Status

• Worked at a primary school as a special education specialist with allied healthcare professionals at the same school before.

• Attained BSc (UK), MSc (US) and PGD.

• Currently, work as an instructor/lecturer in a university (college) based in Hong Kong.

• Teaching Applied Science modules like Chemistry, Biochemistry, and medical subjects.

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Key-insight and Summary of Interview

• Tangible stuff may help in learning stuff.

• Mnemonics (or the use of visual aids) can help remember stuff.

• Break down hard concepts into stages and questions using gamification progression and achievement methodologies.

• The use of  “quest flow” and “storyline” varies in educational settings.

• Lore in the game is important. It is not just a line of text; it can be used for education.

• Rewarding should be symbolic and have a sense of accomplishment.

• The Sandbox in the education sector should target introductory, less complicated knowledge topics because of its constraints. Converting higher-order knowledge to The Sandbox is too daunting.

• Keep it accurate from real life when translating educational context into a game.

• Aside from traditional methods, the Sandbox may be future learning & educational transformation artefacts.

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Entire interview Questions and Answers

Q1. According to your past studies pathway in science, what is the experience? Do you feel monotonous when the context is delivered in a single way?

The learning experience is very traditional in Hong Kong because of the public examination system, which is well structured, and textbook reading. The HK system is intensive but builds a solid theoretical knowledge foundation, especially when the delivery is one-dimensional, so it feels monotonous. HK electives are not “supplementary electives” at all; they are meant to fulfil graduation requirements.

Compared to the UK and US, they are more flexible and have more conceptual understanding. Also, resources like interactive games and simulation exercises for their homework and coursework can be accessed. 

Furthermore, on-demand supplementary electives can also offered to those intellected students who are deeply interested in one of the topics; the content is mostly delivered in project-based learning and research to equip them for further education.

When I teach college science subjects, such as biology, visual aids like diagrams in HK education resources lack interactivity. 

I know you are studying Digital Media. Would digital media subjects help with some diverse teaching methods? Like interactive content, simulations, or gamified tools?

2. Do you have any experience in animation?

No. However, I like to reference animated stuff to teach complex scientific concepts. Animation can make stuff easier to understand when it is more tangible, especially for younger students or those with different learning needs.

In the US system, they use “Khan Academy”; there are many animations about science education. I also constituted some course plans as supplementary resources when I worked as an instructor in tutorial sections in the MSc era.

I don’t have the technical expertise in animation or the tools to make it. So, would you teach me some?

3. Are you interested in gamification-based learning that is beyond your expertise?

Of course, YES,  very interested, no matter what discipline of learning and expertise.

For example, a gamified platform could be more approachable if I were to learn economics —when a topic outside my expertise.

Yes, I know you have several thick books of game portfolios related to economics in the game, but you haven't studied any economy formally. Even an MMORPG game, like WoW, Black Desert Auction House Market, explained the theories behind supply and demand and micro- and macro-economics.

Also, game content breaks down into stages, levels, questing, and rewards to keep motivation and fun! Failure in the game is no more pressure than failing a public exam in HK, right?

4. Do you think gamification in the form of learning can increase your motivation to learn?

Yes definitely!  Gamification provides motivation methodologies such as achievement, progressions, and competition, which are the core of human tendencies. Gamification uses the game elements to deliver curriculum content like the games, but you can earn points, badges and levelling.

For example, we use board games to introduce organic chemical reactions, which are interactive games that convey theoretical concepts about this topic. If such content is transferred through a textbook, the student may easily forget what they learned, with nothing to retain in mind.

5. If you have the opportunity to craft an experience in The Sandbox, what element would you like to add? (Storyline? Quest Flow/Layout?)

If I have such an opportunity to craft, I will focus on quest flows and layouts to convey significant knowledge in module topics.

A storyline is not a great option to express a single knowledge point; it is more likely to narrate a famous topic within a module.

This is because, throughout the quest flow and layout, the quest can gradually deliver knowledge content segment by segment.

Grouping similar content and difficulties into the same space would be a good approach so players would not feel overwhelmed or theory-overloaded.

The storyline is like telling students or players a famous topic, like nuclear chemistry, like how Marie Curie discovered radioactivity.

6. What is the most important element to you in a game? (For challenging? Fun? Social activities?)

 The lore behind each game element is important to me. The lore of a game is the backstory of those items or stuff that would involve content that you can think of and implement, including a lot of interesting and fun content or even educational content.

7. If you could participate in a gamified learning activity, what would you look forward to most? (For Reward? Badge? Certificates?)

A digital badge is the most attractive reward. For example, going through a certain level and passing serval quests leads you to attain achievements, make sense of accomplishment, and unlock a digital badge at the final.

The digital badge is symbolic and can be shareable on social media; it is especially valuable in proof of professional or academic settings.

8. Do you think The Sandbox is a suitable and compatible media or platform to convey complex curriculum contexts (like stuff in textbooks)?

It could have potential.

However,  complex curricula like higher-order mathematics might face difficulty translating context into gamified dimensions. Gamified learning content must be accurate to the real world, and those subjects are strictly defined and cannot be conveyed in short or fragmented experiences.

Explaining a “logic gate” in electronic engineering in The Sandbox is easier. And explaining computer tomography is hard in The Sandbox. 

It focuses more on younger audiences and less complicated subjects, like elementary maths, science, history…etc. It also depends on how the material is translated.

9. If The Sandbox is used as a platform for gamified learning, do you think it is a future development?

The Sandbox is highly interactive, with visual presentation and gamification content that are modern learning artefacts instead of traditional learning methods of boring textbooks and static lecture slides. 

We, as educators, are very glad to pick up new stuff like immersive content to provide more high-quality knowledge transformation between students and our duty.