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@SXSW2021

It's here! We’re talking with people about the fun, the purpose, and the impact of their presence at this year's SXSW.

@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:42

SXSW Speaker Matthew Farber - Gaming Education

article image placeholderDr. Matthew Farber
Hey, everyone. I am thrilled to be starting this conversation with Professor Matthew Farber. Professor Farber is an assistant professor of Technology, Innovation and Pedagogy at the University of of Northern Colorado and also the author of a forthcoming book about how games can, can, can, can, can games transform social and emotional myself. I've witnessed the power of Gamifying experiences for students across all ages, so I'm incredibly excited to talk about your book and your research

Can games transform social and emotional learning? Let's talk about it with @drfarber assistant professor and author of https://bit.ly/GamingSEL

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@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:37

Your session & origin story https://s.swell.life/SSRSUpk15XLYhgW

So let's get started by talking about the south by Southwest session that you'll be speaking at. And it is called Creating Touchstones and Emergent Narratives, and it'll be happening on Tuesday, March 16. I've linked it here, here for anyone listening who would like to sign up for it. I'm very excited about this. It's already on my calendar
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@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:19

The journey of your book

Next, I'd absolutely love to hear a bit more about the journey of your forthcoming book. When did you know that you were writing this book? Exactly. And what was one of the biggest challenges and also the biggest wins you experience throughout the writing and researching process
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@Swell
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15

Welcome to Swell!

@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:39

Lessons learned

Lastly, I can only imagine how exciting it is with your book coming out in just a couple more months and looking back, I'm wondering what is one of the most important lessons you've learned from your research and writing process? And do you have any wisdom that you would share with researchers, authors, educators who are maybe just getting started along a similar journey that you've been on. Really looking forward to hearing more about your story and work and excited to keep this conversation going
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@drfarber
Matthew Farber
@drfarber · 0:06
Hi very excited to be here and also thrilled to be part of the swell community
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@drfarber
Matthew Farber
@drfarber · 3:22
I call that like, my gateway to game based learning. Kids who play their games about running a law firm about the Bill of Rights or running to win the White House, and then they would continue to play at home. And it's beyond just that engagement factor, which is important, but they really wanted to learn, and it really transformed them to want to become more civic minded. And I think that's really important. So that's what I'm pursuing these days
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@drfarber
Matthew Farber
@drfarber · 3:04
We already knew there were strengths and weaknesses and affordances and constraints that will cultivate social emotional learning. But I realized there was no book in the space. So part of my journey was wanted to go a little deeper. Two kids on a Chromebook is not teamwork. I mean, it is, but it's really superficial. So I wonder how games can embed those practices through procedure. Basically, like some games have players with different abilities
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@drfarber
Matthew Farber
@drfarber · 2:42
But then how does that translate to the real world, to the classroom, to our everyday lives? Right. Games. We hear things like kids love games, so they should play games in class, but not necessarily. Right. So I got to speak to somebody at facing history and ourselves about some best practices. Just because you can do something doesn't always mean you should do something like in school, for instance, it's not always appropriate, right?
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@bowie
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 2:21

Thank you! Here's to continual curiosity.

Thank you so much for taking the time to share such thoughtful responses to my questions and more about what you will be talking about and sharing it South By Southwest. To be totally honest, my brain is a little little on fire right now hearing your responses because you talked about so many things I'm passionate about, even though my background and education isn't necessarily in social emotional learning when it comes to games
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