Deborah Fields | Utah State University (original) (raw)

Papers by Deborah Fields

ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 2014

In this article, we examine the use of electronic textiles (e-textiles) for introducing key compu... more In this article, we examine the use of electronic textiles (e-textiles) for introducing key computational concepts and practices while broadening perceptions about computing. The starting point of our work was the design and implementation of a curriculum module using the LilyPad Arduino in a pre-AP high school computer science class. To understand students’ learning, we analyzed the structure and functionality of their circuits and program code as well as their design approaches to making and debugging their e-textile creations and their views of computing. We also studied students’ changing perceptions of computing. Our discussion addresses the need for and design of scaffolded challenges and the potential for using crafts materials and activities such as e-textiles for designing introductory courses that can broaden participation in computing.

We highlight ways to support interest-driven creation of digital media in Scratch, a visual-based... more We highlight ways to support interest-driven creation of digital media in Scratch, a visual-based programming language and community, within a high school programming workshop. We describe a collaborative approach, the programmers’ collective, that builds on social models found in do-it-yourself and open source communities, but with scaffolding structures that support students’ learning. We analyze the work of a class of high school student collectives engaged in programming music videos as part of a collaborative challenge in the online Scratch community. Our multi-level analysis focused on students’ learning specific programming concepts, effects of collaborative and task design on learning, and their personal reflections on collaboration and media creation. We address how these overlapping collaborative experiences point to the value of “nested collectives,” or multiple levels of designed-for collaboration. We also highlight a needed shift from a focus on computation to computational participation, highlighting the innately social aspects of media creation.

Journal of Organizational and End …, Jan 1, 2010

Previous efforts in end-user development have focused on facilitating the mechanics of learning p... more Previous efforts in end-user development have focused on facilitating the mechanics of learning programming leaving aside social and cultural factors equally important in getting youth engaged in programming. As part of a fourmonth long ethnographic study, we followed two 12-year old participants as they learned the programming software Scratch and its associated file-sharing site, scratch.mit.edu, in an after-school club and class. In our discussion we focus on the role that agency, membership, and status played in their joining and participating local and online communities of programmers.

The University of Tokyo, Jan 1, 2007

Avatars in online games and worlds are seen as players' key representations in interactions with ... more Avatars in online games and worlds are seen as players' key representations in interactions with others. It is surprising then that this aspect of game play has not received much attention in research, in particular what concerns playergenerated avatars. In this paper, we investigate the avatar design and identity play within a large-scale tween virtual world called Whyville.net with more than 1.5 million registered players ages 8-16. One unique feature of Whyville is the player's ability to customize one's avatar with various face parts and accessories, all designed and sold by other players in Whyville. Our findings report on the expressive resources available for avatar construction, individual tween players' choices and rationales in creating their avatars, and online postings about avatar design in the community at large. With the growing interest in playergenerated content for online worlds such as Second Life, our discussion will address the role of avatars in identity play and self-representation as well as the social issues that arise within the game world.

Games and Culture, Jan 1, 2010

Little is known concerning how young players learn to participate in various activities in virtua... more Little is known concerning how young players learn to participate in various activities in virtual worlds. We use a new integrative approach called connective ethnography that focuses on how a gaming practice spread across a network of youth at an after school club that simultaneously participated in a virtual world, Whyville.net. To trace youth participation in online and offline social contexts, we draw on multiple sources of information: observations, interviews, videos, online tracking and chat data, and hundreds of hours of play in Whyville ourselves. One gaming practice -the throwing of projectiles and its social uses and nuances -became the focal point of our analyses. The discussions address the methodological challenges underlying the synthesis of diverse types of data that allowed us to follow youth across multiple spaces as well as initial insights into how this practice was used to negotiate relationships in multiple spaces through play.

… new ground: Innovation in games, play, …, Jan 1, 2009

Little is known about how girl players navigate through virtual worlds, negotiate their identity,... more Little is known about how girl players navigate through virtual worlds, negotiate their identity, and challenge cultural norms and practices. We investigated over 500 players in a science-themed tween virtual world called Whyville.net with girls being the majority (68%) of its 1.5 million registered players. Using logfile data collected over a six-month long period, we identified three distinct groups: core gamers (7% of all players), semi-core gamers (34% of players), and peripheral gamers (59% of players). We found that all groups participated in common practices but that core players also participated in non-traditional, transgressive practices. These included private flirting with other players and aggressive scamming of others for personal profit as well as public denials of such activities because they violated gender and social norms. Often hidden, these facets of girls' play indicate the value of virtual worlds as digital publics that offer youth opportunities to engage in identity exploration and border crossing.

On the Horizon, Jan 1, 2009

Purpose -This paper aims to present and discuss cheat sites and cheating practices associated wit... more Purpose -This paper aims to present and discuss cheat sites and cheating practices associated with Whyville.net, a virtual world with over 1.7 million registered players aged eight to 16 that includes game and science activities. The goal is to examine how the development of cheats can present learning opportunities for players and designers alike.

Games and Culture, Jan 1, 2010

Page 1. http://gac.sagepub.com/ Games and Culture http://gac.sagepub.com/content/ 5/1/23 The onli... more Page 1. http://gac.sagepub.com/ Games and Culture http://gac.sagepub.com/content/ 5/1/23 The online version of this article can be found at: DOI: 10.1177/ 1555412009351260 2010 5: 23 Games and Culture Yasmin B. Kafai ...

International Journal of Computer-Supported …, Jan 1, 2009

Prior studies have shown how knowledge diffusion occurs in classrooms and structured small groups... more Prior studies have shown how knowledge diffusion occurs in classrooms and structured small groups around assigned tasks yet have not begun to account for widespread knowledge sharing in more native, unstructured group settings found in online games and virtual worlds. In this paper, we describe and analyze how an insider gaming practice spread across a group of tween players ages 9-12 years in an after-school gaming club that simultaneously participated in a virtual world called Whyville.net. In order to understand how this practice proliferated, we followed the club members as they interacted with each other and members of the virtual world at large. Employing connective ethnography to trace the movements in learning and teaching this practice, we coordinated data records from videos, tracking data, field notes, and interviews. We found that club members took advantage of the different spaces, people, and times available to them across Whyville, the club, and even home and classroom spaces. By using an insider gaming practice, namely teleporting, rather than the more traditional individual person as our analytical lens, we were able to examine knowledge sharing and diffusion across the gaming spaces, including events in local small groups as well as encounters in the virtual world. In the discussion, we address methodological issues and design implications of our findings.

Games and Culture, Jan 1, 2010

In this paper, we investigate racial diversity in avatar design and public discussions about race... more In this paper, we investigate racial diversity in avatar design and public discussions about race within a large-scale teen virtual world called Whyville.net with more than 1.5 million registered players ages 8-16. One unique feature of Whyville is the players' ability to customize their avatars with various face parts and accessories, all designed and sold by other players in Whyville. Our findings report on the racial diversity of available resources for avatar construction and online postings about the role of race in avatar design and social interactions in the community. With the growing interest in player-generated content for online worlds such as Second Life, our discussion will address the role of avatars in teen identity development and self-representation, and the role of virtual entrepreneurs and community activists in increasing the diversity of avatar parts available.

Prior studies have shown how knowledge diffusion occurs in classrooms and structured small groups... more Prior studies have shown how knowledge diffusion occurs in classrooms and structured small groups around assigned tasks yet have not begun to account for widespread knowledge sharing in more native, unstructured group settings found in online games and virtual worlds. In this paper, we describe and analyze how an insider gaming practice spread across a group of tween players ages 9–12 years in an after-school gaming club that simultaneously participated in a virtual world called Whyville.net. In order to understand how this practice proliferated, we followed the club members as they interacted with each other and members of the virtual world at large. Employing connective ethnography to trace the movements in learning and teaching this practice, we coordinated data records from videos, tracking data, field notes, and interviews. We found that club members took advantage of the different spaces, people, and times available to them across Whyville, the club, and even home and classroom spaces. By using an insider gaming practice, namely teleporting, rather than the more traditional individual person as our analytical lens, we were able to examine knowledge sharing and diffusion across the gaming spaces, including events in local small groups as well as encounters in the virtual world. In the discussion, we address methodological issues and design implications of our findings.

Little is known concerning how young players learn to participate in various activities in virtua... more Little is known concerning how young players learn to participate in various activities in virtual worlds. We use a new integrative approach called connective ethnography that focuses on how a gaming practice spread across a network of youth at an after school club that simultaneously participated in a virtual world, Whyville.net. To trace youth participation in online and offline social contexts, we draw on multiple sources of information: observations, interviews, videos, online tracking and chat data, and hundreds of hours of play in Whyville ourselves. One gaming practicethe throwing of projectiles and its social uses and nuancesbecame the focal point of our analyses. The discussions address the methodological challenges underlying the synthesis of diverse types of data that allowed us to follow youth across multiple spaces as well as initial insights into how this practice was used to negotiate relationships in multiple spaces through play.

International Journal of Science Education, Jan 1, 2009

. What do students gain from a week at science camp? Youth perceptions and the design of an immer... more . What do students gain from a week at science camp? Youth perceptions and the design of an immersive research-oriented astronomy camp. Abstract: This study explored American high school students' perceptions of the benefits of a summer astronomy camp emphasizing a full cycle of the research process and how the organisation of the camp contributed to those perceptions. Semi-structured interviews with students and staff were used to elicit the specific benefits that campers perceived from their experiences and examine them in relation to the stated goals and strategies of camp staff. Among the perceived benefits that students described were peer relationships, personal autonomy, positive relationships with staff, and deepened science knowledge. These perceived benefits appear to influence the kinds of identities students constructed for themselves in relation to science. Gee's (2004) concept of 'affinity space' is used to consider how features of the camp's design, especially those that promoted student autonomy, contributed to students' positive perceptions, and to draw implications for the design of informal science learning experiences that can link youth with larger communities of scientists.

… and Technologies 2007, Jan 1, 2007

Virtual communities have become a central part of children's social landscape. Some of them, call... more Virtual communities have become a central part of children's social landscape. Some of them, called multi-player online role-playing games, invite thousands of children to join and play together. Their online interactions are structured around socializing, shopping, and e-mailings. At occasion, particular events such as player revolts, virus outbreaks, or organized ostracism bring together the geographically dispersed players of such online communities and constitute what we call community events. As a case in point, we focus on Whypox, a virtual epidemic that took place in Whyville.net, a teen online community with over 1.5 million registered players ages 8-16. To understand how events such as Whypox impact life in online communities, we analyze tracking data, chat content, newspaper postings, survey and interview descriptions and play interactions. We discuss implications of our findings in relation to notion of affinity groups, propose design parameters for designing community events, and outline educational applications.

Canadian Journal of Science, …, Jan 1, 2011

One approach to promoting successful engagement of underrepresented groups in mathematics classro... more One approach to promoting successful engagement of underrepresented groups in mathematics classrooms is Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP). However, it has been argued that CRP risks essentializing students or watering down academic content. We report our analysis of a case study of a group of three 6 th grade students who took part in a 6-week mathematics curriculum. This curriculum used Geographical Information System (GIS) maps to engage students in designing personally meaningful research projects while learning about measures of central tendency (i.e., learning statistics). The case study was chosen as representative of how students in this urban classroom (47 total) successfully navigated the curriculum. While successful, the intervention highlights the kinds of negotiations that students engaged in with each other, the teacher, and the curriculum as they co-constructed their own meaning of relevance. The goal of our analysis is to illustrate the importance of recognizing multiple forms of relevance and supporting ongoing negotiations of these multiple forms.

ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 2014

In this article, we examine the use of electronic textiles (e-textiles) for introducing key compu... more In this article, we examine the use of electronic textiles (e-textiles) for introducing key computational concepts and practices while broadening perceptions about computing. The starting point of our work was the design and implementation of a curriculum module using the LilyPad Arduino in a pre-AP high school computer science class. To understand students’ learning, we analyzed the structure and functionality of their circuits and program code as well as their design approaches to making and debugging their e-textile creations and their views of computing. We also studied students’ changing perceptions of computing. Our discussion addresses the need for and design of scaffolded challenges and the potential for using crafts materials and activities such as e-textiles for designing introductory courses that can broaden participation in computing.

We highlight ways to support interest-driven creation of digital media in Scratch, a visual-based... more We highlight ways to support interest-driven creation of digital media in Scratch, a visual-based programming language and community, within a high school programming workshop. We describe a collaborative approach, the programmers’ collective, that builds on social models found in do-it-yourself and open source communities, but with scaffolding structures that support students’ learning. We analyze the work of a class of high school student collectives engaged in programming music videos as part of a collaborative challenge in the online Scratch community. Our multi-level analysis focused on students’ learning specific programming concepts, effects of collaborative and task design on learning, and their personal reflections on collaboration and media creation. We address how these overlapping collaborative experiences point to the value of “nested collectives,” or multiple levels of designed-for collaboration. We also highlight a needed shift from a focus on computation to computational participation, highlighting the innately social aspects of media creation.

Journal of Organizational and End …, Jan 1, 2010

Previous efforts in end-user development have focused on facilitating the mechanics of learning p... more Previous efforts in end-user development have focused on facilitating the mechanics of learning programming leaving aside social and cultural factors equally important in getting youth engaged in programming. As part of a fourmonth long ethnographic study, we followed two 12-year old participants as they learned the programming software Scratch and its associated file-sharing site, scratch.mit.edu, in an after-school club and class. In our discussion we focus on the role that agency, membership, and status played in their joining and participating local and online communities of programmers.

The University of Tokyo, Jan 1, 2007

Avatars in online games and worlds are seen as players' key representations in interactions with ... more Avatars in online games and worlds are seen as players' key representations in interactions with others. It is surprising then that this aspect of game play has not received much attention in research, in particular what concerns playergenerated avatars. In this paper, we investigate the avatar design and identity play within a large-scale tween virtual world called Whyville.net with more than 1.5 million registered players ages 8-16. One unique feature of Whyville is the player's ability to customize one's avatar with various face parts and accessories, all designed and sold by other players in Whyville. Our findings report on the expressive resources available for avatar construction, individual tween players' choices and rationales in creating their avatars, and online postings about avatar design in the community at large. With the growing interest in playergenerated content for online worlds such as Second Life, our discussion will address the role of avatars in identity play and self-representation as well as the social issues that arise within the game world.

Games and Culture, Jan 1, 2010

Little is known concerning how young players learn to participate in various activities in virtua... more Little is known concerning how young players learn to participate in various activities in virtual worlds. We use a new integrative approach called connective ethnography that focuses on how a gaming practice spread across a network of youth at an after school club that simultaneously participated in a virtual world, Whyville.net. To trace youth participation in online and offline social contexts, we draw on multiple sources of information: observations, interviews, videos, online tracking and chat data, and hundreds of hours of play in Whyville ourselves. One gaming practice -the throwing of projectiles and its social uses and nuances -became the focal point of our analyses. The discussions address the methodological challenges underlying the synthesis of diverse types of data that allowed us to follow youth across multiple spaces as well as initial insights into how this practice was used to negotiate relationships in multiple spaces through play.

… new ground: Innovation in games, play, …, Jan 1, 2009

Little is known about how girl players navigate through virtual worlds, negotiate their identity,... more Little is known about how girl players navigate through virtual worlds, negotiate their identity, and challenge cultural norms and practices. We investigated over 500 players in a science-themed tween virtual world called Whyville.net with girls being the majority (68%) of its 1.5 million registered players. Using logfile data collected over a six-month long period, we identified three distinct groups: core gamers (7% of all players), semi-core gamers (34% of players), and peripheral gamers (59% of players). We found that all groups participated in common practices but that core players also participated in non-traditional, transgressive practices. These included private flirting with other players and aggressive scamming of others for personal profit as well as public denials of such activities because they violated gender and social norms. Often hidden, these facets of girls' play indicate the value of virtual worlds as digital publics that offer youth opportunities to engage in identity exploration and border crossing.

On the Horizon, Jan 1, 2009

Purpose -This paper aims to present and discuss cheat sites and cheating practices associated wit... more Purpose -This paper aims to present and discuss cheat sites and cheating practices associated with Whyville.net, a virtual world with over 1.7 million registered players aged eight to 16 that includes game and science activities. The goal is to examine how the development of cheats can present learning opportunities for players and designers alike.

Games and Culture, Jan 1, 2010

Page 1. http://gac.sagepub.com/ Games and Culture http://gac.sagepub.com/content/ 5/1/23 The onli... more Page 1. http://gac.sagepub.com/ Games and Culture http://gac.sagepub.com/content/ 5/1/23 The online version of this article can be found at: DOI: 10.1177/ 1555412009351260 2010 5: 23 Games and Culture Yasmin B. Kafai ...

International Journal of Computer-Supported …, Jan 1, 2009

Prior studies have shown how knowledge diffusion occurs in classrooms and structured small groups... more Prior studies have shown how knowledge diffusion occurs in classrooms and structured small groups around assigned tasks yet have not begun to account for widespread knowledge sharing in more native, unstructured group settings found in online games and virtual worlds. In this paper, we describe and analyze how an insider gaming practice spread across a group of tween players ages 9-12 years in an after-school gaming club that simultaneously participated in a virtual world called Whyville.net. In order to understand how this practice proliferated, we followed the club members as they interacted with each other and members of the virtual world at large. Employing connective ethnography to trace the movements in learning and teaching this practice, we coordinated data records from videos, tracking data, field notes, and interviews. We found that club members took advantage of the different spaces, people, and times available to them across Whyville, the club, and even home and classroom spaces. By using an insider gaming practice, namely teleporting, rather than the more traditional individual person as our analytical lens, we were able to examine knowledge sharing and diffusion across the gaming spaces, including events in local small groups as well as encounters in the virtual world. In the discussion, we address methodological issues and design implications of our findings.

Games and Culture, Jan 1, 2010

In this paper, we investigate racial diversity in avatar design and public discussions about race... more In this paper, we investigate racial diversity in avatar design and public discussions about race within a large-scale teen virtual world called Whyville.net with more than 1.5 million registered players ages 8-16. One unique feature of Whyville is the players' ability to customize their avatars with various face parts and accessories, all designed and sold by other players in Whyville. Our findings report on the racial diversity of available resources for avatar construction and online postings about the role of race in avatar design and social interactions in the community. With the growing interest in player-generated content for online worlds such as Second Life, our discussion will address the role of avatars in teen identity development and self-representation, and the role of virtual entrepreneurs and community activists in increasing the diversity of avatar parts available.

Prior studies have shown how knowledge diffusion occurs in classrooms and structured small groups... more Prior studies have shown how knowledge diffusion occurs in classrooms and structured small groups around assigned tasks yet have not begun to account for widespread knowledge sharing in more native, unstructured group settings found in online games and virtual worlds. In this paper, we describe and analyze how an insider gaming practice spread across a group of tween players ages 9–12 years in an after-school gaming club that simultaneously participated in a virtual world called Whyville.net. In order to understand how this practice proliferated, we followed the club members as they interacted with each other and members of the virtual world at large. Employing connective ethnography to trace the movements in learning and teaching this practice, we coordinated data records from videos, tracking data, field notes, and interviews. We found that club members took advantage of the different spaces, people, and times available to them across Whyville, the club, and even home and classroom spaces. By using an insider gaming practice, namely teleporting, rather than the more traditional individual person as our analytical lens, we were able to examine knowledge sharing and diffusion across the gaming spaces, including events in local small groups as well as encounters in the virtual world. In the discussion, we address methodological issues and design implications of our findings.

Little is known concerning how young players learn to participate in various activities in virtua... more Little is known concerning how young players learn to participate in various activities in virtual worlds. We use a new integrative approach called connective ethnography that focuses on how a gaming practice spread across a network of youth at an after school club that simultaneously participated in a virtual world, Whyville.net. To trace youth participation in online and offline social contexts, we draw on multiple sources of information: observations, interviews, videos, online tracking and chat data, and hundreds of hours of play in Whyville ourselves. One gaming practicethe throwing of projectiles and its social uses and nuancesbecame the focal point of our analyses. The discussions address the methodological challenges underlying the synthesis of diverse types of data that allowed us to follow youth across multiple spaces as well as initial insights into how this practice was used to negotiate relationships in multiple spaces through play.

International Journal of Science Education, Jan 1, 2009

. What do students gain from a week at science camp? Youth perceptions and the design of an immer... more . What do students gain from a week at science camp? Youth perceptions and the design of an immersive research-oriented astronomy camp. Abstract: This study explored American high school students' perceptions of the benefits of a summer astronomy camp emphasizing a full cycle of the research process and how the organisation of the camp contributed to those perceptions. Semi-structured interviews with students and staff were used to elicit the specific benefits that campers perceived from their experiences and examine them in relation to the stated goals and strategies of camp staff. Among the perceived benefits that students described were peer relationships, personal autonomy, positive relationships with staff, and deepened science knowledge. These perceived benefits appear to influence the kinds of identities students constructed for themselves in relation to science. Gee's (2004) concept of 'affinity space' is used to consider how features of the camp's design, especially those that promoted student autonomy, contributed to students' positive perceptions, and to draw implications for the design of informal science learning experiences that can link youth with larger communities of scientists.

… and Technologies 2007, Jan 1, 2007

Virtual communities have become a central part of children's social landscape. Some of them, call... more Virtual communities have become a central part of children's social landscape. Some of them, called multi-player online role-playing games, invite thousands of children to join and play together. Their online interactions are structured around socializing, shopping, and e-mailings. At occasion, particular events such as player revolts, virus outbreaks, or organized ostracism bring together the geographically dispersed players of such online communities and constitute what we call community events. As a case in point, we focus on Whypox, a virtual epidemic that took place in Whyville.net, a teen online community with over 1.5 million registered players ages 8-16. To understand how events such as Whypox impact life in online communities, we analyze tracking data, chat content, newspaper postings, survey and interview descriptions and play interactions. We discuss implications of our findings in relation to notion of affinity groups, propose design parameters for designing community events, and outline educational applications.

Canadian Journal of Science, …, Jan 1, 2011

One approach to promoting successful engagement of underrepresented groups in mathematics classro... more One approach to promoting successful engagement of underrepresented groups in mathematics classrooms is Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP). However, it has been argued that CRP risks essentializing students or watering down academic content. We report our analysis of a case study of a group of three 6 th grade students who took part in a 6-week mathematics curriculum. This curriculum used Geographical Information System (GIS) maps to engage students in designing personally meaningful research projects while learning about measures of central tendency (i.e., learning statistics). The case study was chosen as representative of how students in this urban classroom (47 total) successfully navigated the curriculum. While successful, the intervention highlights the kinds of negotiations that students engaged in with each other, the teacher, and the curriculum as they co-constructed their own meaning of relevance. The goal of our analysis is to illustrate the importance of recognizing multiple forms of relevance and supporting ongoing negotiations of these multiple forms.