| It is quite possible to sit down and write a Quandary maze
from scratch without considering such things as what you want the students
to learn, the characteristics of your learners, and so forth. It may even
prove to be an engaging experience for students. It might not, however,
teach them what you really want them to know. In order to make that
desirable outcome happen, you need to think carefully about your goals for
the maze. There are a number of ways that you could do that. Action mazes
are good for teaching (or helping teach, for example by providing practice)
a number of things:
- Practice a decision making procedure
- Practice discriminating among alternatives
- Apply principles to a real life situation
- Apply principles in a game-like situation
To decide how to proceed with designing your maze, you need to consider
several things:
- Who is your audience?
- How technically sophisticated are they? Can they use the Web
already?
- How much do they already know about the material? The more they
know, the more sophisticated your maze can, and should, be.
- Are they able to take advantage of active learning opportunities?
Would they do better doing a maze alone or with a partner or two?
- What is the context for the learning?
- Is this an online course or a more traditional one with a web
component?
- Do the students have access to the web along with the technology
needed to use a maze? (For example, they will need a v3 browser or
later.)
- What is the content you are teaching?
- Are you teaching intellectual skills such as concepts, procedures,
or processes?
- Will students be able to learn the basics before applying them in a
maze?
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