First, I consider which features or design concepts constitute interactivity in ExploreNet and whether interactive features are maximizing the choices users could have to affect their environment.
Then, I examine the aesthetic and educational underpinnings of the ExploreNet program. Program designers aimed to enact a constructionist model of learning within ExploreNet. To shed light on this model of learning, I analyze how constructionist educational objectives are implemented within the literary and graphic design of the program. I use the analogy of the creative literary form (the short story and the play) to analyze ExploreNet both as a constructed environment that one participates in and as an authoring environment.
The concern for theatrical and literary realism is evident in ExploreNet designers' conception of the interactivity of a participant in their environment; realistic conventions, particularly the 4th wall separation between audience and performer, underscore the literary and dramatic form of ExploreNet, which has bearing on the interactivity options of the user.
Presenter: Susan Warshauer
Categories:
Target Audience: Advanced