It is night. The moon is full. Everyone, close your eyes. Werewolves, open your eyes. Werewolves, choose a victim." This line from the moderator's script is the first voice that players hear when they play "Are You a Werewolf?" ("AYAW?"), one of the many games that fit into the category of "social deception" games. The purpose of this work is to look at how social deception games could aid instruction in communication studies classes. Specifically, this article will address how social deception games can help reinforce learning concepts taught in a section of small group communication and how instructors can assess whether the students are meeting learning objectives when ludological elements enhance the pedagogical toolbox of a professor. This point is important to discuss as the role of gaming in higher education has received some substantial research over the past decade (Vlachopoulos & Makri, 2017); the role of gaming and simulation in the communication classroom has been missing from the overall conversation. One of the reasons that the study of games (ludology) in education and pedagogy has faced resistance in the past could be attributed to the perceived nonserious nature of gaming. Individually, teachers could view games in a classroom setting as nothing more than a timewaster to fill hours of dead space in a syllabus, a lazy way to review facts before an examination, or something that has no place in an educational setting because they are seen as disconnected with course objectives, benchmarks, standards, or assessments of program (Verzat, Byrne, & Fayolle, 2009). Within the past few years, scholars have applied qualitative and quantitative modes of research to evaluate the value of gameplay in the classroom. An important epistemological and pedagogical thread that has emerged among the ludological scholarship over the past 5 years (i.e., Blumberg,
Tablet computers (or just tablets) are often discussed in context with their relationship with books as an informational portal. For the most part, the analysis of tablets has dealt with frequent tablet activities, locations of use and contextual factors. It is fair also to note how the tablet has become a central nexus of production tools for the content creator. Tablets represent a platform both for distributing content to multiple audiences and providing the tools necessary to produce content on the fly. Tablets allow the user to capture thoughts on a screen that is slightly smaller than that of a traditional laptop (10 vs. 13 inches), while maintaining a level of portability and usability beyond what a traditional laptop can provide. This ability to quickly capture thoughts and ideas is extremely handy to academics in the field, specifically researchers, as they conduct research or present knowledge to the larger population. This study will look at how researchers are using tablets to replace older techniques for gathering data and publishing their work. The analysis of publishing will look at the differences between writing on a tablet and writing on an office computer or laptop. For example, the advantages and disadvantages of a touch screen device versus traditional user interfaces (keyboard and mouse) will be discussed by the researchers and shown via the everyday use of the tablet/office computer.
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