29th
Proactive Kick-off : Meaningful User Needs Analysis
We are kicking off the EU ProActive project in Barcelona project, How do you ascertain user needs about a problem they do not know they have? I ask this question in the context of a project on game based learning. If i ask a random group of European teachers “ what do you want from a learning game?”, the most truthful answer is “nothing”. Realistically, I know the answer better than the teachers I am asking as I have ten years of reading the research literature, designing and exploring game based learning approaches and testing /observing in schools. I know that an answer “to teach aspect X of chemistry” is to miss the point of what game based learning is about. User needs analysis of this sort is of little value - end users did not invent the iPod
