This master thesis sets out to investigate Alternate Reality Gaming (ARG) as a learning design, that promotes innovation through the development of the innovation competence. Through a live completion of our ARG – our Natural Experiment – workshops, interviews, observations among others, were we apply Mixed Methods Research Approach. We use this approach to collect various data which we analyze through thematic analysis in regard to Community of Practice and Theory U.

In the live execution of our ARG, we collaborated with a regional newspaper, Nordjyske Medier. When we started using their media platforms, we were ethically challenged by the identity paradox of the ARG-genre’s; This Is Not a Game (TING). By reflecting upon the ethical research principles: Honesty, transparency and accountability we solved the challenges with our master thesis partner Nordjyske Medier.

We found a discrepancy regarding how the design is pitched to the participants. This discrepancy affected how the participants established the Community of Practice, in which they collaborate and approach the learning design.
In our Workshop I, where an introduction to the ARG was not given. The participants collaborated through dialogue, which centered itself around an associative and speculative approach. The participants’ research approach was very different compared to the individualistic non-collaborating approach of Workshop II, where the participants were told that the design was a game.

We learned from Workshop I that the participants had a feeling of disbelief towards the design. This disbelief came from a high amount of complexity in the design. In the interaction with the design, the participants felt a lack of feedback. This coincided with a lack of influence on the development of the design. These discoveries had a negative effect on our participants’ motivation to engage with our learning design. Taking the criticism of the participants in to consideration, we then introduced a generic participant. This participant had the objective of scaffolding learning within the design and delivering feedback to the other participants.

Through an analysis inspired by Thematic Analysis, we discovered that our learning design places our participants in Theory U’s stage of presencing. Through a collaboration between the participants and the designers, the participants were able to develop their innovation competences and engage in a formation process. We see this as a microcosm of innovation.

We conclude that by developing a learning design that promotes collaboration through dialogue and gives orientation towards the future, it is possible to construct a learning design using the genre of ARG.

The focus on a collaborate co-design process between the designers, the generic participant using learning scaffolding and the regular participants. Will create a scaffold, allowing the design to succeed in mediating a formative process.