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The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game
24th Annual International Conference on College Teaching and LearningJacksonville, Florida10 April 2013
Lee SheldonAssociate Professor
Co-Director Games and Simulation Arts and SciencesRensselaer Polytechnic Institute
TRADITION
THE VIDEO GAME GENERATION
How can we get them to focus like that in class???
Maybe with video games? Duh.
BUT WE’VE HAD VIDEO GAMES IN THE CLASSROOM FOR DECADES
Be careful with that research: Even bad games can get good results in classrooms.
BECAUSE EVEN BAD GAMES ARE BETTER THAN THIS
GAMES ARE NOT SIMULATIONS, THEY REQUIRE ABSTRACTION
Too literal? Why make a game at all?
ONE IDEA
• Video Games– Solo– Immersion– Engagement– Experience points– Leveling– Learning by Failure– Phat lOOt
• Multiplayer games & virtual worlds– Competition– Collaboration– Boss raids– Zones– Pick-up groups– Guilds– Community
A SECOND IDEA
A THIRD IDEA
• Alternate Reality Games– Real-time– Real world
The Skeleton Chase 2: The Psychic
“Good morning, you all have an F.”
“However you can all level up.”
CREATING AVATARS
(INVESTMENT)
STUDENTS TEACHING STUDENTS
LEARNING BY FAILING
GRADING BY ATTRITION
INTRINSIC REWARDS
GUILD VS. GUILD MIDTERM PREP
“Ah! We have a question from a member of the audience!”
“I can see that it might work in video game classes, but it would never work in others.”
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute• Indiana University• Wake Forest University• Jesuit High School• Marked Tree High School• University of Arizona• Louisiana State University• Valencia Community College• Robert Louis Stevenson Middle
School• Texas Tech University• Ohio Valley College of Technology• Waunakee Community High School
GAME BOARDS
The Lost Manuscript
FINAL MANDARIN EXAM: A POLICE INTERROGATION
“But how do students who have experienced multiplayer classrooms do when they move on to more traditional teaching methods in later classes?”
• Students learn the same material with more retention than in non-multiplayer classrooms
• Class performance is ultimately measured in the same way as non-multiplayer classes
• Benefits of the multiplayer classroom are carried over to traditional classes.
ONGOING BENEFITS In the Multiplayer Classroom:
“Good morning, you all have an F.”
• Actively engaged classes (even students who were not gamers)
• Average grade on last midterm: A (up from C)
• Higher average grade overall: B (up from C)
• Almost perfect attendance• Students come early to class• Positive results from middle
school to university level• Positive results from poverty-
level students, special education students and English learners
• Positive results continue after leaving a multiplayer classroom, even if education continues using traditional methods
OBSERVATIONS
LEARNING BY FAILINGGRADING BY ATTRITIONINTRINSIC REWARDSGAMEPLAYSUSTAINED NARRATIVE
Sustained Narrative
THESE FAR HILLS
1852 an Gorta Mor (The Great Famine)
A New Land
Well you can bet tonight it's raining in DublinIn the morning or the evening about the sameAnd a thousand miles awayI miss you more and more each dayBut the strangest thing is how I miss the rain... -Kevin McKrell
Dublin
Climate Change in Ireland
Michael Donovan
Donal KateMatthew Beth Kevin
Michael
Raven
The Family Donovan
A New Land
The Green Hills of Ireland
The Red Hills of Mars
Well you can bet tonight it's raining in DublinIn the morning or the evening about the sameAnd a thousand miles awayI miss you more and more each dayBut the strangest thing is how I miss the rain... -Kevin McKrell
From the Outside Looking In
THESE FAR HILLS
The Story of a FamilyBuilding a New Life in a New Land
Teaching Engineering to a New Generation
THESE FAR HILLS
BOLDLY GOING FARTHER
September 2012
EMERGENT REALITYLAB
The Lost Manuscript 2: The Summer Palace Cipher
MARCH 2013
LEARNING BY FAILINGGRADING BY ATTRITIONINTRINSIC REWARDSGAMEPLAYSUSTAINED NARRATIVE
There is no shame in starting small. We all did.
Thank you!
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