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meaningful play 2012 travel

Session Information

TitleQuest-Based Learning...Gamification in Schools
Presenter(s)Mark Suter, Boise State University
TimeFriday, October 19, 1:00p-2:00p
LocationTower
FormatWorkshop
DescriptionBring your laptops and mobile devices as you will be working hands-on with the first quest-based gamification platform designed specifically for educators. Now in beta, 3D GameLab provides a centralized location for students to play through quests, earn badges, XP, level up, and unlock new content. This web app shares characteristics with popular MMO's that early research has shown brings students into the coveted state of "flow", indicated by increased engagement, focus, and productivity.

Educators create "quests" for students to choose from, which when completed, unlock the next step in a quest-chain, or a whole new group of quests. Each new quest can act as a "key quest" to open up new topics, or simply provide alternative routes to the same end goal, catering to personalized learning styles.
Educators also have the option to create their own quests from scratch, or clone and remix quests from the growing "armory" of hundreds of quests with Creative Commons licensing. Quests are also ISTE-NETS and common-core standards based, providing individual student progress indicators.

Developed at Boise State University by Drs. Lisa Dawley and Chris Haskell, 3D GameLab was designed to help educators turn their classroom into a living game. For reporting purposes, administrators can also view live tracking of how "players" are performing based on XP, time to completion, quests completed, visual bar indicators of which standards they are hitting or missing, and overall group statistics.

In this workshop:
* Experience "playing" through quests in a sample curriculum as a student.
* Uses of reward systems in Education (levels, XP, badges)
* Early research results on what works...and what doesn't.
* A look into two existing implementations (6th grade and college students).

Intended Audience:
* game educators
* students
* academic game researchers
* academic game designers and developers

Core Concepts/Skills:
* Potential applications of game mechanics to education
* gamification model that works with or without commercial games
* How to transition from existing curriculum to a quest-based format
* Existing research, and next steps

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