Thank the session organizer, the chair, and the audience.
Basically a subset of game-based learning but adaptable to any course content.
Why? Next slide.
Offers learners choice.
We all like choice. Otherwise we’d still have only one kind of blue jean.
Quest Based Learning offers choices in which quests to pursue and when.
Quest based learning also rewards experience (experience points) and also rewards us by learning from our mistakes.
And don’t we all like to get the card that gives us “rewards” for using the card to shop?
Experience points are awarded based on time and difficulty to perform the quest. A percentage of points, based on a rubric, is assigned to the assignment. 85% is required to WIN the quest. If learner does not achieve 85% the quest is returned with LOTS of reinforcing feedback. Quests can be repeated until the quest is won. WIN THE QUEST AND ALL 100% OF POINTS ARE ASSIGNED.
The rewards in quest-based learning not only include experience points but also badges.
And you’re asking … who cares about badges? Hello, do you wear this when you vote? Or a button that says “I gave blood today”?
Another reward structure for questing is leveling up. Leveling up means you get more perks, more quests, more opportunities to keep …… questing (learning).
And, yes again you know you do this already.
Quest-based learning allows you to leverage the powerful hypnotic effect of leveling up.
While leveling up by itself tends to drive continued questing, some respond better to comparing themselves to others. Game Leaderboards provide that comparative analysis for the gamer.
It’s easy to assume that we don’t deal with leaderboards, but think about this March Madness example.
QBL provides leaderboards as well, but students can choose to have the instructor hide their scores from other learners.
Instead of grades the experience points, levels, and badges all combine to provide the instructor with ample methods of learner assessment.
The difference between Quest-based assessment and the gradebook is that the quest-based approach is additive, always moving toward the A, with the gradebook is subtractive, always leading to the F. Which do you think provides more incentive to learn?
The approach also allows you to monitor the class progress as you would in any LMS and, of course this can be done both for individuals and groups.
As you have seen in previous slides, the platform I use is the 3D GameLab. One of very few game-base learning management systems.
This is my geography 481 Course that I am trying to convert. While it is QM certified, I’m trying to make it more “fun” for the learner.
The course conversion begins by creating individual quests.
The Quest interface is easy to learn and allows you to create virtually any type of exercise you would normally create in your class.
Here is a student view of the quest, with directions. Keep in mind that not all quests are required, thus the learner has choice. This can be controlled if certain material is absolutely requisite for the learner to succeed.
Graphics help simplify the complexity of the course and visualize how it flows. Popplet is the tool I am currently using to help me diagram and flowchart the course.
This is the current mapping of the course but there is much left to do. This is quite preliminary but it does show the different levels available for course structure.
You can control the flow of the course by the reward structure you create and the leveling approach you design.
Here you can see I am working on the Ranks (levels) and how they are to be defined based on the text I am using.
I’m using a course quest mapping template in Xcel that makes the detailing relatively easy to do, although the complexity of the course is contributing to an increase in time for this activity. I think this is the most important step in the process.
So what do I expect will be the final result of this work? Well I am hoping it will be a much more engaging environment than the original course. I’m hoping to implement this in the Fall of 2015. Perhaps the results of that work will be ready to report next year. Thank you for your attention.