Louisiana State University: Introduction to the Study of Education - The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game - page 133

Case History 3

Louisiana State
University: Introduction
to the Study of Education

Jessica Broussard, PhD

Department of Curriculum & Instruction

College of Education

Louisiana State University

Remember the definitions of stereotypical hard-core and casual gamers on Level 7?
Some gamers don t even realize they are gamers, as Professor Broussard discovered

when she polled her class in this case history. She also discovered that educators
being trained with traditional methods may get uncomfortable when faced with
alien concepts like creating avatars and leveling up.

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As we will see, though, this didn t discourage her. Her own familiarity with

World of Warcraft and console games helped her come up with the idea of
rewarding them with achievements. Regular rewards are a prime design
component of video games, so they fit perfectly into the multiplayer classroom.
And Professor Broussard was able to successfully tie achievements back into XP.

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Professor Broussard (see Figure CH3.1) also noticed a number of changes in the
social interactions in her class as time went along.