Valencia Community College: United States History to 1877 - The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game - page 182

n My interest has been influenced because by being able to study what I
enjoyed helped me enjoy history more.
n The interest of learning was not changed, but the structure of this unit
made me feel I did not learn about the revolution as a whole.
n The structure definitely influenced my interest positively.
n The role-playing took it from interesting to AWESOME. I prided myself
upon having one of the leading positions on the “ leaderboard, � which

resulted in my having one of the highest grades.
n The role-playing was unique and beneficial. I liked learning about what I
thought was interesting.

Some final thoughts: I guess the students liked playing the game because, after
the unit, I gave them the option of keeping the gaming structure or going back to
the traditional class. They voted overwhelmingly (21

-

2) to stay with the gaming
unit. The two who voted against it were concerned about “ learning everything

there was to learn � in the course.

I thought perhaps the class voted for the structure because they liked the fact
that I had made all extra credit more transparent. However, only three students
did significant extra work, so the extra credit options were of little value or
interest to the students. Two of those students or got a bump in

grade because of their efforts; other students clearly would have gotten a bump
in their grade had they done the same level. In fact, had other students
completed an average amount of extra credit work, they all would have gotten
a bump in grade.

“ needed it �

So, I suppose I can conclude that they just liked the concepts of specific topics to
study, doing more group work, the ability to see clearly where they stood in the
class, and maybe just the idea of being in a “ game. �

I have mixed feelings because, as I stated previously, the general rule of thumb is
that more engagement leads to higher scores. Based solely on the math, if these
students had performed the historic level of preparation as seen in my other
classes, at least three to six of them would have gotten lower grades, probably a
full letter grade. Yet, in each class I teach, I have some students who do not do
the preparation and they make an A or B, while some students do the work