Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School: General Math - The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game - page 199

100 XP. Progress reports were given out every third, fifth, and seventh week of
the quarter. This was done in an effort to get students to keep up with their
grades throughout the quarter and not try to complete everything at the end of
the quarter.

Homework, completed and turned in on time, was worth 100 XP. We saw an
increase in homework being turned in, especially from a few of the inclusion and
low students. This helped their grades, but overall, they showed more interest in
leveling up than what their grades were. We could count on one hand how many
times students asked:

“ Will this help my grade? � We had shown this to be true via

our Marketplace, where students could buy “ items � with the gold they earned.

With each level, students were given a certain amount of gold, which, in turn,
they could spend on a number of different items in the Marketplace. Students
could purchase things such as bottled water, chips, 20 minutes of game time on
the PlayStation in class, 500 XP, pencils, dry erase markers, bonus points on
their CFA, or quiz scores (which improved their grade for the class) and also a
free homework pass. So far, 64% have purchased the 500 XP, 14% have
purchased a homework pass, 14% have purchased game time, and 8% have
bought chips. That is 0% bought the items that would improve their grades. This
told us that the students were more interested in leveling up than they were in
receiving a specific letter grade for the class.

A few extra features we added since the start included:

n Badges, which were little images that were added to the students

'
account pages when they performed a certain task well, such as asking
great questions, or when the entire guild logged into their Navigators
and Math Notes on time for a week straight. These seemed to be good
incentives, but they were also very demanding on time, as it involved
updating dozens of students Web pages more frequently.
n Bonus Quests, which were posted almost on a daily basis and were a
great source for students to earn an extra 100 XP and either review
material or current benchmarks. These were posted on the website, and
were submitted via Google Forms.

Scheduled Tutoring, where students came in specific days during recess
and received extra help, either with the tests coming up or on work they

n