Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School: General Math - The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game - page 200

needed to redo. This was worth 100 XP. We had tutoring before Knowl-
edge Quest and had seen an increase from zero students to almost six to
seven students every time it was offered. From what we observed, it was
stemming mostly from students who were very close to each other in
total XP and were trying to keep up with each other. The students who
really needed the help came in less frequently, but still more often than
previously.
n Negative XP for not closing laptops as they left. We introduced this due
to laptops being knocked over by bags and damaged while students were
leaving class. This was a major issue getting students to remember to
close their laptops before leaving class, but as soon as we introduced
-50 XP for everyone in the guild if anyone in the guild left it open, the
number of laptops left open dropped to zero. With no reminders or any
sort of incentives, students continued to close their laptops, or if their
guild member forgot, another member would close it for them. On some
occasions, other guild members had been closing others for them. This
drastic change was one of the most surprising outcomes and sustained
itself with no reminders from the teachers.
Some of the observations we made during the time we began using Knowledge
Quest in the classroom:
n Students were coming into class on time and were working together to
complete their daily task of logging in. After they were finished, the stu-
dents went onto the KQ website to see what their XP was and what
badges they had earned.
n Our original thoughts were that picking avatar names was not going to
be that important, but it really set the tone for the entire project. Students
also created names for their guilds, which seemed to give them a sense of
unity. All guilds created a shield, which also added to their togetherness.
n When going over what an equation was, we used a lot of gaming
vocabulary. We did a weapons check, pencils were swords, dry erase
markers were wands, red pens were torches, whiteboards and erasers
were shields. The students, particularly the boys, responded really well to
this. I did see a small divergence in boy to girl participation, but the