Ohio Valley College of Technology: Introduction to Keyboarding & Business Writing, Introduction to Computers - The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game - page 233

Experience Points
Since I have some students who are fresh out of high school and some who
haven

' '

t want to jump full-force into a
total gaming inspired classroom. One major idea I borrowed, though, was
turning the point totals for class into experience points while introducing the
leveling up factor.

t been in a classroom in decades, I didn

Introducing the experience point system proved beneficial because it gave the
students a path to accomplish the goal of passing the class. Going from zero
points and working toward the top level, students could clearly see where

they started and where they needed to end to earn a top grade. By not promoting
the everyone-starts-with-an-A approach, it took some pressure off the students
to be perfect for my eight-week class.

“ A �

I think everyone has a fear of failing and students being introduced for the first
time in a college setting — whether straight from high school or from the

workplace t have to be

perfect day in and day out. They know they can complete assignments, projects,
and tests successfully, to move up in the ranks and in the points to their goal
grade.

— can alleviate those reservations by knowing they don '

Throughout the course, having an outline of the different levels and experience
points also helped the students know where they stood every day in the course.
They told me that having the experience point chart in the syllabus on the first
day gave them a clear picture of where they were in the class and where they
would like to be. It seemed as if it gave a clearer sense of progression through the
course. The class wasn t a bunch of days filled with random assignments and

tests. It became more of a journey where all the assignments, projects, and tests
were intertwined and linked better.

'

Avatars
Another aspect that I found beneficial was having everyone create his or her
own avatar. Creating an avatar served two purposes: One, it allowed the
students to have fun creating their own superhero or fantasy character on the
first day. It was a nice exercise to participate in as a welcome exercise. Second, it
gave me the opportunity to use those avatars when publically displaying grades,