students must insult the teacher in an authentic context while speaking only the poet’s language such as, “Hey, thou gorbellied, onion-eyed, joithead!” Teachers may opt to add in awards for best verse, most eloquent, most comical, etc.
Badges may also be used in QBL to manage the classroom experience and document growth. For example, when building reading stamina in a primary classroom, minutes of engaged, uninterrupted independent reading may be converted to points (as gamers call experience points or XP). The XP allows the student to unlock real world privileges such as reading in the hall or with a friend.
Build Boss Challenge Quests
Quests, just like lessons, can be put together for complex projects and can lead to assessment of student learning. In gaming, assessments are referred to as boss challenges. Boss challenges can incorporate both literacy standards and 21st Century skills such as collaboration with peers, critical thinking, synthesis, and problem solving. A boss challenge can include real world work (i.e., blog writing, campaigning, peer-teaching) for authentic assessments. Student interest and engagement is high when completing authentic assessments. Research activity, inquiry projects, or multimedia presentations using collaborative technology tools are other engaging boss challenge options. Students who complete the assessment defeat the boss and win the game.
For example, the boss challenge in a quest requires students to create a digital book trailer, similar to a movie trailer, after finishing a literature circle novel. Students, in pairs or groups, initially engage in media analysis by viewing examples of movie trailers, critically analyzing key concepts. Next, students write a script for their book trailer, keeping in mind key concepts of trailer design. Students gather multimodal text such as images and music and then use either a storyboard template or an online tool to sequence scenes. They rehearse lines before recording. Lastly, they publishing the final product for a larger audience. Within this example quest, students are examining author’s purpose, assessing point of view, and integrating knowledge and ideas. Add in the collaboration, writing, production, and distribution of knowledge and this quest meets an abundance of literacy skills and standards.
Conclusion
In summary, gameplay provides a quintessential example of engagement because the player is energized and completely absorbed in the game. It is no surprise that nearly every student in the United States plays video games. With engaging content or activities, like quest-based learning, students show increased performance, are involved, and demonstrate fewer disruptive behaviors. We challenge teachers to consider incorporating game play through QBL to support literacy and connect student gaming interests to the classroom-learning environment. Let’s harness the power of gameplay to transform the learning experience. Our students must be engaged; it is the only thing that matters.
About the Authors
Tara Kingsley is an Assistant Professor at Indiana University Kokomo, Kokomo, IN
Melissa Graber-Hagen is a lecturer at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
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