The Rules

I have spent time over the summer reading blogs and books about transferring your class into a game. The book I used to assist me in rewriting my syllabus from a traditional class into a more game-like class was Lee Sheldon's "The Multiplayer Classroom." I have tried to make my syllabus visually more appealing to my students by using colors and sections for the course details. I attached the original syllabus below.

After reading the Sheldon book, I used his examples and rewrote my syllabus using his syllabi as a model for me to change my course syllabus. You can see the changes below in the files attached. My students seemed to be more engaged on day one as I spoke of the class being treated as a game. The new syllabus is below and I still kept the syllabus colorful to keep the visual learners in mind and also help the other students easily locate the different sections of the class requirements. The old black and white outline is too out of date and boring for today's learners. The new syllabus includes a back story to the course/game and also new grading system. I decided to make each week/level worth 100XP to make the grading process a bit easier.

I am looking forward to seeing if the students decide to actively play the game/class.

Introduction

I teach video and sound production in a Career & Technical (CTE) classroom in New York State. The students that come to me are, for the most part, generally interested in the material but even so, the motivation is not always there. Every classroom has students with ranging abilities and backgrounds and my class is no different.

But how do we get these students motivated? How do we get them learn the curriculum better?

 I have already been using Schoology to flip my class and I also approached the course with a more challenge based learning approach, but I always look for improvement. Then it hit me: Gamify the class. Gamification is a term that is not new, but I have not seen much of it associated with a CTE classroom and believe me I searched and searched. I was intrigued by the idea and excited.

This year, over the summer I decided to gather research, listen to opinions from colleagues from all backgrounds of education, and finally read blogs and books about gamification in education in order to transform my classroom into a multiplayer game.

This blog will follow me through the entire year as I reflect on the successes and challenges that occur as I turn my course into a multiplayer game.

GAME ON!