"Game changer" -

the venture pitch

The value of incorporating video games into learning is clear. We have show-cased and reviewed games in different subjects to explore what’s out there and determine what’s missing. Now it’s time to share with you our vision of how Game Based Learning can level up.

What if the risk-taking, problem solving, collaborative attributes and benefits of good gaming could be tailored to every classroom; every subject, every curriculum, every standard, every student?
What if teachers of every language; of the most ancient text; of modern art; of any piece of literature could easily, without coding and without being a design expert, create their own games in a template with a variety of settings and characters to pick from; that enables the teacher to insert any text into the game; offering an array of activities to trigger different problem solving and communication skills?
What if math and science teachers could custom design games with problems and activities geared to their students’ specific needs?
What if these game-designing teachers could become a community of game-based educators that share designs, co-create and support each other? We could MAKE EDUCATION EPIC!

Classcraft Quest has powered up GBL by creating precisely this; a quest template enabling teachers to construct their own quest and gear it towards any subject, any text, and specific needs, incorporating Classcraft’s original gamification elements that facilitate classroom management and collaboration, such as avatars, teams, XP points, powers and more. There is also a variety of pre-designed quests, including quests created by teachers available on the “Quest Marketplace” thereby creating a collaborative community of educators looking to revolutionize learning. Check out the Classcraft Quest tutorial and our demo of a quest to learn more and see it in action:

Our review :

What makes Classcraft Quest invaluable:

Limitations of Classcraft Quest:

Engaging video game – like interface and quest structure

Supremely user-friendly and adaptable template for teachers

Enables easy upload of any text, image, and video as an integral part of the game

Students easily upload work and teacher’s easily provide feedback

Discussion board can be built into the quest

Allows friendly competition between students and collaboration

Tracking students' progress is simple

Instructional videos for teachers and students alike

Excellent prompt tech support

"Market" enables sharing between educators

10.

Free account only offers 6 objectives per quest.

This can be limiting but overcome by opening a new map quest, which would enable an additional 6 objectives.

Can’t add music to quest - would add to the video game atmosphere

There is only one style of game – quest style.

This is limiting and may grow to be tedious and ineffective if all learning units would be taught in the same format

While the player’s actions do affect the progress and outcome of the game, the player does not physically manipulate a character on the screen

In order to play a game, you must be part of a class and a group and you receive a code to login. There is no option for the game to stand alone and enable individuals to login and play. Independent learners, home schoolers cannot benefit from learning through playing the game

We want to up the game even more and design

a game creation engine for educators!

One that would offer teachers the same supremely-user friendly interface and functionality as Classcraft Quest, but with multiple game styles to choose from, in addition to quests:

Our proposed venture is aimed at keeping students engaged in learning and problem solving by providing teachers with a game engine that offers:

diversity
flexibility
agency
a robust tool-kit

to help shape and create the narrative games should tell so that video games can help bring about:

solutions to real world problems
positive change
social impact

If we frame what we need and want to teach together with the everyday struggles and challenges of the world as a code to crack, a puzzle to solve, a mission to accomplish, all in the form of a game, then maybe, one day soon, students/players will be able to bring about world peace, end hunger and reverse global warming, by playing video games?

Join the adVENTURE and be a Game Changer of education in the 21st C!

Activity 3 - Leave feedback on one question for our proposed venture on the padlet

rpg- role playing games

Providing a RPG function would allow the instructor to load different types of settings where students could choose their characters (related to the subject that they are learning), and even select or gain abilities that would enable them to fulfill the ultimate quest. The players would learn about each others’ identities, strength and weaknesses. A deep narrative is a must feature. This could permit students to immerse themselves in a new world, they would need to work with others, providing a chance to re-built themselves and apply what they have learnt. An additional function could be permitting students from different regions but of the same grade access and play the game. This would encourage the sharing of knowledge, cultivate creativity and built up social skills.

ftp - first person shooter

While not a "Shooter", as the conflicts of this and schools are perfectly clear, the style of game where a student controls a character through a first person environment would be incredible. Imagine exploring a biome made in geography class, traveling through the rocks of Saturn's rings, or being able to experience a shakespearean play in the year 1585?

Super mario at school

Super Mario is a classic example of a "Platform Game" which features jumping, climbing, and running through many diverse levels. Having templates of this would allow the instructor to have the agency in creating levels of ranging difficulty and embed questions within each stage. An example of this could be a Mario type engine where powerups are only provided by correctly answering challenging math or history questions. The possiblities of fun and engagement are endless!

JOURNEY'S END