Those of us who have played Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop roleplaying games know how engaging the games can be. But does this game offer anything we can bring to an online or blended class? Maybe it does, but you’re going to have to roll for initiative to find out.
When we think of game-based learning and game-based elements, we think of students studiously working in groups to solve problems or the triumphant yell that happens when they defeat the challenge. Or we think of carefully constructing a Jeopardy to help them remember all of the concepts for a final. When we think of moving that experience to our online populations, our minds begin to spin with the questions of cost, ability, and time. It doesn’t have to be that way. Our games in our classes don’t have to look like the newest video game blockbuster to hit the shelves and you don’t need a degree in Computer Programming to get it done. Some of the most engaging games only involve a few sheets of paper, a few dice, and the imagination of a few friends in the form of one of the most popular tabletop RPG games, Dungeons and Dragons. So what can games like D&D teach us about game-based learning in online classes? Well, a lot, actually (Dickey, 2005; Marone, Staples, & Greenberg, 2016; Huang, Johnson, & Han, 2012; Childress & Braswell, 2006).
In this session, you will be playing the role of one of our intrepid online course design heroes on a quest to get the most students actively engaged in their class. The course may be woefully lacking dragons and longswords, but it does have its fair share of challenges that you and your trusty companions will need to overcome to keep all of your students on track to finish! While we are having fun using our D&D-esque game, we will get to see several ways that game-based elements, including (but not limited to) narrative, choice, and the joy of failure, can be used in online and blended courses.
The goal of this session is twofold. First, it will allow faculty, instructional designers, design thinkers, technologists, and other instructional support individuals to see game-based elements at work and brainstorm ways it to use it in online and blended modalities. On a larger scale, the second goal of this session is to give individuals experiences, ideas, and collaboration opportunities to foster engagement and discussions around gaming and game-based learning in educational settings. Specifically, the stated objectives of this session are:
By the end of this session, active participants will be able to
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Recognize various elements of games, specifically in Dungeons and Dragons, that can foster engagement
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Collaborate with other participants to brainstorm game-based engagement applications
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Relay the experience of game-based elements from the student perspective.
During and after gameplay, participants will have the opportunity to share their ideas and successes and to take home a handy URL that gives them access to elements of our game, the ideas we generated, and other goodies. The session will not only model what a game-based lesson could look like but also how different game-based elements that can be used. It may also give you a really great excuse to whip out that epic dice bag you’ve had in your closet since the ’80s for some sweet, sweet nerd cred with your students.
References
Childress, M. D., & Braswell, R. (2006). Using massively multiplayer online role‐playing games for online learning. Distance Education, 27(2), 187-196.
Dickey, M. D. (2005). Engaging by design: How engagement strategies in popular computer and video games can inform instructional design. Educational technology research and development, 53(2), 67-83.
Huang, W. D., Johnson, T. E., & Han, S. H. C. (2013). Impact of online instructional game features on college students’ perceived motivational support and cognitive investment: A structural equation modeling study. The Internet and Higher Education, 17, 58-68.
Marone, V., Staples, C., & Greenberg, K. H. (2016). Learning how to learn by solving bizarre problems: a playful approach to developing creative and strategic thinking. On the Horizon, 24(1), 112-120.