The Quest-Based Classroom: Have we got the kinks worked out?

26 June 2011 1,192 views One Comment

Lee Sheldon has published a book describing how teachers can set up their classrooms to mimic a game environment. This consists of (among other things) turning “assignments” into “quests,” allowing students to choose the quests they’re interested in, and using XP (experience points) earned by completing quests for grading purposes. The idea is to create a risk-free environment where students can be more creative than in a traditional class and even become mentors as they help other students get through their own quests.

Sheldon and others who have tried this method have found that class attendance goes up using this method, students complete a greater percentage of assignments during the semester, and overall grades in the class go up. This method has been found to be so effective that Boise State University’s Lisa Dawley and Chris Hakell have launched their very own 3D Game Lab for teaching educators how to use this method in their own classrooms.

It sounds like a great idea, and could be very motivating for students. I can definitely see how students who may not be doing very well in a traditional classroom would appreciate a less pressure-filled environment and more emphasis on feedback rather than grades. As someone who is interested in non-traditional and informal educational opportunities for low-performing students, I’m intrigued by the idea.

This past semester I had the opportunity to take a class based on this “gamification” model of teaching, and it left me with some very basic questions. First of all, not all quests are created equal – choosing only the ones that interested me left out some parts of the curriculum from my experience. There should perhaps be groups or categories of quests, with students choosing a minimum number of quests from each.  But more importantly, the lack of grades for each assignment, or quest, turned the class into a competition of who could complete the most quests and gain the most points. It turned the focus from quality to quantity – yes, there was some feedback given for quests but this had no effect on how many points were given for completing the quest. The final course grade was determined according to XP accrued during the semester, as opposed to quality of work.

I suppose a student who was not doing well in a traditional class would enjoy this aspect of the the class and might be more motivated to participate – but do we want to be teaching that evaluation does not matter, only participation? Will this really serve them well in the after-school life? (yes, kids, there is life after school!) Is it worth it if it means otherwise high-performing students will be LESS motivated to achieve? Are we simply trading one educational problem for another – should we perhaps think about only implementing quests low-performing classrooms and schools? Or is there a way to combine evaluation and grades with XP to take the best of both worlds?

If you have any experience with gamification in your classroom, or just have thoughts about any of these questions, let me know – @edtechtoday using the hashtag #bbl-gbl! My mind is certainly not made up yet on this issue, but it seems to have intriguing potential. What do you think?


Elisa teaches online professional development courses for teachers at teachertechtraining.com.
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One Comment »

  • Maria Droujkova said:

    I think quality (Arete?) is a big issue. The only solution I see is the system where human evaluation is an integral part of the quest. For example, the quest to make something usable by others (and appreciated by them) will have built-in quality standards. The difficulty is to make others “sufficiently distant” and the quest “sufficiently real” for them – because just exchanging evaluations with classmates presents a conflict of interests and social pressures toward inflated evaluations. But, for example, building a fraction game for students in another class (and getting their feedback on whether it actually helped them understand fractions better – or getting them to build the next level!) should address the problem somewhat.