ClassCraftA Look at the Collaborative Game Play Platform in The Classroom

In seeking ways to provide an engaging learning environment for students, teachers in this century find that traditional ways like rote memorization and taking notes from a book fall flat with today’s students. This ultimately results in a general disinterest in learning and even behavioral problems among students in the classroom. Go into any school in the country and most teachers will tell you the same things. Kids love to socialize with their friends and most kids would rather be out having fun. These types of characteristics have been innate in every child growing up since the beginning of time. There is research that shows that “children are intrinsically motivated to play, which makes it fertile ground for learning and developing new skills (Zosh et al., 2017, p 15)” This case study is going to discuss playful learning in the classroom, as it pertains to the concepts of learner engagement, specifically through the implementation of gamification in the classroom using the online platform Classcraft.

Goal-Oriented Learning

In the world of Classcraft, each student creates an avatar and is then placed in a team of 5 to 6 players. The only stipulation is that each team must have at least one mage, one healer, and one warrior. Each player can then select a power they would like for their character to hold. Throughout the year the game master (the teacher) will give out experience points based on activities, participation, and even behavior within the classroom. According to (Reiser & Dempsey, 2018, 80), goals can be as simple as enjoying friendly interactions with other people or being engaged in an activity. Classcraft, from the beginning, provides both of these goals for students with each student being placed into a team that will work together for the year and students willing to participate in classroom activities and discussions in order to build up their points for their team. It is also important that meaningful goals shift and grow throughout the year with each team and each student. This will avoid the “novelty effect” where students become disinterested in the game after a short while of play.

Image from Classcraft Website

Satisfying Outcomes In Learning

Everyone likes to be rewarded when they’ve done something they are particularly proud of or have worked hard on. Within Classcraft is a rewards system ran by not only the teacher but accessible to the students as well. Although it must be closely monitored to dissuade students from abusing the rewards system this, helps to promote a system that gives students intrinsic satisfaction when completing their work. For example, “Warriors are in charge of protecting their team and can use powers the damage for other players, and Healers can use their powers to restore lost health points for the team or for themselves” (Rivera-Trigueros & Sanchez-Perez, 2020, 8). Even if a student has a bad day or doesn’t particularly get a concept at that moment, even if they lose points for the team, their team members can help protect the team or heal the team. “In the process of receiving more points, students are able to use those points to upgrade their character and unlock additional powers or privileges” (Bretherton et al., 2016, p 70) Although the teacher has the power to remove points and give points, students are still intrinsically motivated in Classcraft due to the many factors that can influence the points system while playing the game.

Self Regulated Learning

“Motivation to learn is promoted and maintained when learners employ volitional (self-regulatory) strategies to protect their intentions” (Reiser & Dempsey, 2018, p 81) . Students must have the will to want to learn, participate and complete the lessons within their classrooms and throughout the day. Classcraft not only provides goal-oriented learning and satisfying outcomes with instant gratification in the points system but also provides students with the motivation to engage in their learning environment. One particular tool used in Classcraft is the Wheel of Destiny which randomly selects a student in class to answer questions or solve an activity. “It makes students stay alert and pay attention during class as they knew that they could be selected at any moment by the Wheel of Destiny” (Rivera-Trigueros & Sanchez-Perez, 2020, p 10). Students become self-regulated in their abilities to listen to the teacher during lessons and avoid the everyday distractions of their peers or simply just uninterestedly doodling in a notebook due to disconnect.

The implementation of play to learn in the classroom, in many ways, could help solve the problem of disconnect between the student and the subject matter being taught. However, this is if and only if the chosen gaming system is researched and carefully picked out to make sure students will be continuously motivated and protected in gameplay.

References

Bretherton, W., Sim, G., & Read, J. C. (2016). ClassCraft in the Primary School Classroom. Proceedings of the European Conference on Games Based Learning, 1, 67-74.

Reiser, R. A., & Dempsey, J. V. (2018). Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology. Pearson.

Rivera-Trigueros, I., & Sanchez-Perez, M. d. M. (2020). CONQUERING THE IRON THRONE: USINC CLASSCRAFT TO FOSTER STUDENTS' MOTIVATION IN THE EFL CLASSROOM. Teaching English With Technology, 20(2), 3-22.

Zosh, J. M., Hopkins, E. J., Jansen, H., Liu, C., Neal, D., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Solis, S. L., & Whitebread, D. (2017). Learning through play: a review of the evidence (white paper). The LEGO Foundation, DK.