Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Prof Subs Grades for Experience Points, Presentations With Quests

by Amar Toor on March 26, 2010 at 02:10 PM

We couldn't make this stuff up if we tried: Lee Sheldon, a teacher of game design in Indiana, bases his entire teaching philosophy on the online game, 'World of Warcraft.' The nerdy professor coordinates several game design courses at Indiana University, and has now overhauled the grading system of his classes in an effort to better motivate students. Instead of traditional grades, IU game designers accumulate "experience points" over the course of a semester. In class presentations are now known as "quests." Whereas most students take exams, Sheldon's pupils "fight monsters." In the event that a professor assigns a group project, students quickly form "guilds."

Sheldon says that ever since he implemented this new gaming grading system, his students have been noticeably more enthusiastic in class. As he tells iTnews, "The elements of the class are couched in terms they understand, terms that are associated with fun rather than education." Sheldon's approach has worked so well, in fact, that you may soon be hearing corporate suits casually talking about their big company "quests" over lunch.

Ross Cochrane, CEO of distribution company Express Data, has adopted many of Sheldon's classroom techniques in his own company. While Cochrane's approach isn't grounded in 'World of Warcraft' lingo like Sheldon's, he still uses the same principle of performance-based, crystal-clear tasking to manage employees (similar to how a game designer should manage players). As he tells iTnews, "I think you need to make it very clear to people about what the expectations are with regards to performance." In other words, if a student or worker performs a certain way, they will rack up experience and move forward.

While other Indiana professors remain unconvinced that video game parlance could have the same effect in non-game design courses, we at the Switched Guild are totally on board with Sheldon. We're not saying that every classroom should turn into Azeroth, but there's a lot to be said for using new mechanisms to motivate younger generations. After all, if today's professors are now, as Sheldon says, "teaching the gamer, social networking generation," what better way to speak to them than with their own language? [From: iTnews; via: Yahoo and ClusterFlock]

Tags: classroom, game design, GameDesign, grades, grading system, GradingSystem, indiana, indiana university, IndianaUniversity, lee sheldon, LeeSheldon, psychology, teaching, top, video games, VideoGames, warcraft, web, world-of-warcraft

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular