Classcraft in Higher Ed.

Follow

Hi all,

I do consider adding Classcraft into my teaching, however, before doing so, I need some clarification. I'm teaching MSc students in the subject of strategies studies, hence, the idea of Classcraft would fit nicely. I would like to utilize the game in summative assessment assignments, in which I distribute points based on assessment criteria for briefs, peer-review and presentations.

To my understanding there are three factors in the Classcraft, XP, HP, and AP. The XP could replace traditional points distribution, however, I'm not sure how AP and HP would fit into the big picture. What is you experience or ideas? Are there options to limit the game to only to XP?

 

All the best,

Michael

2 comments
Date Votes

Hi Michael,

I use CC in higher ed, though I use most of the system.   My students are first- or second- year undergrads.   

Could you use the system without Health?  That's probably the easiest thing to answer.  Yes.  You can dictate what if anything causes Health loss.  At younger grades, many of these things are behavioral - acting inappropriately in the classroom.   At my level, they are academic - not logging in to our LMS or skipping assignments and not submitting them.  At your level, you might find you have no need to guide students to specific behaviors, so you might never take Health away.    

One down-side to this - Warriors protect their teammates from Health loss and Healers restore Health.  So you're losing the opportunity to create teamwork in that respect.   You also cannot remove or change thse Healer and Warrior powers dealing with Health, so Healers and Warriors in your class will have fewer useful powers. 

Could you use the system without Action Points?  Really what you are asking here is, can you use the system without Powers.  Because all powers cost action points.  I suppose you could, but now you're removing MUCH more of the system.   I think of powers as those things my students always used to ask me to break the rules to get.   "I know you said no late papers, but I was sick last night..."    I can allow those things within limits, and the students get control over when they use them.  So it encourages them to take responsibility for time management, etc.  

Really, it sounds like you only want to use Classcraft for the grade converter (converting points to XP) or maybe also for Quests - to use the Quests to structure your assignments. Is that right?  You could certainly do that, but there are probably also simpler ways.   If you've read Lee Sheldon's Multiplayer Classroom, you can get some sense of how to replace grades with "levels" without using an entire gamified system.   Essentially, X points = a level, and X level = a given final grade.   

But if you want the additional gamification aspects - the team building, the strategy of when to use an extension power or when not to, the fun of daily events - then I'd encourage you to think about how you could use more of the game in your classes.  College students sometimes are skeptical of gamification.  Somewhere along the way, someone told them college was "serious," which they took to mean "not fun."  But I'd argue that fun and whimsy are important at all levels of learning!   If you are encouraging students to think strategically, giving them access to powers (thus using AP) which are beneficial to them but expensive could tie in well to your subject matter!   

Thank you Laura!! Excellent input! 

Michael please let us know if you would like any help getting started with Classcraft, and setting up your classes for next year. :)

We're always happy to help. 

Please sign in to leave a comment.