Classcraft turns school lessons into a huge role-playing game - with a shareware model
- Transfer
The Shawn Young class consists of warriors, magicians and healers. Warriors can eat in the classroom, magicians are able to teleport from lectures, and healers ask if the answer is correct on the exam. This is not fiction like Dungeons & Dragons. Right now, over 7,000 children in 25 countries study like this. Young, a high school physics teacher, has been developing and improving the Classcraft school role-playing game for three years, which he says can help students who are lagging behind.
While Classcraft is free, but in the fall it will be introduced shareware payment system, reminiscent of many mobile games and projects like League of Legends or Runescape. This should attract the attention of the educational system, which is used to strict budgets and user-paid educational programs, especially when its employees realize that students will buy armor and pets for their Classcraft avatars in iTunes.
Classcraft is updated right in the classroom as students use their abilities.
Playing on the lessons
If you are a player, then what happens in the physics lesson of Sean Young will seem to you a revelation. At the beginning of the lesson, all students check their settings on the screen in the center of the room. After the call, a random event occurs that can affect one or more players. It can be a disaster like the death of one of the characters or something strange, for example, someone will start to sing.
“It helps students focus,” Young GamesBeat said during a video call, “as they enter class they already want to know what will happen this time.”
During the lesson, Young gives out experience points for good work and helping others or units of damage to those who cannot concentrate or behave badly. By increasing their level, students gain abilities depending on the chosen class and can use them to help their friends (or themselves), activating directly during the lesson.
The teacher can track everything that happens in Classcraft, and in the case of Young, children can use laptops to interact in real time. Starting in September, they will be able to use smartphones, as the iOS app comes out, followed by the Android version.
Different classes balanced to encourage teamwork.
Reducing lessons and eating chocolate.
Young's students play by his rules, but they always have the opportunity to use them to their advantage. Some abilities have very powerful personal or collective effects, and students can be very inventive when using them.
“One of the possibilities is a teleport, allowing you to leave the classroom for two minutes,” says Young. “They accumulate a few pieces and leave for 10 minutes. It's annoying, but at the same time is part of the game. "
Some children use the ability of a warrior to eat in the classroom to bring chocolate fondue to classes.
Young admits that Classcraft awards often go beyond the usual school rules, but says that is what makes them so attractive. “It makes you feel cool - and very funny,” Young says. “And it works both ways. As a master of the game, I agree with this, but they agree with the unpleasant consequences of death. "
“For them, real life comes to school. Classcraft is so successful precisely because rewards and punishments matter to them. ”
“Having lost all units of life, the student dies and faces a punishment that is determined randomly - this may be a requirement to stay after school or to rewrite five pages of text.”
“Usually they set it as follows:“ You are bad, you try to leave me after school, ”and they try to avoid it with all their might,” says Young. “Now they say,“ This is a game, it's cool, I’ll come. ” There is no need even to check whether they will come or not. They will definitely come. ”
Usually students are not happy with the punishments. But now happy. This is very nonsensical.
Students will be able to buy things to change their avatar.
Changing lessons with collaboration.
Before taking action, Young pondered the idea of Classcraft for several years.
Before its creation, he tried a variety of ways to get children to work together in the classroom, as he considers it extremely important in the 21st century, which has shown explosive growth in joint activities and social networks.
“Before that, I organized other experiments, for example, children worked in teams of four people and all received an assessment of the worst member of the group,” says Young, “but it turned out to be too harsh. (laughs) Too tightly connected with assessments, which seemed unfair to them. ”
The development of team spirit seems to Young extremely important, he believes that the modern education system underestimates this aspect of training. “Our entire rating system is based on individual achievements,” he says, “and is not very useful for them. It’s really useful to see the value of your team’s victory as opposed to personal success, working together to increase your overall level.
Young notes that when someone dies in Classcraft the whole team is punished by the loss of lives. “In the game, rewards and risk are very carefully balanced,” he says. “On the one hand, there is a collective risk of dying, on the other hand, cooperation is encouraged by all means. This completely transforms the lessons. ”
History teacher
Ricardo Higuera teaches seventh-year history in a rural corner of Southern California called Thermal. Almost all students in his high school receive free breakfast. Higuera has been using Classcraft for the past 4 months and is delighted with how he encourages students to take care of their grades.
In academic terms, I noticed an increase in grades on tests and enthusiasm in lessons, "Higuero told me by e-mail." Previously, some apathetic students were not at all bothered by the failed test. Now she is more concerned about them, because it affects their character level and their position . team "
Classcraft also helped inspire the kids a lesson," I was proud of smooth, exciting lessons and to Classcraft, but after the game I noticed a sharp increase in interest. "- Higuera said -" as soon as we have enough AC us, I always had a small problem with the delays - especially in some groups - but now the children are in a hurry to class. "
Higuera is currently the only teacher in her school using Classcraft. The rest do not understand its meaning very well and are not sure that it should be used in lessons. This is largely due to the need to be a master of the game.
“This game, like everything in education, is very dependent on the teacher,” says Higuero. “Like board role-playing games, the game is curled by the game master. He or she controls and revitalizes the game.
Higuera has already decided that he will use Classcraft in the coming years.
It seems to me that Classcraft is perfect for my age group and subject, ”he said.“ High school, medieval history ... can you imagine how cool it is to play the likes of World of Warcraft by studying samurai, knights and Aztecs? I myself feel like a child, playing again and again with friends in Dungeons & Dragons.
Ricardo Higuera's students create their characters
Seeing the results
Young has no quantitative results yet, but many Classcraft teachers speak of success. “We are being told very surprising statistics,” Young says. “Some teachers say that a couple of months after the introduction of Classcraft, average grades increased by 20-25%.”
Он связывает это с увеличением вовлеченности, вызванным тремя факторами: важными наградами, непрерывной обратной связью и поощрением сотрудничества на уроках".
«В первый раз я начал игру в середине учебного года» — говорит Янг — «У меня были двое парней, который совсем не работали, они серьезно отставали. Как только на уроках начался Classcraft они стали работать как сумасшедшие. Очень много — ненормально много — потому что они хотели прокачаться. Это было удивительно, потому что оценки их не волновали, в отличие от успехов в игре».
Несмотря на ужасное начало, эти дети успешно закончили учебный год.
“Some children never talked to each other, and now help each other after class.” Young says, highlighting the teamwork that Classcraft encourages. “The game encourages exactly what makes you a good student. Active participation in lessons, assignments, cooperation. She truly rewards for it. That's how you pump in the game. ”
Classcraft covers all aspects of the school life of Young's students. They gain experience for sporting success and helping each other after school. They even clean up the class to pump faster. “They just become obsessed with learning,” Young says. “They just don't notice it.”
Classcraft has improved grades and attitudes in many schools
Carrot on a string
Not everyone is sure that Classcraft should be used to motivate you to study. I spoke with Frank Noschese, a high school physics teacher from Cross River, NY who looks differently at gamifying lessons.
“I do not consider competition a useful element of the lessons,” Nochez told me via Skype. At least not when the children are trying to get rewards in the game. “You work not for the sake of training, but for the advancement of the game,” he says. “It sends the wrong message that the game is more important than studying.”
It is very behaviourist to teach children to do something for the reward. ”
About children who are not interested in good grades, Nochez says that “something else is happening here. And I don’t think that putting the game on top of the lesson will really fix it. ”
“There are children who simply cannot stay in the building all day, sitting at their desks for six hours at nine different lessons. They just need to be taught in a different way. ”
Nocez believes that teachers can do the lessons“ much more fun ”without turning them into a game. He says that his subject, physics, is “cool in itself” and describes the use of video of sports stars jumping over a pool with snakes as the beginning of a laboratory work in which students try to answer the question - “Is this a real video or a fake?”.
Despite all her concerns about Classcraft, Nocez does not want to blame Young for trying to try something new: “Any teacher trying to try something new and improve his skills is a great job.”
Shareware model
“Now our team draws a thousand equipment items, ”Young says, outlining the shareware model, which will be one of three options for paying for the game in the fall. "Boots, magic shields, potions." As they progress, students will receive gold coins as part of the rewards. They will be able to use them to change the appearance of their character.
More interestingly, they will be able to buy these coins through the iOS application or iTunes.
Young is aware that this is a very bold decision for an educational product. “This is a very, very innovative move,” he says. “I don’t know a single product that implements a similar model in the educational environment.”
I asked Young if there would be some kind of restriction on student spending. “They won’t be able to spend much,” he says. “There is no particular point in spending more than $ 5 or $ 6.”
But the very idea that children will pay for their education is surprising. “This poses an ethical dilemma for some teachers: is it worth using a product in the classroom that encourages children to spend money?” Young admits.
Therefore, for teachers and schools that disagree with this approach, Classcraft will offer a paid version, which will cost $ 4 per year for each student. In this case, students will also have access to customizable features, but the teacher will control the distribution of gold.
The completely free version of Classcraft will also be preserved, but many features will not be available in it - there will be no customizable avatars, pets, iOS applications and interactive forums for each class. But the game will fully retain its basic functionality.
The shareware model is a challenge to the traditional school funding model. According to Young, she makes Classcraft accessible to everyone.
“I have been working as a teacher for seven years,” he says, “and the bureaucratic restrictions on innovations in the spirit of“ Yes, of course, we put it in the budget for next year “, even if you can realize your wonderful idea right now, annoy me most.
“It is extremely important for me that teachers can join the game at any time. It is from these considerations that a shareware model was born. We have teachers [playing Classcraft] in China, India, and Namibia, and most paid educational products are available only in the US and Canada. It is very important that we are accessible to these poor countries. So that a teacher who wants to participate can do this. ”
Shareware
For Higuera, a shareware or completely free model is the only way to continue using Classcraft.
“I would be happy to say that my director will buy the paid version,” he told us, “but he will not. Too few of our teachers will use it to make a purchase worthwhile. And I doubt that I have enough money to pay it out of my pocket. ”
Higuera is sure that his students will really like the opportunity to customize their avatars, but he doubts that many will really do it. “Some, but not all,” he told me, “and I am afraid that many who wish will not be able to do this because of the harsh economic reality of poverty.”
“But Classcraft is still cool,” Higuera said, “and I hope to continue using it next year and in the more distant future.” As long as I, no, we can afford it. ”
Big September
This fall is very important for Young and Classcraft. The game was launched in February - not the best time to launch new educational initiatives.
Released in September, the iOS application will allow the entire system to work on the teacher’s iPad and give students the opportunity to interact more closely with the game. German and Spanish translations will add global appeal to the system that Young from the very beginning wanted to see international.
Pupils from 8 to 20 years old are already participating in the game, with the improvement of the system their number will only increase. Shareware model will allow any teacher from any country to join the game, regardless of the budget of the school.
And although the game does not offer a comprehensive solution to all the problems of captivating children with learning, it provides an innovative and unique way to captivate those children who in another case would simply ignore school.
“In a very short time, computer games have become a well-known cultural phenomenon,” says Young. “Everyone plays games, everyone loves games.”
I think Classcraft can make a big difference for students who get poor grades due to lack of interest or dedication. "
Classcraft makes the classroom a giant role-playing game - with freemium pricing
Classcraft - official site
Classcraft - character classes and powers
While Classcraft is free, but in the fall it will be introduced shareware payment system, reminiscent of many mobile games and projects like League of Legends or Runescape. This should attract the attention of the educational system, which is used to strict budgets and user-paid educational programs, especially when its employees realize that students will buy armor and pets for their Classcraft avatars in iTunes.
Classcraft is updated right in the classroom as students use their abilities.
Playing on the lessons
If you are a player, then what happens in the physics lesson of Sean Young will seem to you a revelation. At the beginning of the lesson, all students check their settings on the screen in the center of the room. After the call, a random event occurs that can affect one or more players. It can be a disaster like the death of one of the characters or something strange, for example, someone will start to sing.
“It helps students focus,” Young GamesBeat said during a video call, “as they enter class they already want to know what will happen this time.”
During the lesson, Young gives out experience points for good work and helping others or units of damage to those who cannot concentrate or behave badly. By increasing their level, students gain abilities depending on the chosen class and can use them to help their friends (or themselves), activating directly during the lesson.
The teacher can track everything that happens in Classcraft, and in the case of Young, children can use laptops to interact in real time. Starting in September, they will be able to use smartphones, as the iOS app comes out, followed by the Android version.
Different classes balanced to encourage teamwork.
Reducing lessons and eating chocolate.
Young's students play by his rules, but they always have the opportunity to use them to their advantage. Some abilities have very powerful personal or collective effects, and students can be very inventive when using them.
“One of the possibilities is a teleport, allowing you to leave the classroom for two minutes,” says Young. “They accumulate a few pieces and leave for 10 minutes. It's annoying, but at the same time is part of the game. "
Some children use the ability of a warrior to eat in the classroom to bring chocolate fondue to classes.
Young admits that Classcraft awards often go beyond the usual school rules, but says that is what makes them so attractive. “It makes you feel cool - and very funny,” Young says. “And it works both ways. As a master of the game, I agree with this, but they agree with the unpleasant consequences of death. "
“For them, real life comes to school. Classcraft is so successful precisely because rewards and punishments matter to them. ”
“Having lost all units of life, the student dies and faces a punishment that is determined randomly - this may be a requirement to stay after school or to rewrite five pages of text.”
“Usually they set it as follows:“ You are bad, you try to leave me after school, ”and they try to avoid it with all their might,” says Young. “Now they say,“ This is a game, it's cool, I’ll come. ” There is no need even to check whether they will come or not. They will definitely come. ”
Usually students are not happy with the punishments. But now happy. This is very nonsensical.
Students will be able to buy things to change their avatar.
Changing lessons with collaboration.
Before taking action, Young pondered the idea of Classcraft for several years.
Before its creation, he tried a variety of ways to get children to work together in the classroom, as he considers it extremely important in the 21st century, which has shown explosive growth in joint activities and social networks.
“Before that, I organized other experiments, for example, children worked in teams of four people and all received an assessment of the worst member of the group,” says Young, “but it turned out to be too harsh. (laughs) Too tightly connected with assessments, which seemed unfair to them. ”
The development of team spirit seems to Young extremely important, he believes that the modern education system underestimates this aspect of training. “Our entire rating system is based on individual achievements,” he says, “and is not very useful for them. It’s really useful to see the value of your team’s victory as opposed to personal success, working together to increase your overall level.
Young notes that when someone dies in Classcraft the whole team is punished by the loss of lives. “In the game, rewards and risk are very carefully balanced,” he says. “On the one hand, there is a collective risk of dying, on the other hand, cooperation is encouraged by all means. This completely transforms the lessons. ”
History teacher
Ricardo Higuera teaches seventh-year history in a rural corner of Southern California called Thermal. Almost all students in his high school receive free breakfast. Higuera has been using Classcraft for the past 4 months and is delighted with how he encourages students to take care of their grades.
In academic terms, I noticed an increase in grades on tests and enthusiasm in lessons, "Higuero told me by e-mail." Previously, some apathetic students were not at all bothered by the failed test. Now she is more concerned about them, because it affects their character level and their position . team "
Classcraft also helped inspire the kids a lesson," I was proud of smooth, exciting lessons and to Classcraft, but after the game I noticed a sharp increase in interest. "- Higuera said -" as soon as we have enough AC us, I always had a small problem with the delays - especially in some groups - but now the children are in a hurry to class. "
Higuera is currently the only teacher in her school using Classcraft. The rest do not understand its meaning very well and are not sure that it should be used in lessons. This is largely due to the need to be a master of the game.
“This game, like everything in education, is very dependent on the teacher,” says Higuero. “Like board role-playing games, the game is curled by the game master. He or she controls and revitalizes the game.
Higuera has already decided that he will use Classcraft in the coming years.
It seems to me that Classcraft is perfect for my age group and subject, ”he said.“ High school, medieval history ... can you imagine how cool it is to play the likes of World of Warcraft by studying samurai, knights and Aztecs? I myself feel like a child, playing again and again with friends in Dungeons & Dragons.
Ricardo Higuera's students create their characters
Seeing the results
Young has no quantitative results yet, but many Classcraft teachers speak of success. “We are being told very surprising statistics,” Young says. “Some teachers say that a couple of months after the introduction of Classcraft, average grades increased by 20-25%.”
Он связывает это с увеличением вовлеченности, вызванным тремя факторами: важными наградами, непрерывной обратной связью и поощрением сотрудничества на уроках".
«В первый раз я начал игру в середине учебного года» — говорит Янг — «У меня были двое парней, который совсем не работали, они серьезно отставали. Как только на уроках начался Classcraft они стали работать как сумасшедшие. Очень много — ненормально много — потому что они хотели прокачаться. Это было удивительно, потому что оценки их не волновали, в отличие от успехов в игре».
Несмотря на ужасное начало, эти дети успешно закончили учебный год.
“Some children never talked to each other, and now help each other after class.” Young says, highlighting the teamwork that Classcraft encourages. “The game encourages exactly what makes you a good student. Active participation in lessons, assignments, cooperation. She truly rewards for it. That's how you pump in the game. ”
Classcraft covers all aspects of the school life of Young's students. They gain experience for sporting success and helping each other after school. They even clean up the class to pump faster. “They just become obsessed with learning,” Young says. “They just don't notice it.”
Classcraft has improved grades and attitudes in many schools
Carrot on a string
Not everyone is sure that Classcraft should be used to motivate you to study. I spoke with Frank Noschese, a high school physics teacher from Cross River, NY who looks differently at gamifying lessons.
“I do not consider competition a useful element of the lessons,” Nochez told me via Skype. At least not when the children are trying to get rewards in the game. “You work not for the sake of training, but for the advancement of the game,” he says. “It sends the wrong message that the game is more important than studying.”
It is very behaviourist to teach children to do something for the reward. ”
About children who are not interested in good grades, Nochez says that “something else is happening here. And I don’t think that putting the game on top of the lesson will really fix it. ”
“There are children who simply cannot stay in the building all day, sitting at their desks for six hours at nine different lessons. They just need to be taught in a different way. ”
Nocez believes that teachers can do the lessons“ much more fun ”without turning them into a game. He says that his subject, physics, is “cool in itself” and describes the use of video of sports stars jumping over a pool with snakes as the beginning of a laboratory work in which students try to answer the question - “Is this a real video or a fake?”.
Despite all her concerns about Classcraft, Nocez does not want to blame Young for trying to try something new: “Any teacher trying to try something new and improve his skills is a great job.”
Shareware model
“Now our team draws a thousand equipment items, ”Young says, outlining the shareware model, which will be one of three options for paying for the game in the fall. "Boots, magic shields, potions." As they progress, students will receive gold coins as part of the rewards. They will be able to use them to change the appearance of their character.
More interestingly, they will be able to buy these coins through the iOS application or iTunes.
Young is aware that this is a very bold decision for an educational product. “This is a very, very innovative move,” he says. “I don’t know a single product that implements a similar model in the educational environment.”
I asked Young if there would be some kind of restriction on student spending. “They won’t be able to spend much,” he says. “There is no particular point in spending more than $ 5 or $ 6.”
But the very idea that children will pay for their education is surprising. “This poses an ethical dilemma for some teachers: is it worth using a product in the classroom that encourages children to spend money?” Young admits.
Therefore, for teachers and schools that disagree with this approach, Classcraft will offer a paid version, which will cost $ 4 per year for each student. In this case, students will also have access to customizable features, but the teacher will control the distribution of gold.
The completely free version of Classcraft will also be preserved, but many features will not be available in it - there will be no customizable avatars, pets, iOS applications and interactive forums for each class. But the game will fully retain its basic functionality.
The shareware model is a challenge to the traditional school funding model. According to Young, she makes Classcraft accessible to everyone.
“I have been working as a teacher for seven years,” he says, “and the bureaucratic restrictions on innovations in the spirit of“ Yes, of course, we put it in the budget for next year “, even if you can realize your wonderful idea right now, annoy me most.
“It is extremely important for me that teachers can join the game at any time. It is from these considerations that a shareware model was born. We have teachers [playing Classcraft] in China, India, and Namibia, and most paid educational products are available only in the US and Canada. It is very important that we are accessible to these poor countries. So that a teacher who wants to participate can do this. ”
Shareware
For Higuera, a shareware or completely free model is the only way to continue using Classcraft.
“I would be happy to say that my director will buy the paid version,” he told us, “but he will not. Too few of our teachers will use it to make a purchase worthwhile. And I doubt that I have enough money to pay it out of my pocket. ”
Higuera is sure that his students will really like the opportunity to customize their avatars, but he doubts that many will really do it. “Some, but not all,” he told me, “and I am afraid that many who wish will not be able to do this because of the harsh economic reality of poverty.”
“But Classcraft is still cool,” Higuera said, “and I hope to continue using it next year and in the more distant future.” As long as I, no, we can afford it. ”
Big September
This fall is very important for Young and Classcraft. The game was launched in February - not the best time to launch new educational initiatives.
Released in September, the iOS application will allow the entire system to work on the teacher’s iPad and give students the opportunity to interact more closely with the game. German and Spanish translations will add global appeal to the system that Young from the very beginning wanted to see international.
Pupils from 8 to 20 years old are already participating in the game, with the improvement of the system their number will only increase. Shareware model will allow any teacher from any country to join the game, regardless of the budget of the school.
And although the game does not offer a comprehensive solution to all the problems of captivating children with learning, it provides an innovative and unique way to captivate those children who in another case would simply ignore school.
“In a very short time, computer games have become a well-known cultural phenomenon,” says Young. “Everyone plays games, everyone loves games.”
I think Classcraft can make a big difference for students who get poor grades due to lack of interest or dedication. "
Classcraft makes the classroom a giant role-playing game - with freemium pricing
Classcraft - official site
Classcraft - character classes and powers
