Last August, we opened 3D GameLab to the public with our first summer teacher camp. Camp lasts over a three week period. Teachers, instructional designers, and other educators interested in the experience and design of quest-based learning joined us in quests, synchronous events, games, virtual worlds, Skype, desktop video conferencing, and more. Our summer campers have now started bringing in their own students, and our players are using the platform in very creative ways.

Check out how these teachers are using 3D GameLab:

• Lucas Gillispie: WoW in Schools
• Slade: “GameLab ‘Better than Facebook” for 7th Graders”
• Samwise: Using 3D GameLab in My High School
• Leigh Zeitz: Learning to Game by Gaming to Learn

Stay tuned for more GameLab stories and news!

1. Create a new Google doc (requires gmail account, set one up, it’s worth it!).  http://docs.google.com  Be sure to set the visibility permissions to “allow anyone with link” and “allow anyone to edit.” 

2.  To kick off a KWL Activity, type the following three questions in the document in bold.

• What do you already KNOW about _________, and don’t need to learn?
• What do you WANT to know about _________?
• How do you want to LEARN, and then show what you’ve learned?

3.  Create a bit.ly (a shortened URL) of the Google doc to share with group to pull up on their own mobiles. http://bit.ly

4.  Give the group several minutes to respond to the questions in text.  Encourage the group to not hit the “back” button, or it will refresh the page for the entire group.

5.  At the end of the time period, go back, review the responses as a group for each question.  Summarize the findings, and develop the plan together to move forward in the training or study of a subject.

Here’s a sample of a group-constructed KWL:

• Reward mechanics in quest-based learning

I had an interesting chat in Second Life with Leigh Writer, or Dr. Z., as he’s known on his blog.  He had worked through many quests on day 2, and said he hadn’t yet received any feedback and was trying to figure out what to do to earn a gold star.  Now the gold star is interesting, because it is a manual reward granted by the teacher, at the teacher’s discretion!  I was intrigued that this highly intelligent, cutting edge professor was motivated by the reward from the teacher.  We spoke about how he enjoyed the automated badges and achievements, but still wanted the personal connection with feedback and/or awards like stars, an acknowledgement from the teacher that he was on the right track.  We talked about the balance between awarding too many stars, and trying to make them scarce to give them more value and meaning.

After our chat, I went back to gamelab and had 20 quests to approve.  I made sure to leave comments on each one, even a short sentence was better than no sentence.  I find I’m saving my stars for truly deep thought, an extra effort, or someone trying to help the community.  I am rewarding the behavior and culture we are trying to cultivate in the community, a purposeful rewarding.

• Creating connection through voice and video (real time and recorded)

Dr. Z also turned me on to Audioboo, an audio recording website where you can record feedback for students and embed it in their feedback, instead of written text.  He said his students LOVED getting and giving audio comments.  My goal is to test it tomorrow, and see the response.  I’ve been looking for a tool like this for awhile, very excited to find a web-based platform for it.  I’ll need to be sensitive to hearing impaired students to ensure I’m not limiting their experience, as well.

Just for fun, here’s a voicethread I started today in the opening of the Virtual World Builders group.  Love the comments and variety of people, interests and experience reflected in it!

http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=2169454

• Understanding what it’s like to work at a Help Desk

I did anticipate a little chaos in launching a new technology.  I had no idea on the number of emails I would receive with questions about logins, registrations, email and passwords not working, and not being able to sign up for events.  Tech support on a new technology product is something that should be planned and I missed the boat on this one entirely (which is funny considering I ran a department and hired tech support in various forms for years–you’d think I’d know better!)  As a result of the hundreds of emails I’ve sent out over the last two days and countless Skype and Vent chats, I have a much stronger appreciation for people who work at Help Desks, and I promise to always be calm and nice in the future!

• Questing means assessment in “bits”

I’ve been enjoying reading students’ quests and leaving feedback in “bits.”  I can sit down, do a few quests, go wash dishes, come back and do a few more, go to a Skype call, come back, etc.  I have the ability to do more realistic just-in-time feedback compared to my regular online classes where I may let the “weekly” assignment pile up until the weekend when I sit down to grade a big batch of projects.  This process is mirroring the mobile lifestyle that I find myself living more and more, and I think is more helpful to learners, as they’re not sitting around waiting for me to grade their work.  The number of items I have has increased, but they are quick “bits,” easy to run through in short periods of time.  While I have always been thrilled to get engaged with my students’ work, the idea of “grading” projects was laborious to me.  Have I finally found a solution??

How was your day in 3D GameLab?

What the Players Have to Say

• This fits my learning style. I learn by “doing,” so thank-you for allowing us to discover how all of this works, in our own time frame.
• 3D is super cool.  I am totally loving this and can’t wait to get going and building some quests for me to try with my students.
• This is an incredibly engaging way of directing learning, encouraging personal responsibility and developing community. Congrats to the team at Boise!
• I can’t stop questing, I’m addicted!
• I’m having the best day playing on 3D Game Lab. Am I really at work?
• Creating a Quest to the Top – 21st Century Learning: Those of you who have started to lay the foundation for us to create a 21st century curriculum, I thank you. You have given us the tools to change our educational delivery system into something that will allow all students active, successful participation in their learning.
• Enjoying what I have seen and experienced in the 3d Game Lab workshop so far. I can’t wait to start developing for my group.
• So much fun.  I have really enjoyed Gamelab so far. It is very easy to navigate around the site. I really like the status bar so I can keep track on my completions. The badges and rewards are nice incentives that I am striving for also
• Praise for multiple ways to succeed! This is so well thought out! Having several ways to remedy a problem is so important. I can see how students would persevere longer knowing that they could get assistance in multiple ways.
• Interface feels natural, easy to learn and navigate.

I have so much to say, but I think Chris’s closing video sums it up for both of us.  More reporting on day 2.

I love music, all kinds of music, but I’m lazy.  I don’t want to pay for iTunes, I don’t like to catalog and collect music, the whole syncing thing drives me nuts (I own too many devices and none of them seem to sync to the right computer at the right time).  The radio is annoying because of commercials and talk.

Along comes my bluetooth-connected Jambox. After purchasing, I start experimenting by placing calls.  It’s pretty cool.  Jambox will talk to you, let you know the know the number of who’s calling you, and if you answer, you can conference call using the speaker unit.  It goes anywhere in the house.  So if I’m on a call, I can leave my phone, take the speaker with me, do dishes, etc.  But wait…it gets better…

Imagine having the Pandora app on your phone, streaming your favorite style of music for free (which is streams for you based on your own listening preferences) straight to the Jambox.  It doesn’t replace a true stereo speaker system, but man, this little box is a powerful speaker!  I love turning on Pandora, and listening to music on the Jambox.  Then, if someone is calling, it is smart enough to stop playing music, announce the caller ID, and wait while I determine whether or not I’ll accept the call.  When I’m done talking, it automatically starts playing music again.

Jambox is small, it fits in my hand, it travels in my purse, it’s a party-on-the go combined with conference capability, so I can transition from conversation to listening enjoyment very seamlessly.  What seemed to be a handy tool for work has turned into a fantastic new addition to my lifestyle.  Love it, love it!

In my session on Quest Based Learning Across Immersive Learning Environments, it was fun to explore the design of an open-learning environment that provides student choice and access using 3D GameLab, our new quest-based learning platform that aligns informal and formal learning activities, including the use of immersive worlds, games, and sims, to science standards.

If you have an interest in cutting-edge science education, be sure to check out the NSTAs Learning Center, a professional development site with thousands of resources, many of them available at no cost, as well as a social learning community for connecting with other innovative science educators.

The best assessment­s are those that are reflective of what the student can do with knowledge, how they can apply, reuse, remix, create, and innovate with their knowledge. I am most supportive of assessment that allows learners to understand their own learning, assessment that captures examples of real-life work, such as writing a story or in blogs, providing community service, creating simulation­s or models, completing complex tasks, performing to an audience, inventing something that didn’t exist before, etc. In our 3D GameLab project, we are seeking to map genuine, active learning and performanc­e that learners authentica­lly engage in across the meta-verse to common core standards, and then provide the learner a scorecard showing evidence of those achievemen­ts.

To create a nation of innovators­, we must give our students the freedom and opportunit­y to innovate. Assessment must be for the individual­’s own learning, not a check-off in the process of compliance­. Online systems are smart enough to capture this evidence. We must refocus our thinking about assessment in the best interest of the learner, and not for the system that drives educationa­l policy. The data we need as policymake­rs can be extracted. Design for the learner…­not the system.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Tomorrow I have the wonderful opportunity to give several talks about the importance of educational games, sims, virtual worlds, and my current favorite topic, quest-based learning. For those of you looking for copies of my talks, you can find them here.

If you’ve been following our work on 3D GameLab, Chris has produced a new video showing a student’s perspective of quest-based learning.  Let us know what you think.  I’ll be sharing more highlights from our work in GameLab while in Philly.  Hope to see you there.

We are thrilled to finally announce the launch of the beta version of 3D GameLab, an online learning platform that lets teachers turn their classrooms into a living game!  Chris Haskell and I have been developing and using the platform for over a year with a variety of students from teens to college graduate students.  We’re really excited about our August summer camp, when we launch our new closed beta version platform, inviting in other teachers and instructional designers for the first time!

For those of you who know me, I’ve been interested in using games and game-like environments in education for many years.  I believe learning should be fun, joyful, something you’re excited to be involved with on a daily basis, something that excites your passion.  Chris has really helped me understand that to create a game-based learning environment, you have to game it, you can’t “teach” it.  In our camp last summer, we started exploring the development of a meta-game quest tracking tool, something that would allow our kids to choose quests and track their own achievements across a variety of games and learning experiences.  3D GameLab was born.

3D GameLab will grow and evolve in ways we can’t even imagine at this point.  We built the tool, but the content will be evolved by the users of the system.  I hope you can join us this summer, or at a future time, to explore new ways of thinking about learning in a digital era.