Throw away your grade book: Indiana U Professor turns grading into a game

Just heard about this. I'm sure it will make the rounds over the next month:

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."

http://www.switched.com/tag/lee+sheldon/

Tags: gaming, grading, pedagogy, play

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kev on March 29, 2010 at 6:24pm

I'd like to announce that he stole this from me entirely. I've been calling my tests "boss battles", my videos "cut scenes" and my reading activities "quests for knowledge" for two years. :)