Webinar Notes: World of Warcraft

Date: Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / 12am (next day) GMT (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Elluminate. Log in at http://tr.im/futureofed. The Elluminate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Elluminate, please visit http://www.elluminate.com/support. Recordings of the session will be posted within a day of the event at the event page.
Event and Recording Page: http://www.learncentral.org/event/86942

Many students today are engaged in what some have called a parallel curriculum. This learning isn't taking place in desks or even in schools, but rather in virtual spaces called Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplay Games or MMORPG's. These game-based worlds force players to tackle a variety of cognitive challenges that scale proportionately as their skill level and proficiency increases. These persistent game worlds are also intensely social spaces, forcing players to work cooperatively in a variety of roles to advance in the game, fostering communication and even leadership skills. These are the very "21st-Century Skills" that schools advocate but are often failing to produce. What might it look like, though, if these games were brought into the classroom? How does this look, logistically? Are there solid curricular connections? Join us for an interview with Lucas Gillispie and Peggy Sheehy, two pioneers who are doing just that with the popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft.

Lucas Gillispie has been an educator for more than a decade now, working as a high school science for ten years before taking a position as a district-level instructional technology coordinator for Pender County Schools in southeastern North Carolina. Lucas holds a MS in Instructional Technology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington where he completed thesis work researching the effects of a 3D video game on middle school student’s achievement and attitude in mathematics. His interests include gaming in education particularly the use of MMORPG’s (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplay Games), mobile game-based learning, virtual training and simulations. His current projects include the WoWinSchool Project, a collaborative effort to explore the impact of using World of Warcraft in both an after-school program and as part of the regular instructional program and iPod Games for Learning, a program that explores the use of game-based learning using the iPod Touch. His presentations have been well-received at Games, Learning, and Society, Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education, Games in Education, NCTIES, and NCDLA among others.

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Notes...
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Cognative Dissonance (A guild of educators learning to game/Gaming to learn) 250 Members. International group.

Some skills that may carry over:
Sense of direction and map reading
Economics

Curricular Ties:
1. After School Program
2. Communication Skills
3. Leadership (create guild, vote, decision making)
4. Creative Writing about their Guilds and Characters
5. Will be a Language Arts Elective
6. Cultural Comparison (in world and virtual world)
7. Motivational aspect.

Join wiki at http://wowinschool.pbworks.com.

Buy software $30 buy software package and there is a second [ackage for more advance access. Subscription $15/month or Buy 60 day game cards $30.

http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/site/pd_list is a site that is free for educators to explore the potential of gaming. Staff Development is available. Worth exploring. "BronStuckey: Contact me for more information about Quest atlantis bestucke@indiana.edu"

Bill Brown: The auction house is another amazing tool for learning. The economy of WOW (a truly free market economy) has been the subject of several college courses. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1385158/world_of_warcraft_as_a_college_course.html

Teachable moments online during games when you offer comments when you are playing at the same time.

World of Warcraft (WoW) in Education

Lucas Gillispie
Peggy Sheehy


Notes for todays session:


Josh Wilson: The Jesse Schell TED talk is also good. I highly Recommend Byron Reeves' "Work Sucks, School is Great" as well.

As far as Steve's question about the Virtual World or game becoming more attractive than the real world: I think it saves my sanity daily after a day at school. It helps me leave those frustrations behind and have a life that is NOT dictated by the worries of my classroom and school.

Review the research of Constance Steinkeuhler

Vormamim the Patient: were building Animal Farm in VWs - uses game based - wow like approach - CYBERGOGY

Student thoughts towards WoW -

Cory English: I think the greatest part of the experience is the continuous raising of the bar to set acheivable goals for yourself and your guildmates, and continue onto the next step. There really is no ceiling for goals. Just as I'm listening to this, I received my acheivement for Lormaster (Doing a large number of quests through the World of warcraft universe) and am setting my sights for the next goal.

Tripp Gregory - NCSU: As you mentioned earlier, one of the most exciting aspect of the game was its ability to turn anyone into a leader. I was a good student (correct me, former teachers of mine, if I am wrong) in most regards and I wasn't antisocial by any means...but playing WoW definitely turned me into a very strong leader as Lucas touched on. Every night for weeks, an hour or more a night, I led 10-40 people from all over the country in raids...it was great! Lots of experience.



Additional links:

BronStuckey: Seminole County Schools FL Quest Atlantis Summer Camp 2010-what integrative learning! http://youtu.be/wjJAqjiweGA

Bill Brown: The auction house is another amazing tool for learning. The economy of WOW (a truly free market economy) has been the subject of several college courses. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1385158/world_of_warcraft_as_a_college_course.html

BronStuckey: http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/site/pd_list

Hillary: @Ed Jones : Constance Steinkuehler at UW - Madison - http://website.education.wisc.edu/steinkuehler/mmogresearch.html

BronStuckey: http://www.QuestAtlantis.org

Vormamim the Patient: also from Blizzard - http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/215926/the-real-science-of-starcraft-2

Cindy: http://website.education.wisc.edu/steinkuehler/blog/

Lucy Ganfield: I would love to help, with my SWAT program, (Students Working to Advance Technology) after school program structure, and my work as an online instructor with Learn NC, I am Moodle trained) to help with lessons on student leadership with my program resources at www.swatweb.net I will get in touch. I am in Apex, NC

http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html

Moderator (PeggySheehy): http://wowinschool.pbworks.com/

http://www.vlcglobal.com/

Moderator (PeggySheehy): http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html/

Terry Smith: James Gee - video for later on gaming benefits http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGd1URORsoE

Josh Wilson: another resource: http://www.learninggamesnetwork.org/

Lisa Linn (Clarevoyant): how about Virtual Environments instead? We already have a SIG dedicated to that http://sigve.iste.wikispaces.net/

Enzo: several MMORPGs share similar characteristics... some "clone" WoW very well for FREE... what are some of the reasons why you choose to use WoW instead of Perfect World, for instance? or Jade Dynasty http://jd.perfectworld.com/

jokay: Watched amazing video about creativity yesterday.. think it applies to both social media and gaming .... ‎..new media supports creativity, & this creativity creates happiness through meaningful work and ties with community.. http://bit.ly/cnIZsl

Zoe (@zbpipe): My 9 year old wrote this blog some time ago about Warcraft (begging for help- so mom would change her mind). I needed THIS session back in January. http://waxter.edublogs.org/2010/01/07/world-of-warcraft/

Moderator (Lucas Gillispie): Check this out - http://www.mmogchart.com/

jokay: List of MMOPGs here - http://wiki.jokaydia.com/page/Mmog_list

Laura: MIT has some really good educational games--a lot of the researchers play WoW: http://gambit.mit.edu

Josh Wilson: US legal system games: http://icivics.org/