SWTOR in Math - Quest Example

Thought I'd share one of the quest chains I came up with for my SWTOR in Math course.  Keep in mind that the course is being designed for grade 8s in British Columbia (curriculum document found here: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/pdfs/mathematics/2008math89.pdf)

This example is designed to meet the following prescribed learning outcome (PLO)

• C1 – Develop and apply the Pythagorean theorem to solve problems

The in-game map in SWTOR provides a lot of information and one of the most useful pieces is the (x,y) coordinates of both the cursor and the player.  Combine this with the fact that finding the distance between two points is really just an application of Pythagorean theorem, makes for a great activity where the students pick random points on their in-game map and calculate the distance between their players and these points.

The first part of the quest is to watch a few lessons on how to actually apply the Pythagorean theorem to find distance (lessons courtesy of the Khan Academy currently) and then there are a few questions that need to be answered to see if they understood.  This part of the quest can be attempted an unlimited number of times until they are satisfied with their XP gain.  Moodle does a good job of randomly selecting questions without duplication but does require a large enough question bank to be truly effective and random.

If they answer enough questions correctly a bonus mission becomes available where they can answer more Pythagoras/distance formula questions and if they answer enough of those correctly they get a badge.  This bonus challenge has a limited number of tries though so the students need to be fairly proficient if they want the badge.

The second part is then to play the game and pick two points on their map, take a screen shot of the map and show the calculations necessary to show the distance between the two points.  This part can also be done an infinite number of times (or until the student gets it right) so if the first attempt is wrong, I can correct the student and coach him/her on how to do it properly.

I think this is a great way to introduce Pythagoras/distance formula as the student can see an application of it within a somewhat useful (or at least fun) context.  For future quests I will expand on this skill and ask them to calculate their character's speed as one of the PLOs in Math 8 relates to solving problems involving rates.  And to further expand, once the students get their speeders (or other mount) they can calculate their speeder's speed and compare the percentages (another PLO deals with percent problems)

As I try to think of quests for the course, I am finding that I need to brush up on my SWTOR play (been a few months since I really played) because I've forgotten how certain things are done in the game.

SWTOR in school (my take on WoW in school)

On one of my escapades into the twitter educational hashtag world I ran into this website.
http://wowinschool.pbworks.com/

Absolutely amazing idea and has been around for a few years now.

The basic idea behind WoW in School is to use WoW (World of Warcraft) to help students learn.  At first the program started as an after school program to help some of the disenfranchised students catch up in a non-traditional environment, but then evolved into an alternative language arts course.

The class had no grades and instead you earned XP for completing various quests.  There's a scale that determines your level and students were free to choose what quests they did and how much XP they earned.  Each task had a rubric so students knew what to do to earn maximum XP and what was needed to advance their student level.  I couldn't find it, but I'm sure there are also course badges for reaching certain milestones.  The students had a lot of fun and were very successful in meeting the language arts outcomes in a way that surprised the more traditional teachers.

I loved this idea and chose to try and adapt it for a math class.  Now WoW does require a subscription so I decided to use a free MMORPG instead.  My choice was Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) as I had played it since launch (consistently for a year, then off and on after that).  The game itself is just as polished as WoW and offered interesting writing opportunities with the choice based dialogue.  SWTOR does have higher system requirements than WoW though and that might prove a hindrance in implementing it as the school computers in the district tend to be low powered even compared to the cheap pre-built systems you can buy.

The challenge was determining what in-game activities you could do that matched the various math key outcomes at the various grade levels.  The following document outlines activities in-game that would match the key math 8 outcomes our department identified.
Math 8

Because the original WoW in School project was a language arts based course, it would be easy to accommodate the english 8 outcomes and thus I envisioned the course to be a hybrid language arts/math 8 course.  I haven't approached any english teachers about joining me on this project as none of the ones in the building are gamers except for the one who got into a car accident and is still out with a concussion (no other serious injury thankfully)

I realized after coming up with that list that I would need to fit in actual math lessons so the students would know how to do the calculations.  This wasn't as hard as I thought it would be as I could present the math lessons as tasks in the quest chain that would give XP upon completion (and the XP scaled based on how well you completed the math task).  I added additional quizzes/worksheets as Bonus quests that gave out XP and if completed at a high enough level, achievement badges.  This mirrored the grinding Bonus quests in many of SWTORs quest chains.

Finding good lessons online is an on-going task and so far I have just been using Khan Academy videos as I find those the easiest to follow (and other schools around the world use their videos too).  I'm proficient with screen casting so may move to making my own videos that more closely match the in-game activities.

Once complete (still working out all the quest chains, activities and the Moodle logistics), I'm hoping the administration at whatever school I am at next year will let me pilot the project.  Although if they don't it won't be that much of a waste as I have already learned a lot about Moodle and have found many resources which will help my practice anyways.  Plus with Moodle's export function I can always have the course ready to go wherever I go.

I'd love to try and use 3d GameLab but their free account is not available yet.  From reviews 3d GameLab is more useful than Moodle for gamifying a class.