Presented by Mark Suter at eTech Ohio in 2011.

1. Warcraft et al:
A Cross-Curricular
Approach to MMO’s
By Mark Image (Waters, 2007)
Suter

2. Overview
• + and – of using VW/MMO's
• My Projects
• Others' Projects
• Implement your cross-curricular
project
– Choices of VW's and MMO’s
– Getting Funded
– Project Central (Keeping it together!)

3. The +’s
• Student Motivation
– As part of a reward system (Pavlovian)
– Appeals to existing interests
– hard to reach students (The “Go ahead
and fail me” students)
• Alternative Assessment (definition)
– Performance – Observing the student
– Authentic – Connecting to the real world,
real meetings
– Portfolio – Pick the best, could be done in
the VW

4. The +’s (cont’d)
• Project Based Learning
(George Lucas' Education Foundation-Edutopia)
– Real-World Problems (using VW)
– Small Collaborative Groups…or
independant
– Edutopia: “Students more likely to
retain info”

5. The –’s
• Restrictions
– EULA's (teen-SL gone, WoW 13+ with
parent)
• Student Safety-
– “...the worst ethical stance we could
take is to turn our heads away as if
these environments didn’t exist. It
appears we better get busy in schools
figuring out how to educate kids on
safe and appropriate use, and learn
how to use them to our advantage for
educational purposes.”

6. The –’s (cont’d)
• Cost
– WoW $15/mo per account
– Initial Software purchase only
(Everquest2, Lord of the Rings)
• Learning Curves
• Supplemental project or full
time? All students or some?
– Student to student jealousy

7. World of Warcraft: 1st Try,
2007
• student funded
• exploratory
– Cross-Cultural? Article 2
(forum attempts)
– Machinima -built in to Mac
WoW (w/ 3 players, one as
cameraman)
• Student discontent at level
caps (they paid for it)
– Unbalanced experiences in-
game

8. World of Warcraft: 2nd Try,
2008

9. World of Warcraft: 2nd Try,
2008
• Grant Funded (Martha Holden Jennings
Foundation) $900 for 12 students
• ½ Traditional students, ½ IEP students
• Getting other teachers involved (with
little extra work for them)
– motivated students = receptive teachers
– Language arts (Blog, Story writing for
machinima)
– Math (individual tutoring, “I want to know
my average DPS with different weapons
and armor.”

10. World of Warcraft
(cont’d)
• Potpourri of Topics:
– Gov't (Money
experience)
– Machinima,-acting out
a story they wrote,
narrated.
– Economy
• Inflation? Farmers…
• Cornering a market
10 • Resellers…

11. World of Warcraft
(cont’d)
• Catherine Parsons
Article
– Cognitive Dissonance
Guild
• K-12 + Higher Ed
– Asst. Superintendent
for curriculum for
Pine Plains Central
School District, NY

14. Second Life:
Boise State
University
Part of the
EdTech Master’s
Program

15. Second Life: Boise State Class
• Learning Curve
• Physical distance
mitigated
• Real relationships
• meta-communication
during “class”.
• In-world simulations vary
in quality
– Health students on an
15
arterial roller coaster

19. Second Life Alternative:
OpenSim

20. Lord of The Rings Online
• Machinima, International Players
• LOTRO: Music Composition – GREAT
supplemental/cross-curricular
– Now Free! http://www.lotro.com/
– Player Music System (manual in-game
play:
– ABC music notation:(in ASCII format)
20

21. LoTRO M
Syste

22. Avatar Storytellers (site)
• Pay only
• Create custom characters to use in
machinima-like storytelling
• Geared for 5th - 7th grades. Can be
adapted up or down.

24. SecretBuilders (ages 5-14)
• Interact with historical figures (AG Bell,
Thomas Edison, visit their house, chat with
figures by choosing questions, character
profiles. Simulates talking to a friend in a
VW)
• Write Newspaper articles (reflections)
• Safe for kids
• Free, option of pay subscription to be a
builder
• Teacher console to create student
accounts (geared for education)
• Interview with teacher using it here on
Chris Haskell’s blog (Boise State
University)

28. How to implement your
own
• Unlimited $$$ and the best graphics
will still fail without a
comprehensive plan.
– Plan your objectives FIRST.
– Start looking at worlds SECOND.
• Commercial off-the-shelf vs.
Education
• Places to start looking…
28

29. Choosing a VW/MMO
• Youth-oriented MMO's matrix by
cost, target age, and dev status:
link (2008)

30. Choosing a VW/MMO
• Kzero -Virtual Worlds Statistics
(2010)
– Chart of VW's by age (Q2, 2010)
– Ideas for Worlds to check out

33. Choosing a VW/MMO
• MMORPG.com gamelist – reviews
any/all MMO's, sort by cost,
release year, etc.

34. Project Central: What to
Include
• About the project/Security
Measures
• Objectives
• Timeline (1 week? 3 months?)
• Opportunity for constant feedback,
documented
– Blog? Wiki? Written? Podcast Friday
Summary show?

35. Project Central: Getting
Permission
• From Administration
– Align to standards
– Letter to present at a board meeting
pointing out motivation, cross-
curricular projects, PBL
35

37. Project Central: Getting
Permission
• From Parents: Letter sent home

39. Questions?
• If Time Permits...
– WoW Auction House Demo
– WoW Machinima Demo
• This PPT and other files available
at www.marksuter.com

40. Works Cited
1. Waters, J. K. (2007). On a quest for
english. Technological Horizons in
Education, 10(07),