Presentation on the game as an ePortfolio for the Colorado Community College System's Immersive and Game-Based Learning Grant

1. CHAPTERS - The Books of Wisdom
Project Team
PPCC: Lynne Garcia, Bruce McCluggage, Ken
Riddle, John Schavey, Richard Curran Trussell

2. *
*Students using Chapters increased their scores half a letter grade
(5.3 pts) in applying ethical theories vs. classes not using it in course
pre & post testing.
*The Books of Wisdom is on online learning experience to supplement
teaching ethical theory and to enhance discussion in Ethics courses.
A compelling narrative, fascinating characters, and unique artwork
draw the student into a post-apocalyptic world to restore the once
vibrant library containing the culture’s wisdom and knowledge. This
will stop the descent in to anarchy and allow one’s community to be
rebuilt and revitalized.
*The student’s avatar must travel to various colonies organized
around a single theory, learn from the characters living there, then
take an exam on that theory.
*The enclaves include Egoism Empire, Relativism Range, Utilitarian
Union, Kantian Kingdom, Care Community (feminist ethics), Virtue
Village, Natural Law Nation, and Social Contract Confederacy.

3. *
*Students must draw from their
classroom resources as well as
the narrative in order to excel
on timed exams.
* Both the narratives and
graphics contain symbolism to
help explain the theories to
students.
*Most of the characters in the
game are real philosophers.
* Seeing a caricature of a
philosopher and reading their
theories in story-form help
cement these figures in one’s
mind.
Utilitarians determine moral decisions by
tabulating the pain and pleasure that would
result with different choices using Jeremy
Bentham’s algorithm.

4. *
*A student must achieve a 90% in order to pass the
exam and move on.
*Students can repeat the exam until they pass with
the necessary 90%, but will earn lower points on
subsequent tries.
*To add challenge, some other questions rotate into
the exam on new attempts. The question a student
missed may or may not show up on the next
attempt.
*Each student gets some randomly generated
questions from the pool on the first attempt, so it is
unlikely any students will get identical tests.

5. *
*The points earned can be used to
increase the student’s own score,
or a portion can be donated to a
pool to build the entire class.
*In an exam, the student may buy
hints using the community pool.
This interaction brings a new
dimension to studying ethics as
students consider moral
implications of their own
interests, the interests of the
community, altruism, the greater
good, etc.
*Additionally, whole classes can
compete against each other in
overall ranking.
Ayn Rand on the movie set of a western
championing rugged individualism in
Egoism Empire

6. *
*The interactivity has the potential to foster intense
classroom discussion. Instructors and students have
access to leaderboards and transaction logs that record
the game dynamics within the class.
*Students are able to challenge those who are free-riding
and commend those who are serving the entire class.
*Instructors who utilize these tools will find that ethical
discussion transcends theory to the practical
implications of working within a community.
*For more information contact Project Director
Richard.Trussell@ppcc.edu

7. *
Post Apocalyptic ethical Theory Adventure Game byLynne
Garcia, Bruce McCluggage, Ken Riddle, John Schavey, Richard
Curran Trussell at Pikes Peak Community College under a
Colorado Community College System Immersive and Game
Based Learning Grant is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at
http://www.ppcc.edu/departments/philosophy/.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be
available athttp://www.ppcc.edu/departments/philosophy/.