- Joe Pirkle, Chris King, Rick

Florida public school district (#77), established 10-years ago, to offer alternative educational opportunities
80 students first year and then grew rapidly (served 100,000 students last year)
800 teachers now and they're all virtual
students from all over the state, other states, and even outside the US now take their classes
many students are home-schooled
have an enormous need to provide content to students virtually, as there aren't even textbooks - all content is delivered online
offer 65+ courses
- one of the most popular is phys ed (which involves a lot of participation on the part of the parent because they certify that the student has done the work)
free to any Florida resident because it's just like public school - have to be registered at a school or as a home schooler, though

one of the hallmarks of their courses has been that they try to put a course motif into all of their courses
would wrap a course in biology in a motif in which the student plays the role of a CSI-like investigator of unusual circumstances
immerse them in that role
the content is flavored for that role
can change the roles for different courses
can model web page, images, etc. for the individual role
instructors supplement online material with 1-to-1 sessions using Elluminate in which they go over material
instructors do a lot of phone calls, they call students directly on a regular basis
believe that the use of motifs make the content more engaging

in the last couple of years, have been exploring incorporating games into the courses
entered into a partnership with the ADL Academic Co-Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to do this (the Co-Lab was originally in the Department of Defense and then moved to the University; was originally involved with SCORM)
traditionally focused on academia
focusing on K-12 for the last couple of years, hence this partnership

the Florida School has realized there are different kinds of students
some kind handle anything you throw at them, but others need more
want to look at how gaming can give processing/cognitive skills rather than rote memorization
then you can change the parameters and the students still succeed because they've learned how to process

they haven't done any formal examples of gaming yet
they're in the "preparing to pilot" stage
hope to get research about how much games do engage learners
there's hardly anything out there about online use of games (it's usually classroom-based in the physical world - "everybody sit in a circle....")

one of the compelling things isn't just the learner and the game but also the community - those pieces haven't been collected yet into one simple system at the School
want the games to focus on that

Wisconsin has something similar with the "Wisconsin School Network"

rationale for gaming - had to reel themselves in a little bit
gaming generates a lot of enthusiasm but at the same time, you have to make sure you're standing on solid ground for why you are doing this
they constantly have to justify why they do things because they are such a unique entity
as a result, they're always in a mode of searching for "is there a better way to do this?"
their institutional culture is about trying to push the envelope of what they can do
their courses are always in a cycle of redevelopment

they're not FTE-based but on student completions instead
their funding is dependent on how many students pass their courses so making sure that their content is very engaging is critical because students don't have to take their courses
if a course isn't good, students will drop out (28-day grace period to drop)

Greg Stall - an alternative Des Moines school uses games to teach business practices (Restaurant Empire, Roller Coaster Tycoon, etc.)
after a certain point, they have to start making money in the game
sometimes the students play the games for 8 hours straight
the learning is far higher than what is presented in textbooks
it's all brick and mortar, although the students can play the games at home or in the library
he sits down with them and they show him what they're doing in the game, walk through it
then they write a business plan
using the book "Understanding by Design"
match up the student's work with where they want to go
using the same tools, the students go in different directions
have problems with the term "gaming" because of casinos in the area
have to preface everything with "educational" gaming
the military had the same problem in the 80s until they started calling it "simulation"

Florida is also looking at using Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) games

Moses Wolfenstein - terminology is tricky because need to indicate educational but don't want to turn off kids
learned that can't candy-coat it and expect it to work
can't sell it to kids as something that will replace what they're playing at home
not the "chocolate-covered broccoli"
it's utilizing what they're already doing and putting it in an educational setting

"immersive learning"
"augmented reality"

how do you incorporate state standards?
each state has a different hierarchy of standards, plus national ones
when you're building the lessons, you have to meet all of them, need to have overlap, need to have the appropriate method for evaluating that standard
need different vehicles for measuring those standards (english versus math versus social studies)
Florida School has an online system for this - a learning management system
have always mapped the objectives of their lessons to state standards
however, recently took every single set semester exam for non-AP classes, they mapped every single question on every single exam to state standards
now they can go into their learning management system and see the code for which standard the question applies to
want to be able to take that same level of standards mapping into their gaming initiative

reference to Commission from ASCD report and podcast about standards

another of their rationals for gaming is that because they deliver their instruction online, it's challenging to assess whether students have learned the dynamics of a system (eg, establishment of the printing press in world history and what that impacted)
want to incorporate assessment in gaming simulations to assess students' grasp of these types of concepts

question about low-income students and the need for high-speed internet access to participate in the Florida School
some school labs allow access
hardware becomes an issue if you use gaming in learning

in Wisconsin, everybody is going to get a laptop and a $600 stipend that goes to high-speed internet access
program is open to public school enrollment

Florida has counselors assigned on a county-by-county basis and they physically visit the schools

one of the biggest things they want to be able to get out of gaming is to enhance collaborative learning
unless students have a motivation to communicate with their peers to achieve something, it's unlikely they'll make those connections
have to assign them something where they are all dependent on each other in order to accomplish a task and think gaming can help with this
they've had a lot of pushback from students and parents who don't want their grades to be dependent on anyone else because they may or may not deliver
want to express to them that they need to collaborate because you don't operate by yourself

as an instructor, it's difficult to tell who in the group did how much of what in a group project
in a game, though, there are mechanisms to track these things
can easily design this into the game
helps with those who worry about their grade being dependent on others' work

this happens in work environments, too
by disengaging from the group and relying on individual effort, collaboration is undermined
thinks classrooms need to have students reflect on what they can, should, and did do in group collaboration
often students will rat each other out but individuals are often also reflective - "I let my group down"
Florida folks build that reflection into the courses
build in those communication pathways
they have rules for ratting out others ("be nice about it," etc.) but the methods to do that in front of others is there

their population of students is different from the average classroom
in high school, 27% of their students are home-schooled; 50% for middle schoolers
who home schools their children?
people with strong views about what a student will get in a public school environment
while they're a public school, they also have to be sensitive to this population, whereas in a public school environment, administrators don't have to accommodate those who don't want their kids to interact with other students
if someone walks into a public school and says, "I don't want my kid interacting with other kids," you would tell them they should consider home schooling, whereas the virtual school has to deal with exactly those people

participant noted he thought we should be focusing on where traditional education isn't meeting goals and where the gaps are

4 areas:
1 - mini games that aren't necessarily casual; clustered to achieve objectives; smaller and has a defined beginning, middle, and end (not persistent)
Flash is good for these types of games
want to be careful that you don't end up with games for the sake of gaming
Florida requires the Flash plugin for all courses already
2- using COTS games
can do this as-is
advantage is that these games were created for a wide audience to enjoy - will be compelling entertainment and you hope there is an educational component built-in
how many games, though, have a focused educational piece?
can also mod games like Civilization and Neverwinter Nights
does require certain skills to do the mods, though
STARlogo and Alice are software packages for programming and modding; visually help teach these skills; geared towards the average educator
3- curriculum course-based game that runs from the beginning to the end of the course
developing a game from the ground up (eg, "Uncharted Depth" by Filament Games)
direct teacher interaction in the game
most expensive and time-consuming to build
4- less of a game and more of a whole environment - MMO environment that drives the structure of the school or learning management system
actual 3D environment in which the student enters and interacts with teachers and other students (even if it's just text-based)
long-term, broad strategy
Florida is exploring using Second Life for this type of "game," a persistent world

Co-Lab is working on mini-games and COTS games with Florida

games offer a safe space for students to get it wrong (repeatedly) until they get it right
traditionally, students don't care about the content after the test is over

gls2007