Hi, I am working on some interesting projects at the moment, one of which involves investigating how multi layered fictional experiences could be used in education to help those kids from troubled backgrounds build self esteem and become better citizens etc. During a meeting today with the Headteacher of one of the schools involved, he threw anotherchallenge was thrown at me.

The school has just completed a mock exam results day where year 11 students picked up their mock GCSE results (practice paper for UK exam for 16 yr olds). The school make sure the whole experience mirrors the actual day when the students will pick up their real exams results. As each student got their results they were invited to a room where one of the staff explain what would then happen if the results had been real. Those in the top category were told to imagine they are now on their way to their chosen college, the next were told how close they were but… and so on, until you reach the bottom group who face the question ‘what are you going to do now?’. The results of this exercise have been really interesting, ranging from some girls actually phoning their parents at 9am to tell them excitedly what results they got (even though they are not real), to some in the lower groups suddenly realising that their future has less obvious avenues. This realisation is like the beginning of a story where each character has had a glimpse into the future but then realises they have 5 months to change this future – the time before the actual exams. So here is the challenge.

All of the students are now grouped by the school depending on their expected results.

Group 1: 66 students will reach the level expected by the school
Group 2: 50 students are one exam away from reaching that level
Group 3: 33 students are two exams away from reaching that level
Group 4: 54 students are no where near and are in real danger of just dropping off and becoming what we refer to as NEETS (not in employment or education).

The school has 5 months to turn things around. Each student will receive a personal plan and the school will provide additional support where feasible. The measures are still actions such as handing course work in, attending additional lessons etc. The focus is obvioulsy moving students from the lower groups up. Clearly a game is not going to do this as this is the role of the teachers, parents etc. However, how can we turn the next 5 months into a game or atleast introduce elements of game mechanics to help incentivise action? The interesting focus point is the Prom at the end of the year which is of interest to all students. Could this be used in some way to weave into the narrative?

For me this is not just a straightforward points reward system as consideration needs to be given to not rewarding those at the top who already have achieved, but by doing so automaitically de-motivating the key groups at the bottom. Flip side, rewarding those at the bottom takes away the sustained success of those at the top. They are 16 and full of angst so a balance is needed where inspiration and maybe fun are part of the experience.

I had a few ideas on the drive back around teams and points etc but don’t want this thread to be a critique of my ideas. I also know that it might not be doable within the timelines but am interested in the community ideas. In fact I am going to leave it there just to see what response / ideas / questions i get back. We have access to content writers, our own software IP and numerous other resources to put these things together – but as always the key is the theme, idea and mechanics

If we (collectively) can crack this it will be a live game in a school which we can monitor over the next 5 months….interesting opportunity. Hope you agree.

All help and input welcome. many thanks, Andy

Boys respond to leaderboards, girls motivate much differently. Groups are coed based on the description, and the profile for a win would have to involve both genders in some sort of balance, without gender specific tracks.

Our economy is changing, for better or worse, and not everyone is college bound – some of those kids will be janitors and trash truck drivers – as long as it’s a living wage a CDL (commercial driver’s license, here in the U.S.) and dirty hands at the end of the day are fine, right?

So maybe the point is that even if one is not bound for higher education there is still a civic duty to be informed and vote? Education is, first and foremost, how we make new fully vested citizens.

Hi all, thanks for your thoughts to date. Aaron, I totally appreciate where you are coming from and love the initial ideas. The idea we are playing around with is a bit more simple, narrative and mechanic wise, mainly due to time constraints, the fact we are doing this for free and that the school has never considered anything like this before. We are using points ($tokens) and there will be rewards for positive behaviour change, i.e. handing in homework, but the tasks and rewards reflect the academic groupings that you are in – so hopefully no one feels marginalised and all feel they can contribute to the finale.

Danielle, thanks for your contribution. Your first point is spot on and we will be having 7 mixed teams each containing 29 students. The backdrop for the game is based on the history behind the school name which enables us to have four different ‘divisions’ or zones. Each team will send specific students to complete the tasks within one of the divisions, the name of which which will not have any hierarchical value (but just happen to reflect their academic groupings). We hope that by setting it up this way, tasks can reflect the needs and objectives of each group. For example, the highest $token value can be handed out in the lower academic group for behaving in class, whilst the same value is earned in the higher group for chairing a debate on topic X. This will hopefully again encourage competition within a division (Manfred’s point noted about boys), whilst also encouraging teamwork across the year. The game has three ‘sprints’ and rewards will be given at the end of each sprint for the division, the team and even individuals etc. that has earned the most $tokens. The big incentive will be target $token amounts that will trigger events related to the prom, i.e. raise $150,000 and the school will donate X to a charity of students choice, raise $200,000 and the teachers will perform a dance routine of your choosing etc. (Stupid example, but you get my drift).

A draft is going over tomorrow and we will see what the school say. Once they have read it and fed back I’ll post it for your information.

Thanks again for your thoughts.