The Multiplayer Classroom, Collateral Learning and You - Lee Sheldon

Instructors today, whether academic, government or corporate, are leaping on to the bandwagon of gamification with hopes high and eyes closed. Joining them onboard are those who use the techniques of last century’s corporate videos with branching choices and overt exams instead of the organic, embedded assessments of games, then rename their simulations as games.
Badges and other extrinsic rewards, simply the gold stars of the digital era, are added indiscriminately to learning experiences, but do not magically transform them into good games. Game-based learning also does not mean blind faith in technology such as video games or social media clumsily shoehorned into a curriculum like a stepsister’s foot vainly squeezed into Cinderella’s slipper.
Starting with a brief history of games that purport to teach, Lee Sheldon then moves to the Multiplayer Classroom, an entire class designed as a real-time game played in the real world. Initial anecdotal evidence of success is now supported by recent studies involving hundreds of teachers and thousands of students: good game design is a powerful tool for learning.