While perusing Twitter last week, I saw references to the Quest Based Learning Virtual Unconference (http://www.questboise.com/). I was intrigued, by the postings, and by the fact that Lee Sheldon, who wrote the book on gamification that I am currently working through, as well as Kae Novak and Chris Luchs, whose workshops had in the past convinced me that trying gaming in my classes might be a good idea, were presenting. Although all of the sessions are recorded, I so far have been able to view one live session, by Chris Haskell on online gaming and RPG's.
Among other things, Dr. Haskell discussed the importance of avatars in gaming. It is something that Lee Sheldon also discusses, but I had rejected the idea because I really didn't want to have an election between zombies, magical creatures, and superheroes, but on further thought it may be a fruitful idea. It would be great to start out the class by having each student draft a biography of their ideal candidate. Then the students could write about the assumptions they are using and what those assumptions tell us about American political culture. Then they could use each other as focus groups to test those assumptions, which would lead to a discussion of public opinion.
Now do I let them chose any type of candidate they want? Part of me says yes. After all magical creatures would be constitutionally barred from running for office. Superman might be a good candidate, but there are some flaws. First, he would have to run as Clark Kent and keep his real identity secret. Clark would not be a particularly good candidates given the lack of popularity of the press. It would be hard to get people to vote for a reporter, even a mild-mannered one. Second, as Robert Slayton has noted, Superman is an undocumented immigrant. That alone would make him virtually unelectable. As to zombies, there is a great discussion to be had regarding whether the undead qualify as citizens under the constitution. That discussion would better be held on an episode of The Big Bang Theory. Better to stick to realistic candidates.
This rbings up to another element of the game- opposition research. They could identify weaknesses in candidates and start to address those. We could find articles about the effectiveness of negative campaigning, and the rules could be structure to allow money to be spent on positive ads, which would have no effect on any opponent, but would win you votes, or negative ads, which would have you lose a relatively small amount of votes, but have your target lose a greater amount of votes. This would help students understand the strategy behind negative campaigning.
What I like about the idea of creating candidates is that the material is growing organically from the game, so I won't be following the typical order fro an American Government course, which is generally mirrored by the structure of text books. If I continue to do that I will have to teach the material as it relates to relevant concerns rather than awkwardly fitting it into the game. This creates a huge challenge for me, but it is doable. Once the candidates are identified, we can talk about the party ideologies by starting with theories of democracy, continuing with a discussion of the Constitution, and then concluding with a discussion of political ideology. So by learning about these topics, the students would be building their platforms. The game is starting to unfold.
One more thing. I had been concerned about the small class and the fact that the game isn't yet fully designed, but this may be an advantage. This semester could be considered as a beta test of the game, and the students can help develop it. I had been hesitant to go that way, since a new methodology can already bring about nervousness and uncertainty, but having the students co-participate can make the class more engaging, as well as compensate for the fact that adjustments will inevitably be made. The models that I have seen have all involved a rather shaky first semester as the game is being tested and perfected. Maybe it's better to be upfront about the process-- as long as the grading scheme is solid the students should be appreciative.
