An unconventional learning system!

We go through 15 years of schooling from Kindergarten to 12th Grade. Learning objectives of each grade are evaluated through periodic tests and assignments. Whether the learning objectives are met or not is determined by the grades a student earns at the end of each year.

In each examination, the student must answer a set of questions. Each question bears a certain number of marks. If the student’s answer is right, she is awarded full marks, if the answer is partially correct or incomplete, the student is awarded a portion of marks equivalent to the correctness of the answer.

Generalizing the conventional education system - typically every student starts with 100 marks in each examination. As and when a student makes an error, marks are deducted. The student’s final score or grade is what is left after deducting marks for wrong answers. The conventional evaluation system adopts a Top-Down approach to evaluate the student’s performance and has been working like this for decades.

Now, I draw your attention to an unconventional learning and evaluation system…

Prof. Lee Sheldon is a Professor of Practice in Game Writing in the Interactive Media & Game Development Program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. He came up with an unconventional grading system for his Game Design Course. He adopted a Bottom-Up approach for evaluating students on the learning objectives of his course and developed an Experience Points & Level system to achieve results. In this system, a student earns experience points when she is able to demonstrate her learning on various topics in the curriculum.

The experience points (XP) system is commonly seen in games. Experience points are scored by a player when they demonstrate a certain level of skill or experience in the game. For example, you start with Zero points, play the level 1 of a game to earn some experience points (say 100 points). Next you will face Level 2 of the same game which will be a bit more complex (when compared to Level 1). When you complete it, you will earn, say 200 points (considering the higher complexity). For Level 3 you will earn 300 points and so on. Take a look at any popular game like candy crush, angry birds or solitaire, they all use XPs for the player to level up.

Prof. Sheldon’s system worked on the same Game Principle. This is how it worked...

• Every student starts with ZERO XP (experience points) at the beginning of the semester.
• Students attempt challenges and quests to earn XPs and level up. 
• Students do solo projects, quizzes and group up for guild projects and their performance earns some more XP.
• Mid-Term exams carried a considerably higher number of XPs. 
• In the group activities, a leadership role carried higher points than a normal team member's role. 
• All students are required to Peer Review and assess the work of fellow students and that carried XPs as well. 
• Attendance also earned the students XPs.
• Points were deducted for Plagiarism, late submissions and other forms of academic misconduct.
• The total number of XPs accumulated in the entire semester determined the student’s grade. In the system, the highest level was reached (Level 12) when the student accumulated 1,860 experience points (on a 2,000 XP scale) and this was equivalent to A Grade.

Summarising Prof. Sheldon’s learning and evaluation system;

1. Weightage was assigned to each Learning Objective - individual activities, group activities, role-play in the group activities and peer reviews. 
2. Tests & assignments carried higher XPs.
3. Attendance was not an exclusive or a stand-alone metric, instead, it was included in the evaluation system by incentivizing students with XPs that got added to the points already earned by the students. 
4. Students would lose XPs when they engaged in Academic Misconduct. In conventional systems, academic misconduct is usually results in a warning or a statement on the student’s report card. So, academic misconduct was designed as a dis-incentive that resulted in downgrading students’ level overall.

Prof. Sheldon’s learning & evaluation system is an innovative method that successfully ties together all metrics of learning & behavior, bring each metric to a level playing field and then measure each metric on a common denominator which was Experience Points & Levels.

Here the focus is on all-round development and not being exam oriented like it is with the conventional education system. The progress is visible to the students and the results are real-time – in the middle of the semester, the students and the teacher knows exactly where the student stand in terms of grade. This is unlike our conventional education system where final grades are revealed only after the final examination at the end of the year.

How I wish I was part of this kind of learning system and that is only because it is motivating and rewarding for the right reasons. The feedback or outcome is instantaneous - I perform a task and I know how I have done within a short span of time. At any given point in time, I am always aware of my own performance level and I know what to do to get better grades going forward.

Thinking about why such a valuable system is not accepted and adopted world-over is probably because it conflicts with an existing and a working system. The common thought that - "why fix something that is not broken?" is probably a barrier to the adoption of this innovative system. To adopt any new system, the keepers of the existing system must be ready to make drastic changes and put in a humongous amount of effort diligently over long periods of time. This requires an open mind and more importantly a forward thinking mindset.


Reference:

• Lee Sheldon, Syllabus for Course: Multiplayer Game Design. Click Here. 
• YouTube Link: Click Here.