Aug. 6, 2015 - This presentation is co-created by Sherry Jones and Kae Novak for the 2015 Colorado Learning and Teaching with Technology Conference. This presentation details the origin, the development, and the future of the Metagame Book Club (http://bit.ly/metagamebookclub), an open club offered to K-20 educators to study academic works and popular literature on game studies, game-based learning, gamification (i.e. gamified learning), and the future of gaming. Book club participants also play games, such as War of Warcraft, Minecraft, Google's Ingress, and many more titles to support their teaching practices as "gaming pracademics."

1. The Metagame Book Club: Fostering a
Community of Gaming Pracademics
Sherry Jones & Kae Novak | http://bit.ly/gpracademics | Aug. 6, 2015
80 Days

2. 1. What is the Metagame Book Club?

3. A Global Community
The Metagame Book Club
is an online open club that
invites K-20 educators
and learners to read and
discuss literature about
gaming in the future of
education. We explore
such issues as:
● What is a game? (ex. ontological vs.
ontic nature)
● Research on cognitive, physical, and
educational effects of gaming.
● Differences between “game-based
learning” (GBL) and “gamification.”
● Best practices for applying either GBL
or “gamification” to curriculum
design.

4. Community Building with Virtual
Meeting Tools
We maintain
synchronous (live) and
asynchronous
conversations with our
community using a
variety of tools:
● Google Plus + and Google Sites
● Google Hangout and Youtube
● Twitter
● Flickr
● Padlet
● Voxer
● War of Warcraft
● Second Life
● Minecraft

5. The Founders
In 2014, a group of
K-20 educators and
researchers from all
over the world
formed the
Metagame Book
Club. We are:
● Kae Novak, Chair of ISTE Games & Sims
Network & Instructional Designer at FRCC.
● Chris Luchs, Associate Dean for Career &
Technical Education at CCCS & WoW
Educator.
● Sherry Jones, Game Design & Psychology
SME at RMCAD & Philosophy, Rhetoric, and
Game Studies Instructor.
● The Inevitable Instructors (the Guild of
Educators).

6. ● International Society for
Technology in Education
● Represents more than
100,000 Educators and
Professionals worldwide
● 2016 ISTE Annual
Conference is in Denver!
June 36-29th
ISTE
Games and Sims Network consists
of 2,036 K-12 and Higher Ed
Educators from around the world
advocating and implementing
games and sims in their curriculum

7. Richard Culatta, Director of Office
of Educational Technology, DOE
and Erik Martin, Media Specialist,
DOE at ISTE 2015
Wearing Inevitable Betrayal Guild
Ribbons.

8. LAN Party
Dungeons & Dragons
World of Warcraft
Minecraft
Ingress
Interactive Fiction
Coding Games
LilyPad Arduino(s)
Classcraft
Answerables

9. 2. Responses to the
Book Club?

11. Screenshot of
Hangout/Youtube
Response?

13. 3. Media Coverage of
the Book Club

14. Nov. 19, 2014 - “10
Steps to Promoting
Diversity in Gaming”
by Meris Stansbury,
eCampus News

15. Nov. 26, 2014 -
“Woman in
Games Writing
Series: Sherry
Jones” by Mark
Filipowich, Good
Games Writing
(GGW)

16. April 2, 2015 - “How to
Apply Game-Based
Learning to Course
Curriculum” by Jennifer
Welch, eCampus News

17. May 18, 2015 -
“Game Design
Across the
Curriculum:
Interactive Fiction-
ing” by Educator
Innovator

18. May 29, 2015
“Sherry Jones
Interview” with
Game Vortex

19. June 22, 2015 -
“Game-Based
Learning: What
Great Games
Have that Bad
Games Don’t” by
Vicki Davis,
Bam! Radio

20. June 29, 2015 -
“Many Education
Games are
Worksheets with
Points. 6 Ways to
Find Better Learning
Games” by Vicki
Davis, Bam! Radio

21. Aug. 1, 2015 -
“Facilitating an
Online Book Club
with Game-Based
Learning: The
Metagame Book
Club” for Global
EdCamp

22. 4. The Metagame Book Club and
Pracademics?

23. In the context of gaming, "metagaming" is the act of finding and
using information beyond the game itself that can influence one's in-
game decisions.
In the context of education, the Metagame Book Club serves as a
“metagame” by helping educators study, play, and practice teaching
with games. Our “metagaming” includes studying and discussing
books, articles, websites, blogs, videos, and games.
What is a Metagame?

24. A “Pracademic” refers to an academic who engages in both practices:
1. Teaches or publishes research on subjects relevant to his/her
field.
2. Serves as an active practitioner of the methods and praxis of
his/her discipline.
So . . . why is the term, “Pracademic,” relevant to
The Metagame Book Club?
What is a Pracademic?

25. The Metagame Book
Club fosters a
community of gaming
pracademics by
asking educators to
practice the
following:
Gaming Pracademics?
● Read both popular and academic literature on
the social and cultural influences of games.
● Play a variety of games to understand how
games really “work.”
● Discuss/debate on the role of games in
education.
● Publish blogs/writings on teaching with games.
● Design curriculum that incorporates games or
gamification.
● Create actual games or gamified classrooms.

26. The Metagame Book Club supports 4 levels of gaming pracademic:
● Beginner - Studies game research and is aware of gaming trends.
● Intermediate - Plays and evaluates games for teaching.
● Advanced - Develops curriculum that incorporates games or
gamification methods to support or scaffold learning.
● Expert/Game Master - Designs and creates analog or digital
games for learning.
Levels of Gaming Pracademics

27. Dec. 7, 2013
Webcast - “Minecraft
Challenge” (see 2:52)
Playing as a Practice - Minecraft

28. April 12, 2015
Webcast - “Playing
and Teaching with
Interactive Fiction”
Playing as a Practice - IF Games

29. ● Creator of Gamifying the Classroom community website.
● Creator of rgMOOC, or Rhetoric and Composition: The Persuasive
Power of Video Games as Paratexts.
● Designer of the game-based learning philosophy assignment: “The
Stanley Parable and the Question of Free Will.”
● Designer of Strategies and Psychology in Games course
curriculum with interactive fiction game design assignments.
● Designer of The Perspective Game (TPG) for GetTheIssues.
Sherry’s Practices as a Gaming
Pracademic

30. ● Creator of the Games MOOC, five 6 week professional
development courses on games, gamification, AR, ARGs, MMOs
and Minecraft.
● Co- Creator of Bardo Thodol: Tibetan Book of the Dead.
● Creator of Día de los Muertos simulation
● Co-Creator of D. B. Copper ARG.
● Co-Creator of Project Outbreak simulation.
● Designer for World of Warcraft in Business.
● Guild master and raid leader of the Inevitable Betrayal.
Kae’s Practices as a Gaming
Pracademic

31. 5. Two Reading
Concentrations/Tracks

32. Track 1: Game Studies
Facilitated by Sherry Jones, Track 1 concentrates on academic
research and theoretical readings regarding the meaning of games.
Game Studies refers to the growing, interdisciplinary field of studying
analog and digital games via various disciplinary lenses. Academic
disciplines such as Cultural Studies, Media Studies, Computer
Science, Philosophy, History, Archaeology, Rhetoric, Psychology,
Religious Studies and more are developing theories and methods that
focus on understanding the game phenomenon.

33. July 15 - Aug. 16, 2015 -
Game Studies Week 1:
“The Meaning of Video
Games: Gaming and
Textual Strategies” by
Steven E. Jones

35. Nov. 3, 2014 - Game
Studies Week 1:
“The Gamer Identity &
The Representations of
Gender and Race in
Games” by Sherry Jones

36. Mar. 21, 2015 -
Game Studies
Week 1:
“Interactive
Fiction: History
and Theories” by
Sherry Jones

37. Track 2: Games, Society &
Education
Facilitated by Kae Novak, Chris Luchs, and the Inevitable Instructors,
Track 2 concentrates on readings about how gaming, and game logic,
influence the development of technology, society, and education.
Readings selected for this track also explore how games reference or
influence cultural attitudes and current events. Some readings
further address how games will contribute to a technologically
oriented future.

38. Nov. 1. 2014 - Track 2 -
Joseph Campbell’s
“Power of Myth” and “Rise
of the Horde”

39. July-Aug. 2015
- Track 2 -
“Intro to
Multiplayer
Classroom”

41. 6. Four Sessions
(So Far!)
Since 2014, the Metagame Book Club has offered 4 sessions.
Each session focused on unique topics . . .

42. Session 1 (July 15 - Aug. 16, 2014)
Track 1: Game Studies
● The Meaning of Video Games:
Gaming and Textual Strategies
by Steven E. Jones.
● Play, Games, and the Magic
Circle.
● Cultural and Social Meanings of
Games and Play.
● Narratology vs. Ludology.
● Rhetoric of Games.
Track 2: Games, Society &
Education
● For the Win by Cory Doctorow.
● Introduction to Massively Open
Online (MMO) Games.
● War of Warcraft (WoW) and
Endgame Play.
● WoW Virtual Economics and
Business Education.

43. Session 2 (Nov. 1 - 23, 2014)
Track 1: Game Studies
● Game Studies and Education.
● Gamer Identity & The
Representation of Gender and
Race in Games.
● Ideologies & Games.
● Game-Based Learning &
Gamified Learning.
Track 2: Games, Society &
Education
● Rise of the Horde by Christie
Holden.
● The Power of Myth by Joseph
Campbell.
● Narrative Structure of the
Monomyth.
● Monomyth of the War of
Warcraft (WoW).

44. Session 3 (Mar. 20 - Apr. 2, 2015)
Track 1: Game Studies
● Interactive Fiction and
Education.
● Interactive Fiction: History and
Theories.
● Narratology and Interactive
Fiction.
● Playing and Teaching with
Interactive Fiction.
Track 2: Games, Society &
Education
● The Multiplayer Classroom:
Designing Coursework as a
Game by Lee Sheldon.
● Trends in Gamification of
Education.
● Quantified Self: The
Motivational Appeal of
Quantification.

45. Not at Games 4 Change
✓ Review of DoE Game for
Education Summit
✓ Review of Gone Home
✓ Review of Twine
✓ Review of Never Alone
✓ Affective Domain

46. Session 4 (July. 20-Aug. 12, 2015)
Track 1: Game Studies
On Break (returning in Session 5,
Fall 2015).
Track 2: Games, Society &
Education
● Ready Player One by Ernest
Cline.
● Dystopian Arcade by Jon Spike.
● Augmented Reality Games and
Ingress by Google.
● FAUXasis.
● Educators as Dungeon
Masters.

47. 7. July-August 2015
Currently in Session!
Games we are covering now!

48. READY PLAYER ONE

49. Why Ingress?
Mobile
Pervasive
Multi-player
Narrative
Back story
Metagame
Endgame

50. July 22, 2015
Webcast -
“Ingress”
Playing as a Practice - Ingress

51. 8. Future Sessions and
Workshops

52. Fall 2015 Book Club
● The Metagame Book Club Fall 2015 session will run in November.
● Track 1: Game Studies will focus on the psychology of games. We
will address the question: How do psychological findings inform
game design decisions?
● Track 2: Games, Society & Education will cover The Art of Game
Design: A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell.

53. Spring 2016 Book Club & IF Jam
● ISTE 2016 IF JAM - We will offer an Interactive Fiction JAM for
This is a workshop where you will play, design, and create IF
games live!
● Minecraft UnSymposium
● Not at Games 4 Change again in April 2016
● Alternate Reality Game (ARG) for June 2016
● LAN party - Our version of a LAN party at ISTE Conference June 16

54. Questions or Comments?
Sherry Jones
Twitter @autnes
sherryjones.edtech@gmail.com
Kae Novak
Twitter @kzenovka
kae.novak@frontrange.edu

55. Access Slides at:
http://bit.ly/gpracademics