In Class
Time
Checkout is made up of three missions, each taking at least 3 hours. There is no chronological order, so that missions may be played in random order. This means the teacher is at liberty to select any mission for his students. Once a player has completed all missions, he (or she) enters the final scene, thus ending the game.
The missions may be played during or outside contact hours. The game has been designed in such a way that all twelve missions may be completed within a single semester of eight to ten weeks.
The teacher as a director
In this game the teacher plays an important role, because he controls the system. He can start a game by logging into a back end (administration tool), or adapt dialogues and keep track of the progress made by his students.
The teacher as a moderator
The most important part played by the teacher is being a moderator. He decides who gets to play the game. From the back end, and through the inhouse email system he will send invitations to the students involved. This invitation contains a link to the online game environment, as well as a code that needs to be entered only once. This code provides the first access to the game. At this point the students can make their own login, using their name and a secret password. The code also registers the game the students participate in, and, in turn, the team they are part of. At any moment the teacher can look into the relevant gaming data, e.g. the goals achieved and the scores.
Once the player logs in, he will see a list of the players in his team. He can also see who else has logged in, and which are the missions they will have to complete. The teacher will assign a specific mission to each group of students. The player who is the first to log in is also responsible for selecting the mission on behalf of the team. After this, each player (who is a team member) who has logged in will receive a message asking him to accept the mission. The mission starts as soon as each member of the team has accepted.
The teacher as a coach
During the game, the teacher is able to monitor the progress made by his students. The back end provides the teacher with a clear overview showing him which teams are on which missions, the missions they have or haven’t completed, or the missions they haven’t accomplished during the lesson. Each mission includes a short description of the competencies involved in the mission. This allows the teacher to select specific teams for specific missions. This description also enables him to see at which point during a mission the team fails to complete its task, and if so required, to adapt his lessons accordingly.
The teacher as a designer of new content
Checkout also enables the teacher to actively intervene into any player’s learning process. Each mission includes an NPC, a Non-Player Character. In this game the NPC is of course the student’s PC. The dialogue between the NPC and the player is crucial to the progress of a mission. However, this dialogue may be replaced by a dialogue written by the teacher. After all, a mission is all about the best way to get through the dialogue, not about the information supplied. This allows the teacher to train specific competencies, like comprehensive reading and placing information in context. This is not to say that he has to rewrite the dialogues, because the NPC comes with a complete default dialogue. On the other hand, this part of Checkout does offer the opportunity for the teacher to integrate both himself and his specific subject matter into the learning experience.
The student
At first, the students stranded at the party island live a life of luxury. But in the end they run out of money. A local entrepreneur offers them to work off their debts. They will have to carry out various assignments and cross the language barrier, in order to pay their debt.
Even though each student will have to collaborate with his team members to complete the mission (the team target), the players are also rewarded for their individual effort. At the end of each mission the players can compare who has achieved the best individual score (personal target).
During each mission the students will have to find a balance between being popular (hotness) and making a buck. After all, both will help them to get things done. But which alternative is best in which situation?