Rensselaer Professor Offers Educational Lessons Taken From Game Design
New Book Details How To Pattern a Classroom
After a Multiplayer Video Game and Help Every Student Become a
In Lee Sheldon’s “multiplayer classroom,” each student is a
player who starts the semester game with zero “points” – a
level that corresponds to the letter grade “F.” With each move
they make, the students rack up points, and their grade goes
up. Rather than fret about losing an A, as the semester
progresses in Sheldon’s classroom, the grades only get
The grading scheme is one example of the fresh perspective
games offer in the classroom, according to Sheldon. A pioneer
in applying game design to education and co-director of the
Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences program at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, Sheldon describes the benefits to
education in his new book, The Multiplayer Classroom:
Designing Coursework as a Game, recently released by
“This is a different way to approach the classroom,” Sheldon
said. “It’s not about video games in the classroom; it’s not
about technology in the classroom. It’s about how game design
techniques can be used to engage students.”
His book is the first detailed guide to teaching classes –
from middle school to universities – based on principles of
video game design, specifically multiplayer game design.
Written for teachers and the general public, the book
introduces game concepts and vocabulary, and explains how
teachers can incorporate the techniques in their own classroom.
It includes syllabi, instruction in game design, examples of
successes and failures, a step-by-step template of the entire
design process, and a guide to additional resources. Sheldon
said the model can be used to design any structured learning
experience as a game.
Sheldon’s book draws from his own experiences as professor
in four multiplayer classrooms, as well as eight additional
case histories of multiplayer classrooms on a variety of
subjects from math to history.
In the multiplayer classroom, students start the semester
with a clean slate and gather “experience points” or “XP” as
they complete tasks.
“Just like in a game, they are adding XP and leveling up –
there’s no falling back,” Sheldon said. “They know what their
goals are and they work toward those goals.”
Much of the students’ work is completed in teams, or
“guilds,” and the accomplishment of any given member of the
guild, according to Sheldon, often boosts the overall score of
each individual member, building camaraderie and respect for
efforts within the group. Many of the assignments involve
presenting material to other students; their success assures
mastery of the material, with Sheldon sitting as judge or “game
master” of the process.
“I grade them on clarity, and originality, and creativity,
so they can be as innovative as they want, but they still have
to get the material across to the other students,” Sheldon
said. “They really have to know the material, and I sit in the
back and say ‘that’s not quite right’ or ask them questions to
keep them on track.”
The approach is a risk-free motivator allowing students to
reach for their personal best while supporting classmates in
their own “quest.”
The results from his own experience, Sheldon said, speak for
“The average class grade went from a C to a B, using the
same materials,” Sheldon said. “Attendance is now near perfect.
People come early and work – even if they don’t have an
assignment – on various quests before the class.”
Rensselaer’s Games & Simulation Arts and Sciences
program has been named among the top 15 out of 150
undergraduate game design programs in the United States and
Canada, according to a survey from the Princeton Review. The
program graduated its first full class in May 2011.
Sheldon previously taught game design at Indiana University,
Bloomington, where his unorthodox style of patterning his
classes as a multiplayer game has earned praise for its success
in exciting students and improving classroom learning. He is
the author of Character Development & Storytelling
for Games, a standard text in universities all
over the world.
In addition to his successful teaching career, Sheldon has
written and designed more than 20 commercial video games and
massively multiplayer online games for companies such as
Microsoft, Disney, Cyan, and Dreamcatcher. He is currently
design consultant and lead writer for Star Trek: Infinite
Space, a multiplayer game to be published by Gameforge.
Prior to his work in the games industry, Sheldon earned more
than 200 credits in popular television – including Star
Trek: The Next Generation, Charlie’s
Angels, and Cagney & Lacey – as
a professional Hollywood screenwriter and producer.
Additional information on the book is available at the
author’s listing on Amazon at
Contact: Mary L. Martialay
Phone: (518) 276-2146