1.
Digital Game-Based Learning
MOOC (gMOOC)
for Rhetoric and Composition
Sherry Jones and Kate Caruso
COLTT 2013
August 7, 2013
Slides: http://bit.ly/rgmooccoltt
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution -
NonCommercial - NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

2.
● CCCS - Immersive Gaming Grant
Challenge - Incorporate Immersive
Gaming in the classroom.
● Our Solution? - Create a Rhetoric and
Composition MOOC with Video
Games!
● rgMOOC 2!!! (Sep. 2 - Nov. 10, 2013) -
http://bit.ly/rgmooc2form
Grant
Challenge

3.
● A Hybrid Course is also associated
with rgMOOC.
● Hybrid Course Students participate in
rgMOOC, and attend F2F class for
clarification of ideas.
● An Open Lab with laptops are
available for students to access (and
play video games).
Hybrid Course +
rgMOOC

4.
● Justin Reich (EdWeek, Aug. 6, 2013)
clarifies:
○ xMOOC = LMS + Autograder
○ cMOOC = Web + Syndication Engine
● rgMOOC is Connectivist + Games +
Open Access + CC + Syndication
● rgMOOC = Rhetoric + Game-Based
MOOC
rgMOOC and
Connectivism

5.
● gMOOC = Game-Based MOOC
● The term gMOOC is coined by Sherry Jones
(Philosophy, Rhetoric, Comp.) and Jack Park
(Founder of Knowledge Gardening Theory).
● Sherry Jones develops the theory to include
the following elements:
● Role-Playing and Narrative-Driven (Episodic
+ Epistolary + Magic Realism) environment.
● Use Digital Games for immersive learning of
almost any discipline (ex. Composition).
gMOOC!
(MOOC Theory) 1

6.
● Beyond cMOOCs - Syndication with Games!
● Play to Learn! (Interactivity + Critical
Thinking + Problem Solving).
● Write about COTS Games via Game Studies.
● Both Instructors and Participants Role-Play.
● Synchronous chat + Asynchronous curation.
● Massive collaborative writing on Etherpad.
● Create games to demonstrate competency
of discipline-based theories.
● Provide Badges as Rewards/Loot!
gMOOC!
(MOOC Theory) 2

7.
● Procedural Rhetoric is the study of the
underlying rules of a game system that
makes claims about the world
● "Procedural Rhetoric is a type of
procedural literacy that advances and
challenges the logics that underlie
behavior, and how such logics work"
-- Ian Bogost
(Persuasive Games 258)
Game Studies
Theory

8.
Create a Trailer =
They Will Come

9.
● Intended Audience - gamers, non-
gamers, writers, educators, or
enthusiastic learners (open to all!).
● Who Attended rgMOOC 1? - Around 682
people each day! Students, Professors,
Business Leaders, Lifelong learners.
● Most surprisingly, professors from
Udacity and Coursera lurked! (-_-)/
Who is rgMOOC’s
Audience?

10.
Now for a Tour of
rgMOOC!

11.
● Intel = Assigned Readings and
Lectures.
● Agents have the choice of reading a
range of texts (from easy to difficult).
● Level - Heroic = Medium Difficulty.
● Level - Legendary = Complex Difficulty
(require prior discipline-based
knowledge to access).
rgMOOC Agents
Have the Intel!

12.
1:32-5:29
Intel Video
1

13.
● Each week, after reviewing the Intel,
Agents are required to play 1 game
from an extensive game collection.
● Web and PC Games from various game
genres are assigned.
● Playing the game prepares students
to complete Directive Co-ops about
the game.
Play a Game
(or Three)

14.
0:00-2:29
Let’s Play!
1

15.
0:00-2:45
Let’s Play!
2

16.
● Episodic Narrative = Narrative in
episodes (sets readers’ anticipation to
read more subsequent narratives).
● Epistolary Narrative = Narrative written
in documents (ex. tell a story through a
series of letters).
● The Game Mole offers episodic and
epistolary narratives to lure
participants back to rgMOOC!
The Game Mole’s
Narratives 1

17.
● Magic Realism - When a narrative breaks the
rules of our real world.
● “Professor Matthew Strecher defines magic
realism as "what happens when a highly
detailed, realistic setting is invaded by
something too strange to believe."
(Wikipedia)
● The Game Mole disrupts rgMOOC’s own
narrative by playing as a spy who provides
secret/hidden intel to participants!
The Game Mole’s
Narratives 2

18.
The Game Mole’s
Narratives 2

19.
● Directive Co-op are questions about
the Intel and the games assigned.
● Agents must complete 1 game, and
read relevant Intel to the game, in
order to complete 1 Directive Co-op.
● 200 Words Minimum (but Agents give
us a whole lot more).
● Writing Tutorials are offered.
Directive Co-ops
(Field Report!)

20.
5:44-8:08
Writing Tutorial
1

21.
● “Mr. Bree: Instructing the Basics of
Neuroscience through Video
Games” by Rozalia Zeibeki
● Response to “Auti-sim” by Francisco
Vargas
Directive Co-ops
(Samples)

22.
rgMOOC Twubs
Live Debriefing
(Live Discussion!)

23.
● In Weeks 9-10 (last 2 weeks),
participants are to make their own
games to demonstrate understanding
● Road Rage by Lucas Villa-Kainec
(aka Agent V-K/GAMERansom)
● Knowledge for the Future by
Brandon Madrigal (aka
bigbyrdbmad)
Make a Game!
(Samples)

24.
Storify by Francisco Vargas
Storify! (Syndicate
Your Work!)

25.
● Hybrid students develop online
literacy (social media, audience, etc.)
● Hybrid students begin writing more
extensively, and conducting more
complex research, to compete with
fellow MOOC participants.
● Hybrid students become “leaders” in
rgMOOC (Help other Agents)
MOOC Effects on
Hybrid Students 1

26.
MOOC Effects on
Hybrid Students 2

27.
● Games as Art + Socio-cultural Constructs
● Paratextuality/Transmediality of Games
● Game Genres as Mediators of Meaning
● Game Rules, Mechanics, and Dynamics as
"Procedural Rhetoric"
● Gameplay and Aristotelian Triangle
● Rhetorical Analysis of Game Design
● Game Platforms, Culture, and Audience
Topics Covered in
rgMOOC 2

28.
8:27-10:46
Sneak Peek of
rgMOOC 2!

29.
● rgMOOC 2 Trailer
http://bit.ly/rgmooc2promo
● rgMOOC Registration Form
http://bit.ly/rgmooc2form
● Please forward this slideshow to
anyone interested in Game Studies!
GAME ON! (SEP. 2 - NOV. 10, 2013)
rgMOOC 2 Trailer
+ Registration!

30.
Sherry Jones
sherryjones.edtech@gmail.com
Twitter @autnes
Visual Bio
Kate Caruso
katecaruso09@gmail.com
Twitter @writercar
CV
ACCESS THIS SLIDESHOW
http://bit.ly/rgmooccoltt
Questions?
Comments?