What if we treated teacher professional development like a game, giving teachers autonomy to choose a pathway, learning what's important to them, in a quest-based, gamified way that includes levels, badging, and more?

1. Epic Academy
Gamifying Professional
Development for Busy
Educators

2. Lucas Gillispie
Director of
Digital Learning & Media
Surry County Schools
On Twitter:
@lucasgillispie

3. epicacademy.info

4. This launched
41 years ago…

5. This
launched
12 years
ago…

7. The world has
changed, but
has our
professional
development?

8. Why?

10. Feedback on typical PD from classroom
teachers:
“The PD is dictated to me...”
“It’s boring...”
“I don’t have time...”
“I can read PowerPoint slides, myself...”
“I’m too tired at the end of a day of
teaching for a workshop...”
“It doesn’t address my needs...”
“There’s no
follow-
up...”
“When will I use this again?”

12. What teachers really want in their PD:
Opportunities for
networking and
collaboration...
Differentiation!
CHOICE!!
Variety in format.
Motivation and inspiration.
Connectedness - relational and technological.
True accountability.
Fun.

14. Play/Fun
Game Elements, Online Platform
Professional Development:
Ideas, Needs, and Issues

15. epic academy
Game-Inspired Teacher
Professional Development

16. Voluntary

17. Self-Paced

18. Choice-Driven

19. Job-Embedded

20. online
(mostly)

21. Social

22. Fun?

23. e
p
i
c
ngaging
layful
nnovative
onnected

24. How Does It Work?

25. Quest-Based Learning

27. Dr. Chris Haskell

28. $119 per year
175 concurrent users
Seriously, That’s Cheap!

29. Customizable
Avatar
Ranks Indicating
Your Overall
Progress
Bars That Fill to
Show Progress
toYour Goal
Feedback!

31. Instructional and
Technical Design

32. Everyone Starts Here
Choices!

33. Increasing
Investment
in An Idea
Badge/
Recognition
for
Completing A
Quest Chain
A Sample
Quest Chain

34. Big Ideas (Super
Quests)
Super-Badge

35. Players Rate QuestsXP Value
Short
Description
Quests Required to
Unlock This One

36. Option
to Drop

37. LMS Integration

38. LMS Integration
All evidences and reflections
are shared in the community
page in our LMS
Social elements such as discussion
boards grow community and
connectedness.

39. Badges and Achievements

40. But, What About CEUs?
100XP = 0.1 CEUs
1000XP = 1.0 CEUs
100XP = 1 hour’s worth of PD
50XP = 30 min.
25XP = 15 min.
“Cash them in at regular intervals (1000XP?)”

41. What SCS Says
This Person Has
Demonstrated

43. Embedded Alignment to Digital Learning
Competencies
XP for Each
Competency

44. Detailed Data On Participating
Teachers

45. Community Stats About two
year ago
89
Players
1,513Quests Completed
480Achievements Earned
117
Official SCS
Badges Earned
67,590
XP Earned
69.590
CEUs Acquired1ninja
Discovered

46. Community Stats To date…
420
Players
10,572
Quests Completed
2,386Achievements Earned
1,091
Official SCS
Badges Earned
484705
XP Earned
484.705
CEUs Acquired3Ninjas
Discovered

47. BOOM!

48. Lessons Learned

49. Digital Badges?
Meh.

50. physical badges?
yes!!

51. No Participation Required

52. Fostering Competition With
Great Caution

53. Fostering Community

54. inside jokes!

55. A Feeling of Control

56. Risidual Technology Usage
NEW
!!

57. Informal Idea Exchange
NEW
!!

58. So? Tips For Doing This In
My District?

59. Start Small.

60. Leverage Your Experts
(Hint: Your Teachers!)

61. Involve Your Change Agents
At The Ground Floor.

63. Experiment
With Incentives
In Small Ways.

64. Embrace Failure and
Iteration.
#unicornbadge

65. Use The Tools You Have.

66. Brand It!
#epicacademy

67. Get Inspired.

68. Play More.

69. EPIC Academy by http://epicacademy.info is licensed under
a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
International License. All quests designed by the teachers leaders of
Surry County Schools, NC.