The House Challenge: Gamifying Development

Deeds Boardroom

This poster will explore “The House Challenge” of Ball State University’s Writing Center. This house challenge gamifies the professional development of the tutors and the staff within the center. “The House Challenge” establishes the admin team as the quest givers, the tutors as the players, and the center as the quest hub of the larger gaming universe that is the university itself. James Paul Gee, who establishes gaming as a mode for learning, and scholars such as Elizabeth Boquet and Lisa Zimmerelli who highlight the writing center as a place of play, this game seeks to allow the staff/tutors to “play” their way through professional development. Though this game is embedded in professional development, it also gamifies team building and community outreach. With these important facets highlighted and incentivized the center itself gamifies the development of its staff, and itself. Through analyzing the house challenge boards tutors use to track their achievements, we at Ball State have seen a growth in community and an increase in completed professional development tasks. These tasks/ quests open the door for tutors to engage with the Writing Center field and pedagogy that help shape them as tutor-scholars.