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This is a collaborative workspace for the development of instructional items for the use of the MMORPG, World of Warcraft, in a school setting. Please take a moment to explore the various sections of the site and if you would like to contribute, please email Lucas Gillispie at lucas AT edurealms.com. The original focus of this project was to develop a curriculum for an after school program or "club" for at-risk students at the middle and/or high school level. This program would use the game, World of Warcraft, as a focal point for exploring Writing/Literacy, Mathematics, Digital Citizenship, Online Safety, and would have numerous projects/lessons intended to develop 21st-Century skills. Because of the success of the first year's implementation as an after school program, the program is now being implemented as a language arts elective for middle schoolers designed to provide enrichment for students at all levels. All project materials, including a fully-developed language arts course, aligned to middle grades standards, will be made available under a creative commons license upon completion. The goal is to not only demonstrate the viability of game-based learning using commercial games, but to also provide a foundation or template upon which similar projects can be built.

Over the past two years I've been approached by several people from around the world inquiring about our World of Warcraft in School Project. Yet, despite the numerous contacts, I'm only aware of two other schools/school systems who've started similar projects. Of course, there are many potential barriers from costs to people-barriers. Craig Lawson (@midlawsondle) and I have worked over the past year to create a full-year, standards-aligned language arts course that is based on World of Warcraft. We have several goals in doing so: 1. We want to demonstrate that there is value in considering commercial, off-the-shelf games for curricular integration. 2. We want to share our work with anyone else who might take it on, and in doing so, expand the network of educators who are exploring the potential that games like this hold for the classroom. 3. We want to create a model (using the term loosely, here) upon which similar projects, perhaps using other games might be built. 4. We hope that others will look at the work and expand on it, improve it, and share it. 5. We want to show that, "Yes! You can do this."