Education Technology Company Classcraft Launches “Quests” to Personalize Learning

Classroom Role-Playing Platform Empowers Teachers with New Tool to Adapt Lessons and Engage Students

Image showcasing Classcraft's "Quests" user interface (Photo: Business Wire)

NEW YORK--()--Education technology company Classcraft, which turns the experience of going to school into a collaborative role-playing game, today announced “Quests,” a new way for educators to introduce engaging curriculum and make the learning experience for their students self-paced and personalized.

“We designed ‘Quests’ to empower teachers to personalize their lessons in a way that makes it compelling to explore what comes next, rather than make it feel like their students are getting more remedial work if they’re struggling,” said Devin Young, Classcraft co-founder and president. “We’ve found that play not only gets students engaged and excited about learning in new ways, it’s also how students naturally learn best.”

“Quests” gamifies classroom lessons by overlaying a teacher’s existing lesson plans onto a rich fantasy world, which students navigate by completing curriculum-related assignments, or quests. Each world’s map comprises branching pathways, and a student’s journey across the map is personalized based on how the student performs on each task.

Completing a quest objective unlocks the next in the lesson, such as a new assignment, discussion, or in-class learning activity. All students will reach the end of the map, but the way they get there depends on their learning progress. Students who demonstrate mastery can move ahead quickly while those who need more time with a concept can receive extra support through additional or different quest objectives.

“Quests” also empowers teachers with classroom management tools, such as awarding points for thoughtful discussion and submitting assignments on time or in advance, as well as the ability to track student progress and adapt lessons accordingly. In addition, Classcraft’s robust Google Classroom integration is now extended to “Quests”, enabling teachers to incorporate their assignments from Google Classroom into this new personalized learning format.

"The ‘Quests’ management system in Classcraft makes it easy to create multiple quest lines, thus providing choice in learning pathways for my students,” said Steve Issacs, a teacher at William Annin Middle School in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, who has been using the beta of “Quests” for the last two months. “My students are deeply engaged, and I’m loving the elegant design as it provides for an intuitive workflow. The new addition of ‘Quests’ rounds out the Classcraft ecosystem, making it do everything I’d want a gamified course management system to do."

In addition to personalizing the learning experience, Classcraft augments existing curriculum, enriches class culture, and gamifies practices for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) for teachers and administrators.

Through Classcraft’s platform, students take on the role of Warrior, Mage, or Healer, gaining and losing game points according to school conduct rules, student engagement, and classroom work. The points translate into real-world risks and rewards that are customizable by the teacher, like getting a hint on a test question or having to turn in an assignment early.

Classcraft is used in 75 countries, including over 25,000 schools in the U.S., with more than 3 million student users around the world. The platform is backed by scientific research, including a study that revealed that classrooms using Classcraft saw an increase in student achievement of more than 8 percent over the course of a school year.

About Classcraft

Classcraft is a Quebec- and New York City-based education technology company whose mission is to transform the learning experience using game mechanics to engage and motivate students. Classcraft’s designed learning experience is used in 75 countries, including 20,000 schools in the U.S., reaching more than 3 million student users around the world.

Contacts

RH Strategic for Classcraft
Brandon Blackwell, 206-487-5444
bblackwell@rhstrategic.com

Contacts

RH Strategic for Classcraft
Brandon Blackwell, 206-487-5444
bblackwell@rhstrategic.com