Remixing dungeons and dragons: A playful approach to student self-reflection

A learner’s capability to critically reflect on an ongoing or newly accomplished learning experience, shapes their own proficiency to further connect previous knowledge to build on and construct rich meaning from new assignments (Zimmerman, 2002). These meaningful insights are essential for learners, allowing them to consider knowledge learned and apply relevant skills into different contexts and settings at a later date. Self-reflection allows students to develop their metacognition skills and work towards a practice that encourages continuous learning. Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), a table-top roleplaying games system developed by Gygax and Arneson (1974), utilises a host of game mechanics such as, but not limited to: character creation, customisation, skills development, leveling over time, story-telling and a game-masters feedback. Many of the game mechanics in D&D, require the player to self-reflect on behalf of their character and continually assess how they wish their character to develop for future game sessions. Coupled with interactive feedback (visual/ written/ auditory/ narrative-development) that is provided throughout each game session from a game master who leads the players through a pre-developed story, the basis of the mechanics provides some similarities to a facilitator leading learners through an assignment. By remixing D&D with Self-Reflection and formative assessment principles, the authors present a playful example of how roleplaying games can be used as a basis to develop lifelong learning skills. This paper presents the design, method and mid-pilot feedback of the Remixed D&D: Reflection and Assessment system. The authors present a discussion of the next stage of the pilot trials and present their considerations of future work.