The Great History Conundrum Alex Moseley University of Leicester
TheGreatHistoryConundrum
Alex MoseleyUniversity of Leicester
Key Features: ARGs for Higher Education
1. Problem solving at varying levels (graded challenge)
2. Progress and rewards (leaderboard, grand prize)
3. Narrative devices (characters/plot/story)
4. Influence on outcomes
5. Regular delivery of new problems/events
6. Potential for large, active community
7. Based on simple, existing technologies/media
In 2007…
Introducing ARG Features
1. Problem solving at varying levels (graded challenge)
2. Progress and rewards (leaderboard, grand prize)
3. Narrative devices (characters/plot/story)
4. Influence on outcomes
5. Regular delivery of new problems/events
6. Potential for large, active community
7. Based on simple, existing technologies/media
Student Learning Outcomes
• Know where and how to search for a variety of historical
resources on and off line
• Be able to critically analyse internet resources to
determine their suitability for academic purposes
• Have engaged in collaborative activity online to arrive
at a shared consensus
• Obtain a number of transferable skills
(problem solving, numeracy, team working, IT skills)
Puzzles/Problem Examples
Basic / non-cryptic Narrative / cryptic
Puzzles/Problem Examples
Communal (minor) Communal (mass)
Motivation: Leaderboard
Motivation: Automated Marking and Return
354 Gracechurch St.
Community/Collaboration: Forums
Community/Collaboration: WIKI
Community/Collaboration: WIKI
Results
• 190/200 students took part over 4 weeks
• They solved 3301 puzzles (average 17 each)
• They posted 4387 messages in the forums
(average 23 each)
• Visited over 50 online/offline resources, covered wide
range of topics during discussions
• 181 passed the course (90%), 92 achieved 60%+
Activity
• Over the four weeks
• By hour of day
Student Quotations
• “The Great History Conundrum was both incredibly
challenging and entertaining…. a fundamental part to
understanding what the HS1000 course was about”
• “It taught me a lot of skills that I probably wouldn't have
learnt in lectures, for example the actual processes involved
with research on a practical level, rather than being told
about them”
“We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the
bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness
and travel and explore and tell the world the
glories of our journey.”
John Hope Franklin (US Historian researching Black American history).
Alex Moseley
Faculty of Arts • University of Leicester