Iberian History and Culture Day 2 -- Iberia and D&D
Today was our second day of Iberian History and Culture. I've never taught a class with better energy. I have over 30 students, and most of them seem to be interested and involved. When I walked into class the students were already in their groups, and they were talking about their group projects.
We are still working out some of the kinks with document sharing. I've decided on a method I've used before in which students open a public Google Doc, make a copy of it, and then share it back with me. I can then drop those shared docs in an unshared and private folder. It feels like a bit more hassle than it should be, but students seem to be grasping it pretty well. I've got nearly everyone's "Mission Log" already.
One of my biggest questions going into this semester was: "What is class going to look like?" For now I like the format that we did today. I started class with a discussion of the terms España and Iberia, which was really a discussion about multiple nationalities inside of the Peninsula.
After that, we got into the nuts and bolts of the Google Docs. I love having students in class with their devices -- laptops, tablets, and smartphones -- because they can try stuff out while I'm explaining it, and we can troubleshoot on the fly. Discussion of the Google Docs turned into questions about what I actually want them to produce. I read a bit from the Pathfinder Core Rulebook so that they could get a feel for what I expect out of their current group work.
I currently have them divided by century, and I want them to produce a description of what is going on in Iberia during the time they are researching. I had them brainstorm a bit in groups and then we decided that the key categories they will have in their descriptions are:
- Government/Politics
- Medicine
- Art/Culture/Education
- Weapons and Warfare
- Economy
Two students also volunteered for a mission to build a spreadsheet showing the relative value of coinage in the different time periods. I think it will be useful.
One student asked if they are supposed to choose an actual character from history or if they are to invent their own. I told them they are to create their own.
Another student asked if our Rulebook will be based on a fantasy structure. I showed them this video:
I then told them that this game will be similar to D&D, but without the fantasy elements. The most "fantasy" we will see will be based on the religious beliefs of the characters. More about this later.
Finally, a student approached me after class, and he said that he is excited about the class, but worried because he is having a hard time seeing the whole picture. I told him that I don't mind that he doesn't see the whole picture -- I don't see it all myself -- but that he should see enough to know what he should work on before the next class. I think the key for this semester is going to be to keep the students with enough concrete understanding of what is going on that they don't feel lost, and at the same time allowing them to collaborate in the creation of the big picture. So far, I feel like it is working well.
Moving forward, I need to get the students onto the Google Docs where they will be building their time period descriptions. It will be cool when I can see that they are building something.