Season 2.

Welcome (back) to the Level Up Book Club, a home turf for open discussions on the gamification of schools and school-based instruction.

The Level Up Book Club is an open-invitation community of gaming and non-gaming educators alike who take part in weekly challenges, explore best instructional best practices through gaming, and level up through some friendly competition.

Jennifer and I will be your hosts, your cheering squad, and your competition for the next three months and we look forward to providing authentic learning experiences that are both fun and rewarding. Our reading list will include:

September/October - The Gamification of Learning and Instruction by Karl M. Kapp

October - Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

November - Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter by Tom Bissel

To become a member of the Level Up Book Club, simply reply to this post with your name and Twitter handle, or tweet to #LevelUpBC with a message saying "I'm game for Season 2!"

Then pick up a copy of The Gamification of Learning and Instruction and prepare for some awesome challenges and inspiring reading.

And to all of our Level Up Book Club members from Season 1... Thanks for leveling up with us! We hope you'll return for another memorable season of gaming and learning together. If you're moving on to new things, then allow us to please say thanks for all of the great things you brought to the table over the past 3 months. You helped Level Up off to a very strong start!

Gamefully yours,

- Matthew & Jennifer

August: I'll Eat This Cricket...

Join us as we read I'll Eat This Cricket for a Cricket Badge by Steele & Chung and you just may find it the perfect resource for all of those colleagues who raise an eyebrow and ask gami-what-ification?

We hope this 80-page novella will not only give you a chance to mentally prepare for the upcoming school year, but also a tool that can be shared with others to help draw them into this new and exciting adventure we're all taking.

As usual, we'll have photo challenges, unlockable achievements, and plenty of opportunities to level up.

Keep the discussion going on Twitter using the #levelupbc hashtag and don't forget to add gamification and game-based learning resources to our Diigo page, dig deeper with our Live Binder, and continue the discussion while supporting others through our Wiki.

Game on!

And The Winner Is...

Last week we challenged you to get your Game On! by showing us pictures of YOU playing one of the games mentioned in Jane McGonigal's Reality is Broken. Lots of you participated and the games of choice varied from Free Rice to Four Square to Super Better and countless others! Once the week was over, I put the names of all our participants into the app PikMe! (which I use for school to select students at random). A few clicks later and we have a winner!

Congratulations to Misti Sykes whose mad World of Warcraft skillz not only bumped her up a notch on the Level Up Book Club Leader Board, but also made her the winner of this week's crazy epic prize! Can I get a Woot! Woot!?

Now the only question is WHO will Misti pick to do record the message for her voice mail??

Thanks to everyone who participated! It was a blast seeing all of you in your gaming glory. Stay tuned for next week's Level Up Book Club Challenge. It's gonna be EPIC! AND don't forget:

a) Our first #levelupbc twitter chat is coming up on Thursday, June 28th (that's this Thursday!) starting at 8pm EST. We'll be using the hashtag #levelupbc to discuss Reality is Broken before moving on to our next read. Speaking of which...
b) YOU get to choose the next Level Up Book Club selection! So, if you haven't already done so, be sure to cast your vote soon! The book with the most votes will be announced during our twitter chat on the 28th!

Happy Reading!

June: Reality is Broken

Join us as we read Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal and you may just become a better person for it. At the very least, you could level up!

Check back for photo challenges, unlockable achievements, opportunities to level up, and friending galore.

Continue the conversation on Twitter through #levelupbc.