XP and Leader Badges

Experience Points

Experience Points (❎ / XP) represent an individual player’s growth and experience throughout the game, but they are not to be confused with a simple one-to-one replacement of grades. In accordance with FERPA requirements and out of respect for player privacy, as XP are shared for public consumption, they are not directly related to grades.

XP can be scored through a variety of activities, both graded and ungraded, including

Performance on graded Main Expeditions (where % earned = % of available XP awarded, so a grade of 88% in an assignment worth 1000 XP will equal 880 XP earned).
Completion of non-graded Side Expeditions reflecting a high standard of creativity, effort, and quality.
Individual and group performance bonuses awarded for efforts against rival teams and in Boss Battles (where winning students / classes / teams will receive higher XP payouts)
Power-Up Item Card bonuses through which XP is awarded when a player is able to successfully play a particular card in class.
Discovery of in-game Easter eggs, completion of "secret" Hidden Expeditions, and unlocking hidden clues.

Leader Badges

Leader Badges (⛉) are awarded for exemplary performance in skill-based behaviors throughout the game, and offer their owner unique abilities with each new badge rank that is unlocked. There are nine leader badges in this game, each representing individual or group mastery of a particular skill on a given assignment (Example: The "Master Craftsman" badge reflects mastery of MLA formatting essentials. It might be first awarded when a player submits a paper containing both a proper MLA header and Works Cited page, etc.). These special honors are worth serious points, and can be awarded by peer vote or from exemplary performance. How many Leader Badges will you collect in your year long American Dream Rush?

FUR TRADER

Awarded for outstanding peer review. Fur Traders are socially savvy players with excellent communication skills, famed for their eagle-eyed ability to spot opportunities to trust their instincts when exchanging their own goods, services, and/or information with fellow journeymen in order to make the most out of any situation that might be presented their way. To earn the Fur Trader badge, you'll need to do the same.

IRON STRING

Henry David Thoreau famously wrote “Trust thyself. Every heart vibrates to its own iron string.” This badge is awarded to players who demonstrate exceptional creativity, be it in the form of original works of fiction, creative expression through rhetoric and rhyme, or the visual arts. This is the mark of an independent thinker and a proud transcendentalist! March to the beat of your own drum for the Iron String.

GOLDMINE

Awarded for exemplary online reflection. In the 18th and 19th centuries, prospectors set out across our nation's uncharted wilderness in search of precious metals and the chance to strike it rich in worlds that lied just beyond the familiar limits of their known civilization. In the 21st century, digital pioneers now stake their claims to the furthest corners of the internet as fortune once again favors the bold.

MASTER CRAFTSMAN

Awarded for proper MLA formatting. To become a Master Craftsman, one must demonstrate particular skill and nuance in the minute detail that separates the "good" from the "exceptional." From proper spacing to page margins, to noticing even the slightest differences in font face and typeset -- Master Craftsmen are peerless in their technical prowess and flawless in their execution.

SMOOTH OPERATOR

Awarded for exemplary original work in web design, Twitter, or collaborative Google Documents. Emerging new technologies make it possible to communicate our messages around the globe in mere microseconds, and the Smooth Operators are the happy few who can show the world how it's done with their online artistry and technical panache. To be a Smooth Operator, you'll need to master web-based communication.

ICEE TREKKER

Awarded for exemplary construction of paragraphs employing the ICEE technique. Like the classic board game Othello, the ICEE technique takes "a minute to learn, [and] a lifetime to master." To find yourself on the receiving end of this vaunted writer's badge, you'll need to artfully navigate your way into and out of quoted material in the written submissions that you craft and create.

NEW MEDIA MAVEN

Awarded for exemplary peer-to-peer interaction in online discussion forums including Flipgrid, Kami, and MyDJO. New Media Mavens take charge of emerging technologies and demonstrate the incredible potential that these resources hold long before the general population even realizes the power that they posses. To become a New Media Maven badge holder, you'll need to crush it with emerging technology.

LEADER OF MEN

Awarded for exemplary group leadership. The Leader of Men badge gains owner access to continuing game design opportunities through special invite-only access to screen and play test new beta-testing and game improvement mechanisms. If you're a Leader of Men (and women), you'll likewise find yourself on this exclusive list of high performing individuals with elite clearance to top-secret projects still in development.

CODE HERO

Awarded for outstanding performance in Socratic Seminar. To be a Code Hero means more than simply surviving a Seminar -- and that means you'll need to have executed an exemplary four-suited performance by citing page numbers, asking your fellow players a question, connecting text to the world outside of the story, and challenging a point offered by at least one of your fellow explorers. Are you ready to be a hero?

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