#3061

Show & Tell presentation

A Role-Playing Game-Based English For Academic Purposes Course Design

Sun, Jun 19, 14:30-15:00 Asia/Tokyo

Location: Zoom C

The speaker will share about the initial creation of the concept and design for a game-based English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course at New York University Shanghai (NYUSH). EAP at NYUSH is required for all Chinese freshmen and is a content-based approach to teaching academic listening and speaking skills. EAP 100 focuses primarily on lecture note-taking skills and academic presentation skills. In the Fall of 2021, the presenter piloted the first rendition of her gaming content-based course that focused on analyzing both analog and digital games for social issues such as racism, sexism, LGBTQIA+ discrimination, religious discrimination, economic exploitation, environmental degradation, and war, politics, and propaganda. Not only was the content of the course related to games, the course design itself was set-up to mimic a role-playing game (RPG) in which the students were led to complete quests and defeat bosses to pass the course. In addition, the speaker will address how local gaming laws affected course implementation and future modifications she wishes to make to the RPG course design.

  • Kelly Donovan

    Lecturer of English for Academic Purposes (2020-present); MA in TESOL with a specialization in Language Program Administration from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (2017)

Note: I promised to upload the PPT, but I am a liar. It contains too many photos and massively exceeds the upload size. Most of the info from the PPT can be found in the youtube playlist below, the syllabus above, and in the course calendar above. If you have any questions reach out at kelly.donovan@nyu.edu! Thanks everyone. 


Instagram  Artist 

Commissioned to design the Aequitaria Map and Logo (follow her and give her some appreciation!): 
@Megan_keyser_art

News articles 

on the gaming restrictions in China:
Chinese Version of Steam
Ban Local Games on Foreign Platforms
Minors Limited to 3 hours a week of Gaming

Aequitaria Youtube Playlist 

for all NPCs, Bosses, and Quest Prompts: