Ok so I'm back... apologies for the "hiatusotototote".
Today we cover the special abilities in the system.
To promote self-study, autonomy and teamwork, several abilities can be unlocked with the appropriate amount of experience. A boost to experience for careful use of new structures for those who want to venture out of their comfort zone. Or for those who would like the support they can "call command/HQ" .. the teacher. For help. Normally they can't get points for something I do with them. But with this ability they can keep the points.
Each ability takes time to recharge. A default of 6 classes.
Originally they would also earn money to pay for these but I felt it was an extra, unnecessary layer of complexity. So arriving bang on time for 4 classes will accelerate them by one class.
For example, If the teacher helps they won't suffer the point penalty but cannot do the same for 3 weeks. However, constant attendance will shorten that to 5.
If they also use no Spanish in class it becomes 4.
Other rewards of this type include paying attention without constant reminders or helping the other team.
Classes are divided into teams of 3 or 4 depending on size for this to work. You can modify or remove this if it's a class of 4 students.
Now I have divided the possible careers into Army, Navy and Airforce. The airforce recharge 2 classes quicker to be able to use their abilities but they gain less experience... and the student with the highest experience is team captain.
This makes the Army seem great as they have an XP bonus. But they recharge 2 classes slower.
The idea is to have the students self regulate. The leader gains a small percentage of the teams lowest scorer. If all perform well and the one who struggles most gets 50 points the leader will also get 5 more. This should encourage stronger students to help the weaker ones in their group. In addition, points can be taken for misconduct. In which case the "commander" looses the same percentage of points as the lowest scorer, if that person is the commander the points are taken from the whole team. This way the teams can help control themselves and relieve the teacher a little.
A new group has been selected to pilot version 2. I believe the system is still too complicated and I will look to that after trying things as they are a little longer.
That's all for now.
