MiBoard: Metacognitive Training Through Gaming in iSTART

—MiBoard (Multiplayer Interactive Board Game) is an online, turn-based board game, which is a supplement of the iSTART (Interactive Strategy Training for Active Reading and Thinking) application. MiBoard is developed to test the hypothesis that integrating game characteristics (point rewards, game-like interaction, and peer feedback) into the iSTART trainer will significantly improve its effectiveness on students' learning. It was shown by M. Rowe that a physical board game did in fact enhance students' performance. MiBoard is a computer-based version of Rowe's board game that eliminates constraints on locality while retaining the crucial practice components that were the game's objective. MiBoard gives incentives for participation and provides a more enjoyable and social practice environment compared to the online individual practice component of the original trainer. I. MINTRODUCTION IBOARD (MULTIPLAYER INTERACTIVE BOARD GAME) IS the computerized game version of Mike Rowe's physical iSTART board game. iSTART is a web-based tutor for high school students to improve their reading and thinking skills that includes an extended practice component. Currently, students are guided through extended practice modules which provide repetitive practice using the iSTART strategies (see iSTART) to create self-explanations. Students are given a text in which they are to create self-explanations for each of several targeted sentences. Multiple texts are given to the students on which to practice. Research with iSTART has indicated the need for students to have extended practice with reading strategies. This is because the effects of the initial iSTART training tend to taper over time and less skilled readers appear to need more training to achieve higher levels of comprehension (see Evidence iSTART Works). Therefore, students need additional, extended practice after the initial training. This training takes time and practice. Unfortunately, research has also indicated that iSTART, while relatively engaging for most students initially, can become tedious for some students after a period of time. Perhaps this is because its layout is somewhat static, or possibly because the interactions (during extended practice) remain generally the same. A decline in engagement over time may also result from the lack of explicit incentive for the students to achieve mastery of the reading strategies. Rowe showed that a game can be used to help alleviate the tedium (see iSTART: the Board Game). MiBoard addresses all of the above concerns, including the lack of engagement. MiBoard is an extension of iSTART that allows students to practice the skills targeted by iSTART in a …