Before beginning the Level 1 quests in Week 5, players must select one of four character classes. Each class focuses on a specific area of expertise relevant to open education. The classes are:
- Artisan – The Artisan has digital materials production skills in all the necessary Web 1.0 and 2.0 tools of open publishing and open education like HTML, video sharing, podcasting.
- Bard – The Bard is the Master of Lore, and is versed in the history, people, and politics of the field of open education. The Bard knows what open educational resources are “out there” as well as what’s available within the university.
- Merchant – The Merchant deals with short-term and long-term sustainability issues and business models relating to open education projects.
- Monk – The Monk is a student of copyright and licensing arcana and defender of the university brand.
- Rogue – The Rogue utilizes digital material production and web dev skills to obtain, reuse, and remix OER, using stealth and cunning to unlock and re-release OER materials that may be guarded or trapped by publishing technology. The Rogue uses adapted versions of the Artisan’s Quests. Thanks to Jared Stein for this addition!