Chapter 15 – Interactive Technologies
Gamification is the idea of adding game elements to non-game environments like education. The advancements and readily available access to digital technologies in the classroom has made the possibilities of gaming in education more realistic. Further, gaming has demonstrated its ability to attract and engage students. Are there lessons that education can learn from the gaming industry to improve the quality and retention of classroom environments? The following articles provide an overview of the conversations occurring in the gamification of education.
- 5 Ways to Gamify Your Classroom – from ISTE
- Gaming in Education: Gamification?
- Using Games in Teaching
- Another explanation of the difference from Teach Thought.
PowerPoint Hyperlinks
Microsoft PowerPoint enables users to create links throughout a PowerPoint, which is the foundation for developing interactive games. The following tutorial demonstrates how to create links and actions in PowerPoint. Use this model to create a Jeopardy-like game or other interactive material.
Templates
Creating a custom interactive PowerPoint game can be laborious, mainly if it includes several slides, images, and sounds. Thankfully, there are many resources on the web. The first resource type includes interactive games already created for a specific subject area, like multiplication. Teachers typically make these games for a specific purpose and then generously share them over the Internet. The second type of resource includes templates that have already been created. Many of these templates imitate popular game shows like Jeopardy. For use in a classroom, the teacher needs to insert their questions and answers into the slides, and it is ready to go. The following are links to sites with one or both of these types of resources.
- Lifewire
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- Watson College of Education – Game Templates and Utilities by Dr. Jeff Ertzberger at the Watson College of Education at UNC Wilmington
- Internet4Classrooms
- JeopardyLabs
Interactive PowerPoint games are constantly being added to the web. An additional search for them using a popular search engine will likely result in many more additional options.
Apps
- Classtools.net
- Desmos
- MindcraftEdu
- Pear Deck
- Plickers
- Prodigy
- Reflex (math app)
- Quizziz
- Quizlet
- Quizalize
- Socrative
- Typetastic
Assignments
There are two options for assignments this week.
- Option 1: Using PowerPoint or Google Slide, make an interactive PowerPoint game for an upper elementary, middle, or secondary level classroom using one of the templates from the links provided, or from your own search on the Internet.
- The game should be complete for a given lesson with a minimum of 20 questions newly created by you….don’t just turn in someone else’s game! It is okay and recommended to use the templates but you can also create a game from scratch.
- The game should have linking features throughout and not just a straight slide show of questions. Some of the templates do not have the linking features (e.g., the Who Wants to be a Millionaire game) so don’t choose those. Since you know how the linking features work in PowerPoint, bue sure to fix any problems that the original template may have so that the game works correctly. When completed, attach the .ppt or .pptx file of the game to the Discussion Board with your reflection video.
- Option 2: Select an interactive gaming app from the list in Chapter 15. Create a new game in your content area. Make sure that the application that you select to use is appropriate for your grade level.
- Module 15 – Reflection. Using your webcam, record, uplaod to a hosting site (e.g., YouTube), and embed your video reflection to your LMS. As part of your reflection, discuss the following:
- What are your thoughts to the gamification of education? Do you feel games can be used to teach students content or are they simply a way to entertain? What examples can you think of to use games in your future classroom?
- What template did you use and what kind of interactive game did you develop? Was the template user-friendly? What probelms did you experience?
- What are some examples of ways you could use interactive PowerPoint of Google Slides games in your future classroom?
- After you have posted your reflection, listen to another student’s reflection and post a typed response to their reflection. A three or four sentence reply will be sufficient and the reply should have substance relating to the other student’s reflection.
