Showing posts with label Gamification. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gamification. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Can Interactive Games Help Our Students Learn Better?

Source: onforb.es/Uyqn1T

Teaching your students can prove to be very tricky as on one hand you need to stick with traditionally proven methods; while on the other hand you need to modify your techniques to incorporate latest technology to reach your students better. 

There is no doubt that many students, like me, feel bored by lectures. To be honest, I preferred classes that had some activities in them as I could realise my potential instead of just listening to boring lectures. 

Gamification of Education
Source: bit.ly/1qzqAA8
 
If you are a teacher and if you want to make learning engaging for your students, most of whom undoubtedly hate lectures, then your best solution is “Gamification”. It incorporates elements of games into learning, making the process more effective and simpler. Contrary to popular belief, Gamification is not a new concept and has been around for more than a century. Till now Gamification has proved successful in numerous classrooms worldwide with positive results. 

But still if you are not convinced, I have listed some of the benefits that you and your students can get from Gamification in education

Games and Maths
 
Let’s face it....Maths is a rather dry subject for most students. I can assure you that most of your students, barring the nerds, do not even enjoy the class. But you can change all that with Gamification. The best way to teach young learners the value of maths and enable them to calculate and solve problems is by using games in the maths class. Your students will be more involved and engaged in the sessions and would enjoy the learning process. You can find various game-based learning software that help to teach maths better. 

Games and Students Engagement
 
I know this for a fact that several educators complain that the level of class participation in their classroom is extremely low. As result of this, your students fail to remember the lessons during the tests which hamper their grades. 

By including Gamification in your teaching techniques, you will be able to increase their level of engagement as all your students will need to participate in the games. As the classes will include several types of activities, your students will not be absent-minded or be bored. This helps to improve their understanding and motivation. 

Games Help Children with ADHD
Source: bit.ly/1rrLRJQ
 
You may think that video games would be a bad idea for children with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). But a scientific journal written by Andrew Campbell and Krestina L. Amon of the Discipline of Behavioural and Social Sciences in Health, reveals that instructional video games can teach kids with ADHD to control their behaviour. Learning-based games are actually beneficial as they can impact your student in a positive way. 

Games Improve Physical Activity

Source: bit.ly/1ltXsCm
Apart from computer-based games, there are several other types of interactive games that promote physical activity among learners. It helps students to gain strength and flexibility. I am sure your students will perform better in the classroom as they will feel much energised after doing some pleasurable activity or playing in an open area or outside. 

Here I have mentioned only a handful of benefits of introducing Gamification in your classroom. When you start using engaging and interactive games in teaching your students, you will surely find out various other benefits of using this method. 

What do you think about Gamification? Will you use it in your classroom? I would love to hear your views...so feel free to share your comments.

Friday, June 13, 2014

Free 3 Best EdTech Tools for Gamification of Learning

Source: onforb.es/Uyqn1T

The hype and buzz surrounding gamification in the field of education is not without justification. It appears to be just what the doctored ordered as far as the dynamics between knowledge and the learners are concerned. Also It is exciting and empowering, so much that many teachers swear by it already.

In the recent past there has been a surge in the number of EdTech tools present. They can be either web based or may come in the form of apps. However a relatively new teacher might wonder which might be the best ones. In this article we cover three of the best tools to achieve specific goals and the best part is that all of them are free. Each of the platforms discussed has its areas of strength and can be combined in order to maximize impact.

1. Socrative 

Source: bit.ly/1pqIinZ
The first and potentially the one with most popularity is the game-based classroom platform happens to be Socrative. It is an acclaimed representative of the “audience response systems” breed. It is robust and potent tool offering multitude of options to teachers. Also the most varied and adaptive of all platforms, it has three different highly customizable modes viz. a question based game mode, “space race” or a mode that seeks to combine speed and accuracy and another one called “Exit Ticket” which is best used to take the pulse of a classroom at the end of lessons.

Socrative has support for multiple choice, open response and true/false terms. Importing images to question items, immediate feedback, live results and data analysis without any effort are made possible by it. Its usability remains the same in both web based and mobile app forms. One of the most customizable, user-friendly, and comprehensive free EdTech Tools available, it rivals abilities and functions of expensive EdTech platforms.

2. Kahoot 

Source: bit.ly/SSqpjM
Kahoot is not as multidimensional as Socrative but has an excellent gamification element with music effects and an interface full of color. It is best suited for activities and problems that do not require multiple steps or long calculations like geographical locations, multiplication tables. One can even use youtube videos and images in question items. It also uses a clever point system.

3. FlipQuiz 

Source: bit.ly/1qafiAU
FlipQuiz is the modern version of the traditional game-show style review quizzes. Designed to successfully achieve a limited number of goal, FlipQuiz makes a mark due to the fact that it is excellent at what it does. One can even add mathematical formulas with the use of the LaTex language. All in all FlipQuiz is an excellent platform and tool of necessity for teachers wanting to review materials in their classrooms.

People love games as they are both entertaining and rewarding. Gamification thus becomes a perfect means a teacher can use to exploit his students’ inborn curiosity and motivation while making learning fun, the Holy Grail for educators. The platforms mentioned in the above paras excel when it comes to achieve that goal. Teachers can also use all the platforms interchangeably and keep the flame of their student’ interest burning all the time.