GameUp- A Very Good Tool for Integrating Game-based Learning in Your Teaching

November 1 , 2015
In his classic, ‘What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy’, James Paul Gee highlighted the importance of incorporating principles of game-based learning into mainstream education. Gee analyzed a number of popular video games and came up with a list of learning principles that he attributed to the success of such games among teens. Here are the first 6 learning principles he talked about:

1- Active, Critical Learning Principle All aspects of the learning environment are set up to encourage active and critical, not passive learning.
2- Design PrincipleLearning about and coming to appreciate design and design principles is core to the learning experience
3- Semiotic PrincipleLearning about and coming to appreciate  interrelations within and across multiple sign systems ( images, words, actions, symbols, artifacts, etc.) as a complex system is core to the learning experience.
4- Semiotic Domains PrincipleLearning  involves mastering, at some level, semiotic domains, and being able to participate, at some level, in the affinity group or groups connected to them.
5- Metalevel Thinking about Semiotic Domains PrincipleLearning involves active and critical thinking about the relationships of the semiotic domain being learned to other semiotic domains.
6- Psychosocial Moratorium PrincipleLearners can take risk in a a space where real world consequences are lowered. ( Pages 41,64,68 )

There is a wide variety of web tools and mobile technologies to help teachers  integrate the ethos of game-based learning in their classroom instruction. You can see examples of these tools from this page. To these resources we add this excellent gaming tool from BrainPop called GameUp.

GameUp is a portal where teachers and students access a collection of over 100 top quality educational games collected from leading game publishers such as MIT Education arcade, Space Science Institute, iCivics and many more. GameUp makes it easy to integrate game-based learning into the curriculum. Each game comes with a number of supporting resources that include :lesson ideas related to the game, standard aligned lesson plans, game guides, tutorial videos and related activities. Using 'Game Quiz' feature, students can take a quiz about the concept and skills explored in the game. There are also several other important features

Watch the video below to learn more about GameUp

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Zondle- Another Great Platform to Help you Integrate Game-based Learning Approach in Your Teaching

August 28, 2015
Zondle is another great web tool and mobile app to use in a game-based learning approach. Zondle allows you to create, play and share educational games to support teaching, learning and assessment. Zondle works with different age groups and is available in many languages. As a teacher you can create a topic (sets of questions) to meet the learning needs of your students. There are over 20 different types of questions you can use and you can even include images, audio and video to support your teaching. Some of the things Zondle offers to teachers include:

Zondle Team Play
‘zondle Team Play sessions alternate between the teacher using PowerPoint-style teaching materials to introduce new concepts, and the students playing game rounds that enhance their understanding of those concepts. The game rounds exploit the neuroscientific principle of ‘uncertain rewards’.

Assessment
‘In zondle, the same topics (sets of questions) can be set as formative assessment (for students to play in games, to consolidate their learning) and as summative assessment (in a plain question interface, to measure exactly what your students know). Assess exactly what you want to assess, view results for individual students or whole classes, and output results (to Excel and other systems) - all without any marking!’

Behaviour Rewards
‘With zondle, you can easily reward good classroom behavior (even when students are not playing zondle games)!Rewarding good behavior helps promote a positive learning environment, can help focus students on their learning, and can add some extra fun to the classroom!’

Gradebook
‘Monitoring student achievements and progress is easy with the zondle Gradebook.
In one powerful tool, you can see what topics (sets of questions) that you’ve set, who has played those topics and when, what they achieved and what their progress has been over time (all without any marking!).’

Check out Zondle website for more features. Zondle is also available for iOS. While Zondle is free, there is however, an updated notice in the site announcing that the folks in Zondle are considering turning their platform into a low-priced subscription service at some point.

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Teacher-tested Games to Try with Your Students

August 18, 2015
Looking for some interesting new learning games for your kids and students? Here are some teacher-tested games to try out.

Foldpass 

Take turns writing lines of haiku with friends.

The Wiki Game 

 Go from one Wikipedia page to another in as few clicks as possible.

The Land of Venn 

Defeat evil monsters by drawing geometric shapes.

Chairs! 

Learn organic chemistry with this visual pattern puzzle game.

Want more? Check out these shelves of tools.

Game-based Learning Tools 

This iscCurated by instructional designer Christi Collins.

Student Games 

This one is curated by 2nd grade teacher Marianna Morris.

By: Mike Lee, Co-founder of edshelf

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Two Useful Game-based Learning Tools for Teachers

August 5, 2015
Game-based learning is a learning trend with an increasing attraction in today’s classrooms. At its core, game-based learning deploys learning principles incorporated in the gaming industry in educational settings. The purpose is to enhance students learning and create optimal learning experiences in and outside classrooms. This is usually done through the use of a variety of hands-on and highly competitive activities geared towards engaging students and motivating them to learn better.

Below are two new web tools to help you incorporate the principles of game-based learning in your teaching.

1- BrainRush 

BrainRush allows you to set up virtual classrooms, assign any BrainRush to any student and monitor the activity and progress of each student in real time. You can also easily differentiate your lesson plans by assigning remedial or advanced work based on unique student needs.BrainRrush library has zillions of BrainRushes, covering just about any topic. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can create your own anytime. Coming soon, our Common Core Navigator will help you find BrainRushes mapped to CCSS.

2- ClassXP

ClassXP is a new way of tracking and displaying student performance with an interactive and engaging dashboard similar to those found in popular video games. Students and teachers will be able to caves their data rich ClassXP dashboards at any tie and from any web enabled device.

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