Digital Tools for Game-Based Learning
It's no secret that students are more engaged in learning when they are having fun. Adding gamified learning opportunities to your instructional practices can be a great way to motivate students and help them be more accountable for their learning. After all, even as adults, who doesn't love earning a badge or a special achievement? Most of us are familiar with tools such as Quizziz and Kahoot to add a gaming element to your classroom. This blog post will hopefully introduce you to a few other tools that you can utilize in your classroom.
Learning, Creating, and Assessing!
Deck Toys is like a "choose your own adventure", cutomizable learning path type of digital tool. As the lesson designer, you can customize learning paths and differentiate for different learners. Build a study set with key vocabulary terms and you can turn them into a variety of games, like Wordle, crossword puzzles, maze chases and more. You can embed content like videos and Google Slides as well. Here is one I made for teaching students how to use our digital book platform, Sora, to preview.
Goosechase is a great tool for creating digital scavenger hunts. You can create interactive experiences with "missions worth points. You can even award teams extra points from behind the scenes (i.e. extra 50 points for demonstrating teamwork). Students do need a mobile device to participate in the Goosechase. There is an extensive library spanning content areas to choose from with premade games. You can make a copy and adjust missions as you see fit or you can start from scratch. For the free version, you can have up to five teams per experience.
Breakout EDU is a classic favorite for bringing gamified learning opportunities in the classroom. Students love participating in escape room-type activities with teams. The 4 C's are definitely all at play when students are trying to solve the puzzles: collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and communication. We have access to ten physical boxes and locks. Since our district has a subsription to the platform, we have access to all the games, both digital and physical. Let me know if I can help plan a Breakout activity for your classes!