e-Learning Ecologies MOOC’s Updates
LEARNING GAMES, ANYONE??
LEARNING GAMES, ANYONE??
Learning games or also known as educational games are games especially designed for the purpose of education. We all have been in a classroom when a topic is dull and the instructor is equally dull. You just felt like you were about to nod off to sleep! Learning games are an excellent way to peak students' engagement as well as broaden the necessary academic skills.
Learning games can be on cards, boards or video. Students learn better and retain more when they are actively engaged in a lesson. The kinds of learning games of years ago (for example, a Spelling Bee have improved greatly and student learning is benefitting. According Educause's, 7 Things You Should Know About Game Based Learning, games can:
-Draw students into a course more actively
-Competition can pique motivation
-Hone student abilities while achieving interim goals that makes them feel like they are progressing
-Reinforce the fact that failure is not a setback nor an outcome but indication that more skill building is needed
-Through discrete steps, lead to a major goal, students can see the interrelationship of tactics and strategy.
-Learn about procedure and the value of alternative paths
-Help students become more confident, independent thinkers who are more prepared to take on large projects and carry them through to completion (Digital Pedagogy - A Guide For Libraries, Faculty and Students - May 2020; https://guides.library.utoronto.ca/digitalpedagogy).
As a Kindergarten teacher, I use a plethora of learning games in my classroom. The students seem to get excited and ask for certain games by name. Here are some online learning games that reinforce kindergarten skills that I have used in my classroom:
* MONSTER MANSION MATCH (ABCya site) - reinforces letter recognition and letter sounds.
* FUZZ BUGS (ABCya site) - reinforces patterns
* SHAPE SHACK (Funbrain Jr.) - reinforces shape recognition.
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Digital Pedagogy - A Guide For Libraries, Faculties, and Students (May 14, 2020). Research Guides -- University of Toronto Libraries
Antoinette Morrison
Posted less than a minute ago
Comment
I wholeheartedly agree, gamification in the learning and particularly e-learning environment can boost information retention. I use it also with adults, the way we intend gamification is a bit different from children, we need different stimuli, but it works in the same way.
This is such a great way to explain gamification in learning. I admire your initiatives to make learning more fun and accessible to your students. In my case as a learning and development practitioner and now as an LMS administrator, i have appreciated gamification more than ever. It is inviting and very useful in motivating for learners. Eben adult learners aim to have badges and earn rewards by learning for hours and being in the weekly leader board.