The assignment titled “Online Educational Games” consists of several parts including choosing an online educational game, creating a game-based learning rubric, evaluating the game, creating a website based on the game, conducting a group presentation, as well as reflecting on all the required tasks. The main purpose of this assignment was to choose an online educational game and assess its effectiveness in the classroom by using a game-based learning rubric. Despite this assignment being our second lesson plan, my group members and I still ran into challenges. Luckily enough, I did not worry much because I was already comfortable working with my group members and familiar with their work styles.
The challenges began as we were asked to choose an online educational game. Considering that there are various educational websites out on the Internet, we thought that choosing a game would be the easier task of the assignment. However, we were proven wrong when we could not even decide which online educational game to choose. First, we found a few websites that offered online learning games. Then, we chose our top three games from Education.com and ABCya.com. After some thought, we decided to choose “Pancake Panic” from ABCya.com for its simplicity and presentation.
ABCya’s “Pancake Panic” is an online educational game that allows children to learn the basics of homophones and test their knowledge by matching pancakes. Homophones are “two or more words that sound alike but that are spelled different and have different meanings” (Rippel, 2020). They are important to learn because they “help children develop their vocabulary skills and improve their spelling (Michaelidou, 2017) and “help children grasp the context of sentences that have words with more than one meaning” (Dennigan, 2017). “Pancake Panic” is mainly targeted for students from 2nd grade to 5th grade, and it can help children improve their vocabulary and spelling skills, use their analytical skills to determine which two words match, better their visual memory skills, as well as test their abilities to follow instructions and work under pressure. What made me ultimately choose the game was its overall presentation. Not only do I adore its methods in teaching homophones, but I also admire the game’s cute graphics, fun music, and lively sound effects.
Because we are new to creating rubrics based on our standards, my group members and I had a difficult time with the creation of the rubric. We could not decide which sections to include in our game-based learning rubric. After we discussed, we found out that the purpose of this part was to grade the game subjectively by using our rubric. If I were given the chance to change the game, I would do a few things. First, I would add more time for all the rounds because everyone’s knowledge of homophones differs. Next, I would somehow incorporate homophones into the Bonus Round for a lasting impact. Then, I would include the definitions of the words on the Matches Page, so that the players can also learn the meanings of the matched words.
As a future educator, I would use this game as a supplement for my lesson(s) in vocabulary and spelling, specifically dictation and context. Before introducing the game, I would give my students a mini-lesson on homophones. According to Mace (2018), “teaching mini-lessons prior to student access is the key [because it will] give [the teacher the] time to make sure students fully understand [their] expectations and the assignments involving technology.” While the game focuses mainly on homophones, I would also introduce the similarities and differences between homonyms and homographs. This way, my students can differentiate between the three. When deciding to use the online game as a supplement, I would have to consider that it can become an obstacle for students who do not have the privilege of accessing certain devices. Because “Pancake Panic” is an online game, I would teach my students how to use their given devices, whether it be computers, laptops, or tablets. As another solution, I would create an in-class activity that uses a similar concept to the online game. For example, I would write homophone pairs onto cartoon pancakes and have my students play an activity to match the homophones. All in all, I would revise the assignment(s) to fit all of my students’ needs.
To complete the various tasks of the assignment, my group members and I used different technology tools. After becoming experts in “Pancake Panic,” we outlined the content into a shared document using Google Docs. Next, we created our game-based learning rubric using Google Sheets. For communication, we sent messages using our WhatsApp group chat. I also assigned tasks and shared reminders by using the comments option onto our shared document. Then, we used Weebly to create our website for the online educational game presentation. As we created the website, we ran into a few challenges. First, our website turned into a black screen, so we had to make another website using another account. Next, we also could not decide how to engage our audience members for the presentation, so we had to constantly revise our content. Then, since we were all busy, we had a difficult time meeting up for discussion and collaboration. In the end, we were able to solve our problems and efficiently create the website.
Overall, I can see that technology is becoming an important factor in education today. Disguised as a form of entertainment, online educational games teach valuable information, improve one’s skills and abilities, as well as test one’s knowledge. Although game-based learning has become popular in the classroom, educators should consider revising their assignments to help accommodate their students’ needs as they understand the various privileges. My group members and I were able to utilize various technology tools to complete the assignment. Although the assignment consisted of several parts, I enjoyed playing our game along with creating and organizing our website to match the game’s simplicity. I highly recommend “Pancake Panic” because it is a great learning tool that uses technology to educate students.
References
Dennigan, C. (2017, March 30). The importance of learning homophones. [Blog post]. Retrieved March 15, 2020, from https://www.ashtutors.co.uk/parenting/the-importance-of-learning-homophones.html
Mace, N. (2018, August 7). 8 Strategies for using technology in the 21st century classroom. Resilient Educator. Retrieved March 30, 2020, from https://resilienteducator.com/classroom-resources/using-classroom-technology/
Michaelidou, A. (2017, January 25). Understanding homophones. [Blog post]. Retrieved March 15, 2020, from https://www.firsttutors.com/uk/blog/2017/01/understanding-homophones/
Rippel, M. (2020, January 11). How to teach homophones. [Blog post]. Retrieved March 15, 2020, from https://blog.allaboutlearningpress.com/homophones/
Hi:
ReplyDeleteExcellent work! It's such a pleasure to read your writing.
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