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5 Brilliant 'Design Your Own Game' Websites for Students

5 Brilliant 'Design Your Own Game' Websites for Students
There’s been a lot of buzz lately about the use of gaming in the classroom – from the ‘gamification’ of learning to the use of Minecraft to teach everything from physics to strategic thinking. Since long before education technology even existed, video games have been a hugely successful way to engage students, creating a fun and compelling environment in which they can learn, develop and interact with their peers. But allowing students to actually take control of designing the game themselves takes the concept to a whole new level, allowing them to practice a host of new creative and technical skills. 1. This brilliant website allows students a vast range of options. 2. Ideal for younger students, this game allows the player to create their own pathway for a stick man hero by spray painting a route for him onto the game board. 3. 4. 5. What ‘design your own game’ sites or tools are you using to encourage students to get creative in gaming? Feature image courtesy of Flickr, JD Hancock.

Octalysis: Complete Gamification Framework (This is the Gamification Framework that I am most known for. Within a year, it was translated into 9 different languages and became classic teaching literature in the gamification space in the US, Europe, Australia and South America.) Octalysis: Complete Gamification Framework Gamification is design that places the most emphasis on human motivation in the process. Most processes design around function and efficiency – they try to get the job done as quickly as possible. Even though many Gamification techniques were in use long before video games were around, games were one of the earliest examples of a holistic approach to implementing Human-Based Design – so now we call it Gamification. In the past few years, I have been digging deep into the formulation of a complete framework to analyze and build strategies around the various systems of Gamification. In the end, I came up with a system that I feel is instructive, useful, and elegant. The 8 Core Drives of Gamification 8) Loss & Avoidance

Free Tools to Incorporate Game-Based Learning As I work with teachers to implement game-based learning (GBL), they are always looking for any free tools that exist. While some are willing to pay for iPad game apps or using the Kinect, these tools often cost money. Luckily, there are many tools out there that are free and that teachers could use in the classroom as soon as tomorrow. Some of these tools are not only the games themselves, but also lesson plans and ideas for using the game in the classroom. Here are some of my favorite free GBL tools. iCivics Many of us know of iCivics, founded by former Chief Justice Sandra Day O'Conner to improve civics education. MangaHigh Math is the focus of Manga High. BrainPop BrainPop has an excellent selection of games to teach a variety of subjects. Teach With Portals I challenge anyone to play Portal and not feel engaged. These are just a few of my favorite GBL tools that I have used and played. This blog is part of a series sponsored by TEQ.

Effects of Video Games on our Brains ? I am really getting confused here. Just last month I posted an article entitled " Do Video Games Make Kids Violent ". This post was mainly inspired by the book I have read for Paul James Gee ( What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. ) . Here is what Paul Gee said about video games in pages 11-13 " None of the current research even remotely suggests video games lead to real-life violence in any predictable way. In my view the issue of violence is overblown ( especially in a world where real people are regularly killing real people in wars across the world that we watch on television ). Now read the facts included in this infographic and compare the two.

6 Video Games You Can Teach With Tomorrow Realistically, a “with it” teacher can teach almost anything using almost anything. I’ve been taught trigonometry using a paper clip, and expository structure using paint. Tech is great, but nowhere close to necessary. But if the underlying learning process is well-thought out, tech can provide powerful common ground for teachers and learners. So then, video games. Video games do not represent a “rising medium,” but rather one that’s established, potent, and ready for application in any content area at any grade level. We’ve talked before about the concept of gamification, which refers to applying game mechanics to any non-gaming process. These games can serve not only to introduce teachers to the concept of using video games as something beyond a gimmicky way to “engage learners,” but demonstrate that video games are a platform worthy of any classroom dedicated to any content area at any grade level. 1. Appropriate Grade Level: 8-12+ (some mature content/themes) 2. 3. 4. Science: Physics

Everything You’ll Ever Need To Know About Gamification Editor’s note: Tadhg Kelly is a game designer with 20 years experience. He is the creator of leading game design blog What Games Are, and consults for many companies on game design and development. You can follow him on Twitter here. A friend of mine once relayed this quote (as a joke) to me about consulting: “Why make money solving the problem, when you can make so much more by making it worse?” And, like all such quotes, it’s funny because it contains a kernel of truth. I provide consultancy services to people who need game design advice, like mechanics, user interface, progression curves etcetera, and mine is a position of some power. Rather than say things like “Well we really need to see the problem from all sides and develop a complex solution that tailors to all of your users’ needs” (Or “getting them on the tit” as Don Cheadle calls it in House of Lies), I tend to say “Just move that number over there. This is all, not to put too fine a point on it, overheated extrapolation.

ClassBadges Is A Free Way To Gamify Your Classroom Looking to find a new, simple, and free way to gamify your classroom? There a new web tool out that you should probably know about. It’s called ClassBadges and it’s a free online tool where teachers can award badges for student accomplishments. Teachers can set up an account and award the badges whenever they wish. Pretty straightforward. Request an invite to create an account (it looks like right now, they’re working on handling a higher capacity of users), and once you do, you’ll be able to create a class list. You’re able to choose what badges are awarded (and they’re customizable!) See Also: The 50 Best Videos For Teachers Interested In Gamification

Gamification Classroom How To Gamify Your Classroom In 6 Easy Steps Gamification can be a great tool to incorporate into your classroom. Helping with student engagement and motivation, gamification is a growing trend. But for teachers who are new to gamification, incorporating it into your classroom may seem like a daunting task. Figuring out ahead of time how to introduce gamification concepts into your lessons and having specific goals in mind will make the experience a much richer one for you and your students than just gamifying concepts for the sake of it. Clarify your desired learning outcomes firstMake them measurableChoose a ‘big idea’Storyboard the game. Katie was a teacher, graduate student, and is now the lady who makes sure Edudemic is as useful as possible.

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