As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, students were required to participate in remote learning. As society transitions back to in-person activities, students are now back to in-person classes. The noticeable trend in these in-person classes is that student engagement has decreased. Students often feel disengaged from their learning. During remote learning, students turned to technology and that is what will help engage your students now. CETLL will be hosting several lunchtime discussions on fun ways to play and engage your students in our current world.
CETLL hosted Engage-n-Play, a discussion series on tools of engagement:
Gamification, Wednesday April 26th
Gamification is the process of applying game mechanics in non-game contexts. It adds game elements such as timed activities, leaderboards, digital badges, rewards, or points to an experience to increase engagement or enjoyment (Wright, n.d.).
We will discuss different aspects of successful gamification, concrete strategies for implementing them into your classroom, and two examples of tools to get started with (Kahoot! and Jeopardy), as well as how to take these principles and apply them broadly. This discussion session will focus on faculty sharing their experiences with gamification and other engagement strategies and the challenges and techniques they’ve used.
Kahoot! is an online game-based learning platform that allows users to create and share educational games/quizzes. Players answer on their own devices (either a computer, phone, or tablet), while questions are displayed on a shared screen. In addition, to live games, you can also send Kahoot challenges that players complete at their own pace – for example, for homework (Kahoot!).
The platform is designed for game-based learning and enables users to quickly create and share educational games or trivia quizzes. It simplifies the process, allowing users to create and play these games within a matter of minutes.
Jeopardy is a game that consists of students answering questions that are divided into different categories. Students compete against each other to achieve the highest number of points. They do this all while being timed. Jeopardy can support them in mastering the course material in an engaging way.
Know the following to help you decide if gamification is the best strategy for your course:
Gamification is best used in in-person courses, online synchronous courses, asynchronous courses, or hybrid courses.
Polling, Wednesday May 10th
Polling is a hands-on tool that instructors can use to anonymously or semi-anonymously solicit information from students. This is one tool that can be used to engage students in the course content. Polling can be used in various ways such as collecting opinions, testing understanding of course material, and collecting feedback from students.
We will discuss concrete strategies for implementing polling in your classroom. This discussion session will focus on faculty sharing their experiences with polling and other engagement strategies and the challenges and techniques they’ve used.
Know the following to help you decide if polling is the best strategy for your course:
Polling is best used in in–person courses, online synchronous courses, or hybrid courses.
Works Cited
Wright, C. (n.d.). Game-based Learning vs Gamification: What’s the Difference? https://blog.mindresearch.org/blog/game-based-learning-vs-gamification