I am looking for examples of games being used in Moodle courses. Please add details about any add-ons you have used successfully. It would be great to hear how the students responded too!
One of our teachers started blogging about how he was gamifying his moodle course, you might find something useful/insightful here...
Natalie, hi again
the latest Dev meeting was yesterday, and a chap at HQ...oh gosh names are the same as passwords to me...I forget the chap's name...but have a scroll through the footage and you will find a nice development of the quiz feature (one of the developer's projects) for a fun approach to learning-AKA Space Invaders-style-really great for practice.
Here is to more of that! Link with vid is here:
cheers,
Dawn
Quizventure in the plugins directory -and - earlier post when first developed Turn your quiz into an Arcade game.
I was using this one and I am quite impressed with the Results I got. https://moodle.org/plugins/mod_game
Hi Natalie. I use Games in my course (I teach Computer Science in high school). Usually I use them for preparation before exam. Depending on type of lesson I choose a game. Sometimes millionaire, crossword, Snakes and Ladders or hangman. Students love that way of preparing for exam.
Jelena,
So you are using the GAME plugin for Moodle. I have used that too. I now ask the students to help design the game. I proved a brief introduction and showcase to provide context then I set up a glossary and give them a topic to research. Everyone is given a set time to add a new concept and definition in the Moodle glossary. After (say 20 minutes) I add a new Snakes and Ladder game based on this glossary.
It really changes the class engagement because they know their mates are going to be reading their work. They put more thought into it and know that they will be held accountable. I am often asked if games and play make learning 'too easy and fun' yet, the way I use them, it increases the difficulty level and accountability. They like the challenge and I like the amount of reflection involved,as that is where the real learning takes place.
What do you think it is about using these games that your students like? Perhaps you could ask them.
Hi Natalie
I've also been using the Game plugin for ELT work (mostly the Crossword, pulling up a vocabulary glossary from video work done in class)
But since seeing Dorian Love's fantastic presentation on his computer skills course, The Möbius Effect (which I think you also saw at iMoot15) I've been working on applying that to a whole course in the language teaching realm.
I'm drawing a distinction here between games and gamification - my object here is to provide a support course where the exercises have a more "gamey" feel to them while still having a clear learning structure. The gamification of the course will come later. It's something I want to move towards in certain instances, but I need to learn more about it myself before going any further down that route.
All the best
Andy
Hi Natalie,
We are trying to use gamification (I prefer to call it "Nudging") to get students into Moodle to learn more often. Seeing how schools are so different and each group of students have such diverse interests, I think it's difficult to find gamification that appeals to all learners...especially teenagers! From the research I've done, most gamers are "social", so I think the problem with most gamification attempts is that there is too much competition which is mostly appealing to "achievers". Like you are doing, we also want students to have a say in what the game elements look like, have choices over the "rewards", and provide a learning opportunity for students to create digital art and contribute it to the app. The overall goal for any gamification attempt should be to encourage/reward the behaviors that lead to learning...and of course, make things more fun!