As soon as this assignment was discussed, I was excited about it. I am not very familiar with Google Slides, but the basic assignment last week to become familiar with the basic features went well and I felt fairly comfortable making changes. Then, this bombshell was dropped that Google Slides can do all of these incredible things that I had never heard about or would have ever dreamed to use the program for. As soon as class was over I started looking at different options. That did not last long because I have dogs and kids who like food and need their teeth brushed and reasonable bedtimes. So, I put the assignment aside for a few days.
Despite the warnings by Professor Carnill to NOT attempt
a Jeopardy-type game during your first foray into the advanced application of Google Slides, I could not get that application out of my head and I knew I had to try it. It might be an abject failure; it might cause me to lose my hair at a higher rate of speed; it might, well probably will, result in at least one episode of crying; but, it will be one step closer to understanding how to use it; and one giant leap towards its introduction into a future classroom.
I remember in middle school, a couple of teachers that I had used games for review. One read questions with the possibility of opposing teams stealing points for wrong answers. One even made their own Jeopardy game using poster board and post-it notes. It just elevated an activity that can be so dang boring. I might be remembering wrong, because memory is a strange thing, but I feel like every other review day was a waste of time. There would be a sheet of paper with a list of questions to answer or a list of concepts to know and you might be able to work with a partner or in groups, but it was tedious and by the time I got home I had to start all over because none of the work had stuck. With the games, not only was there a sense of fun, excitement, camaraderie, but I know that there were times I would be struggling with a question on the test and I would remember someone else yelling out an answer during the review game. It also gives an incentive to come prepared in order to participate well in the game and WIN THE PRIZE!
Either way, it is something that should be done anyways (the unit review), and coming up with ideas that breaks up the monotony that school can sometimes be and maybe even create a fun and exciting environment for a day is a worthwhile goal.
So, how did it go? Not super well. I got a later start on the assignment than I had planned and quickly ran into one of the major hurdles of using technology based teaching methods. You need reliable internet. Still, in between times of it going out, I was able to get quite a bit done on the Jeopardy game that I created.
As for the actual creation of the game, that actually went better than I thought it would. I found the templates on the Ditch that Textbook site. They had been created by Eric Curts and were really user friendly. The most difficult part of the format was keeping track of the order of your questions so you could put them where you wanted. I actually think that, once I figured out how to link to certain slides, it would be fairly easy, though time consuming, to create a variety of different game formats with the same strategy. I instantly thought of choose your own adventure games.
Instead, what I found to be the most difficult part of the process was figuring out how to structure the categories for a unit review. I listed, deleted, revised, changed, and restructured those quite a few times. The second most difficult part, for me, was to condense the information down to meet the categories and number of options and then to turn the information into the Jeopardy format. As I was creating the questions, I found myself thinking about how I would pause the game for more in-depth explanations. If I went back to do this again, I would add these explanations to my notes so I would remember them in the moment.
Overall, I think this game would be a fun idea for a quick refresh before or after a more intensive review activity. It definitely does not allow for enough questions to be a complete review on its own or for more critical thinking around the concepts. I definitely plan on creating more Jeopardy games for review in other areas and exploring how to create other games (or finding other templates) on Google Slides that can be used in the classroom.
Despite the warnings by Professor Carnill to NOT attempt
I remember in middle school, a couple of teachers that I had used games for review. One read questions with the possibility of opposing teams stealing points for wrong answers. One even made their own Jeopardy game using poster board and post-it notes. It just elevated an activity that can be so dang boring. I might be remembering wrong, because memory is a strange thing, but I feel like every other review day was a waste of time. There would be a sheet of paper with a list of questions to answer or a list of concepts to know and you might be able to work with a partner or in groups, but it was tedious and by the time I got home I had to start all over because none of the work had stuck. With the games, not only was there a sense of fun, excitement, camaraderie, but I know that there were times I would be struggling with a question on the test and I would remember someone else yelling out an answer during the review game. It also gives an incentive to come prepared in order to participate well in the game and WIN THE PRIZE!
Either way, it is something that should be done anyways (the unit review), and coming up with ideas that breaks up the monotony that school can sometimes be and maybe even create a fun and exciting environment for a day is a worthwhile goal.
So, how did it go? Not super well. I got a later start on the assignment than I had planned and quickly ran into one of the major hurdles of using technology based teaching methods. You need reliable internet. Still, in between times of it going out, I was able to get quite a bit done on the Jeopardy game that I created.
As for the actual creation of the game, that actually went better than I thought it would. I found the templates on the Ditch that Textbook site. They had been created by Eric Curts and were really user friendly. The most difficult part of the format was keeping track of the order of your questions so you could put them where you wanted. I actually think that, once I figured out how to link to certain slides, it would be fairly easy, though time consuming, to create a variety of different game formats with the same strategy. I instantly thought of choose your own adventure games.
Instead, what I found to be the most difficult part of the process was figuring out how to structure the categories for a unit review. I listed, deleted, revised, changed, and restructured those quite a few times. The second most difficult part, for me, was to condense the information down to meet the categories and number of options and then to turn the information into the Jeopardy format. As I was creating the questions, I found myself thinking about how I would pause the game for more in-depth explanations. If I went back to do this again, I would add these explanations to my notes so I would remember them in the moment.
Overall, I think this game would be a fun idea for a quick refresh before or after a more intensive review activity. It definitely does not allow for enough questions to be a complete review on its own or for more critical thinking around the concepts. I definitely plan on creating more Jeopardy games for review in other areas and exploring how to create other games (or finding other templates) on Google Slides that can be used in the classroom.
Fortune favors the bold and you took a bold step or risk as it may be. It seems to have paid off. Not only did you recreated the game but you shared several things you learned along the way. You completed the task and you grew your skills, abilities and confidence.
ReplyDeleteI do appreciate the risk taking, as well as sharing your experience, and the resilience to work through the learning curve and the lack of a good Internet connection.