Did you know that when you make a game using the free What2Learn game generator, you can add the completed game to a PowerPoint presentation?

This is a great way of adding some colour, fun and interactivity to your resources and to reinforce the learning you want your audience to do. Anybody can do it – no programming skills are required and once you have made a game it only takes a couple of minutes to embed the game into your PowerPoint presentation.

We have created the following ‘How-to’ guide to show you how to do this. Enjoy!

Note: The instructions provided here are based on Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 – your version may differ slightly.

Step One: Make a game using the What2Learn game generator. This is quick and easy to do – simply select the game engine you want to use and fill in a form stating the questions and answers you want.

Step Two: Copy the embed code for your game and paste it into a text-editing application like Notepad. The embed code can be found to the right of your game. Then find the ‘value’ reference (highlighted below) and copy it.

Step Three: In PowerPoint, show the Control Toolbox by pressing View then Toolbars then Control Toolbox. Select ‘More Controls’ from the control toolbox toolbar.

From the next list of options select Shockwave Flash Object and make a box on your PowerPoint slide where you would like the game to appear.

Step Four: Right-click on the box you have drawn and select Properties. You then need to paste the your game’s value reference from Step Two into the Movie field of the Properties Window.

Job done – press F5 to view your presentation and your game should appear in your presentation.

One of the big changes we will see at What2Learn over the coming months is the growth of teacher-generated content as it is now possible to pull games made using our game generator into the main What2Learn system. Not only will this mean that teachers will have greater control over the content they make available to their students, but it will free up our own time to keep improving the actual system for you.

One of the key improvements will be in the range and quality of game engines we make available to you through our free interactive learning game generator. We have added two such games recently, both of which are based on multiple-choice quizzes.

The first is 3D Quiz Maze a first-person perspective game in which students must navigate themselves around a maze and answering questions to avoid getting locked in.

The second is Cattle Collector in which students must answer questions correctly to provide enough power to a UFO on a mission to collect cattle around the American Mid-West.

We are sure that your students will enjoy these new game engines and look forward to adding more over the coming weeks.

Make a game today!