What2Learn

One of our aims for the development of What2Learn this year is to begin to provide more of the resources needed for a complete lesson. The interactive learning games and assessments have always been a powerful tool for part of a lesson, but we are now seeking to provide you with quality worksheets, presentations, delivery guidance and more to make it easier for you to plan and deliver outstanding ICT lessons.

Please check out our first substantial unit for ICT teachers – Functional Skills ICT. The resources presented within this will be of use for Functional Skills ICT at Levels 1 and 2, but will also be of use in many KS3 and GCSE / KS4 schemes of work.

I have used a number of these resources in my own teaching and can confirm their effectiveness.

Comments and contributions about these or other ICT resources would be greatly appreciated.

Happy teaching, John

The FIFA World Cup is here again, causing great enjoyment for millions and a huge distraction for students who should really be revising for their exams. I have created the following activities to work the World Cup into my ICT lessons, with each giving an opportunity for students to develop and demonstrate their skills to present information accurately and carefully.

Of course to support this unit I have also made a new topic in What2Learn – Topic code 869723 – the FIFA World Cup. The games within this topic will both develop student knowledge of how to use a range of computer applications, but also increase their general knowledge of some of the countries taking part in this summer’s tournament.

Remember, as a teacher you can see all of the scores your students get in What2Learn learning games. See our teacher guide for help with this.

Activity One: Ticket Design

In this activity students will use DTP software (or a graphics package) to design the tickets for matches at the World Cup.

Learning aims:

• To learn how to alter page orientation and page size
• To consider writing for audience
• To develop understanding of how to position graphics and text to create an effective layout.

Lesson outline:

There is a single resource needed to deliver this activity – the PowerPoint presentation ‘Ticket.ppt’ (below). The first slide introduces the task and requires students to decide in pairs what the ticket should look like and what is should contain. This should lead to a class discussion on this topic. The second slide provides the main task and clarifies the features the ticket needs to include. About halfway through their working time, students should be stopped and shown the final slide – a copy of an actual ticket for a match at the tournament. Following a class discussion on this students should return to and improve their own ticket designs.

Resource:

Ticket.ppt – click to open, right click to save.

Interactive games / assessments:

Game one: world cup ticket

Game two: world cup ticket

Remember, the best way to play these games is to log in and unlock topic code 869723.

Activity Two: World Cup Planner

In this exercise students will edit a template and a table structure. They will then use research skills and a range of presentation techniques to create an attractive planner.

Learning aims:

• To understand the power and value of templates
• To learn how to edit the structure of a table
• To develop understanding of how to position graphics and text to create an effective layout.

Lesson outline:

There is a single resource needed to deliver this activity – the worksheet ‘World Cup Planner’ (below). The worksheet provides full instructions. Students should be given time to print their completed work towards the end of the lesson.

Resource:

World Cup Planner – click to open, right click to save.

Interactive games / assessments:

World Cup planner game

The Publisher toolbar

Remember, the best way to play these games is to log in and unlock topic code 869723.

Activity Three: Word Processing

In this exercise students will create an accurate document suitable for publication.

Learning aims:

• To recognize the problems in being over-reliant on spellcheckers
• To learn how to present text in columns
• To develop understanding of how to position graphics and text to create an effective layout.

Lesson outline:

To help students understand that spellcheckers cannot be trusted begin by showing the presentation ‘ode to the spellchecker’ (below). After discussion of the presentation students should be given a copy of the ‘word processing instructions’ sheet and directed to open an electronic copy of the document ‘Ronaldinho fails to make the cut’. They should begin by trying to find the fifteen mistakes in the document – by highlighting the errors (none of which will be highlighted by spellchecker) they will be able to keep count of the number they have found. A whole-class focus on what the mistakes are should follow. Students should then follow all instructions on the rest of the worksheet.

Resources:

Ode to the Spell Checker – click to open, right click to save.

Word processing instructions – click to open, right click to save.

Ronaldinho fails to make the cut – click to open, right click to save.

Interactive games / assessments:

Spellchecker Game 1

Spellchecker Game 2

Remember, the best way to play these games is to log in and unlock topic code 869723.

The following links will take you to some games about the UK General Election. A great resource for tutor time and PSHE lessons in the runup to the election.

General Election Game 1
General Election – Party Leaders Game 1
General Election – Party Leaders Game 2

Celebrity Death Match is a fun and effective game to play with whole classes and can be used in any subject area. This can be played on an interactive whiteboard, though it can be played in any classroom with a digital projector. Be prepared for a noisy time as your students battle it out to see who will win, but by the end your students will probably all know the correct answers to all of the questions in your game.

Setting up your game

To download this fantastic learning resource for free click here.
This game is quick and easy to edit – simply change the questions and answers in the text file ‘questiondata.txt’. Separate each question and answer with two stars, but make sure you do not add more stars at the end of the text file otherwise the game will think another question is coming and at some point there will be a blank question in the game.
If you would like to make multiple sets of games to cover different topics, the easiest way to do this is to duplicate the game folder and have a folder, appropriately named, for each game.

Use in the classroom

Preparation
Divide your class into four teams – allow the students to move chairs so they are in groups. Each team will need a spokesperson who will provide the team’s answer to a question. It is a good idea to select a quieter student for this role to encourage them to play a full part in the activity.
Before the game starts each team will need to select a celebrity from the available options. I will add more people to the choices when time permits.


Playing the game
When the game starts one of the teams will be randomly selected to answer the first question. From that point teams will be asked questions in order (e.g. team 2, then team 3, then team 4 and then back to team 1). Questions also come up in random order. Once the game has used up all of the questions in the text file it will then notify the players that questions are now being repeated. It is quite normal for the students to get many questions wrong the first time the questions are asked but almost all correct once questions are being repeated. Make the point to students that it is important that they pay attention to the questions other teams receive as they may be asked the same quesiton later on. Teams have a limited time to answer each question and a sense of urgency is created by the sounds of the seconds ticking away.
Once a question has been answered (or time runs out) the correct response is displayed. You will need to indicate to the game whether the team got the answer right or wrong. If they were wrong the game will move on to the next team and question. If they were right then the fun really begins – the team will get to decide on another team who will have a body part removed to screams of agony (and much laughter in the classroom). The last team standing is the winner.


After the game
At the end of the game there is the option to display all of the answers that were in the game. This provides a great means of summarising the learning and giving the students the opportunity to show what they have learned. If students are expected to use what they have learned to improve a piece of written work then this screen can be left on the board to help students.

Make more learning games

At What2Learn we have a fantastic, free learning game generator. This lets you create a wide range of game types and has the following added benefits:

• A webpage is instantly created with your game allowing it to be played online anwhere.
• Use automated monitoring of the scores your students get.
• Embed your completed game into a blog, VLE or PowerPoint presentation.

Pass this on to other educators

What2Learn is free to use, free of adverts and non-commercial. As such we rely purely on word of mouth to help educators find our resources. Please tell your colleagues, email this link or use the tweet button below if you are on Twitter.

The What2Learn teacher guide provides you with all the information you need to:

• Create accounts for your students to access What2Learn.
• Organise your students into your teaching groups.
• Manage student usernames and passwords.
• Monitor student progress through the thousands of interactive learning games at W2L.
• Create your own self-marking learning games and quizzes.

The current version of the teacher guide was last updated on 17th March 2010 and includes details on the new way in which teachers can quickly and easily reset student passwords.

View PDF version of teacher guide

View Flash version of teacher guide

NEW Quickstart Guide

Please use the comment box below or our contact form to tell us of any extra assistance you would like with W2L and we will try our best to update this user guide.

Will all of the questions be answered in time?!

Skydiver is the latest Flash-based interactive learning game added to What2Learn. It is only the second anagram-based game on our system so we are very excited about it and pleased to be making it available. It is FREE for you to make your own learning games using this game engine so make one today!

The game sees a skydiver hurtling down through the air towards the ground. All eight questions must be answered within the time limit for the parachute to be safely deployed. Questions are asked at the top of the screen and the answer is shown with the letters jumbled up at the bottom of the screen. With great cartoon graphics and a real sense of urgency generated with time passing this is a game that your students will love to use to enhance their learning.

Click here to play a sample Skydiver game

All you need to do to make your own skydiver quiz game is supply a game title, eight questions and eight one word answers.

Create a skydiver quiz game!

Alternatively, why not pick from our wide range of other game engines – they are all quick, easy and free to use. Quizzes, interactive wordsearches, even zombie-boxing games for your students are all ready for you to supply the questions and answers to. You can even embed the completed games into your own blog, VLE or website. Alternatively you can add your games to W2L to enable you to track the progress of your students through your games – a great way to reduce your marking!

Click here to see our game generator tool.

Help students to learn while saving the world from the zombie apocalypse!

Zombie boxing is one of the most popular game engines at What2Learn. Based on a hangman game engine, students are asked a question and need to type in the letters that are in the answer. If they press a correct letter they will hit the zombie – wrong letters result in the zombie fighting back. Young learners will be keen to replay the game time and again until they are confident in their knowledge of all of the answers in the games.

Any subject content can be added to this quiz game.

You can use our FREE learning game generator to make a range of interactive learning games such as ‘Zombie Boxing’. The Flash-based games can be stored as a bookmark on your browser, linked to from another site, embedded into your own VLE or website or even added to the main content within What2Learn. The added advantage of this last option is that you will be able to see the scores your student get in this game.

Zombie Boxing Will you answer enough questions correctly to survive the zombie apocalypse? Play a sample game Make your own game. Answers must be single words.

Anybody can make a downhill racer quiz game – all your need to do is to supplpy eight questions and eight answers. The game requires answers to be single words.

You can make lots of other types of educational games using our free game generator. Once you have made your game please use the ‘Retweet’ button under your game to help others to find it.

I recently came across Photo-Peach. This is a great tool for creating eye-catching photo slideshows which which be used to create a really effective focus for discussions in lessons. It is quick and easy to make an account and all you then need to do is start uploading the pictures you want in your slideshow.

You are given two options for how your slideshow is presented – story and spiral (see below). You are also given a range of ways of using the completed slideshows including code to embed it into your own blogs.

Sprial

Try clicking on one of the images!

Story

Using it in lessons

I created the spiral slideshow above on Photo-Peach for use at the start of an A’Level ICT project on ICT in Society. In turn students had to select one of the images (pressing on it to make it large and stop the rotation). They then had to talk about the image and how it represented a way in which ICT is impacting upon modern society.

Do you have any suggestions for how it could be used in lessons? Please let us know.

We recently received the following testimonial from our pilot project with Hertfordshire Local Authority’s ESTMA team. ESTMA is responsible for providing education to students who are unable to attend school due to medical reasons. We have been providing support to their tutors to help them bring the benefits of What2Learn to their students.

The What2Learn package is a super tool for ESTMA teachers.

It can be used with any age group, which makes it very useful for us. I have used it successfully with a Year 11 preparing for a higher GCSE Geography paper as a revision aid. It helped me re-engage an agressive very unhappy Year 10 student. Likewise I am currently using it with Year 6 pupils.

The IT element, the collecting credits for their own micon, and the suggestion that they are playing games ( whilst really working! ) is excellent.

I have not found a student who did not enjoy using the package. In contrast once introduced to it they frequently ask to use it again and again.

It is a very comprehensive package and covers most topic areas in each subject.

Used along side other materials and teaching I find this package a super addition.

Learn more about how What2Learn works

Do you have a testimonial to give us? We would be delighted to hear from you.

Our chief tester for this post is now three years of age and has very clear opinions on what makes a good iPhone / iPod Touch application. Many have been downloaded and uninstalled pretty quickly afterwards. Only the following five applications have enjoyed a sustained level of interest. Some are of great educational worth, others will develop creativity but are really just a bit of fun and a great distraction when needed. Most importantly, all are free to download from the Apps Store.

No doubt many of you will disagree with this ‘Top Five’, but our chief tester had the final say on what made the list so we apologise in advance. Please suggest any you think should have made the list using the comments box below.

1: Feed Me!

Feed Me is a fantastic app created by the good folks at Honolulu-based Edutainment Resources Inc. With crisp graphics, a great user-interface and amusing game play this has resulted in a fair few hours of histerical laughter and enjoyment. It also has some great educational content including recognition of colors, shapes and patters as well as some early mathematics skills.

Essentially, each question is multiple-choice, with the player needing to choose from a choice of three possible answers. They then drag the answer to the mouth of the monster who begins to wave his arms excitedly and open his mouth wide as the object gets nearer. Once the player has dropped the object in it’s mouth it will either give a contented burp of enjoyment or suffer some serious indigestion depending on whether the answer was right or wrong.

There are mutlple levels within the game, with the player earning a different trophy for their trophy cabinet at the end of each. One minor improvement here would have been to have allowed the player to replay a previous level as the levels become increasingly challenging and for young children it would be preferable to repeat earlier levels.

A truly great application that will delight young children and develop their thinking skills.

2: Giraffe’s Memory Match Zoo

Speaking as somebody with the memory of a sieve, I was delighted to see how effective this application was at encourging children to really work the old grey matter and develop their memory skills. I am sure there are many more matching pair type applications available from the apps store, but this was the one that proved the most engaging and retained interest for many weeks.

With quality, colorful graphics and amusing sound effects as each animal is displayed, this app provides a great educational resource and a stimulating distraction. You will be surprised at just how quickly children as young as two are soon able to complete the grids.

3: Baby Flash Cards

There is a reason that Baby Flash Cards by Dream Cortex has had well over 100,000 downloads from the app store – it is quite simply as good as an app for flash cards can really be. That said, they have released ‘Baby Flash Cards 2′ with an added voice to read out the cards for any parents too lazy (sorry… busy) to read them out to their own children. Our chief tester felt she had moved beyond flash cards by the time of this post being writtent so we are unable to talk about this latest version.

High quality graphics are used throughout, with cartoon-style images which are both clear and stimulating to young users. There is also a range of ways to use it, with cards able to be displayed in alphabetical or non-alphabetical order. For youngsters who are beginning to learn to read the cards can also display the word before the picture is added.

As parents we often worry that we do not devote enough time to edcational activities such as Flash cards. Having a copy of this on your iPhone or iPod touch makes it easy to steal an extra five minutes here or there while you are out and about.

4: Baby Piano Lite

Kudos again to those lovely people at Dream Cortex for providing this fun little musical application. The app comprises a colorful seven-key piano with cute, animated animal characters. It will soon have your little angels producing masterpieces of their very own. Well… at the least they will be making a bit of a racket but highly enjoying themselves in doing so!

Despite being the free ‘lite’ version of the app, this is surprisingly full-featured and will retain interest over a good period of time. It is possible to switch between having piano sound effects or the sound effects of animals as the keys are pressed. Two modes of play are also available – freestyle and ‘play along’ in which the next key the child should press is highlighted as they are guided through playing a nursery rhyme.

5: Make a Martian

Make a Martian, by 3DAL, is a great little application for developing imaginative and creative little minds. Combining excellent animated graphics and an extremely easy to use interface, your little ones will soon be creating a wide range of fun and colorful alien life forms.

So, there we go. These are the five free apps that we have seen bring the most enjoyment and development to one little mind. Are there any different ones that would have made your top five? Let us know by sending a comment below.