How to Use Word Clouds for Language-Learning

Originally posted on my language blog, Nihon on the Go.

https://www.tumblr.com/nihononthego/154231506182/how-to-use-word-clouds-for-language-learning

Creating Your Own Games

Sploder 

Usability: Sploder is a free online game creation program that allows you to create different styles of game, such as retro games, platformers,  and 3D games. Without much guidance, it’s easy to dive right in and start making a game. Worlds of varying terrains, lengths, and sizes can easily be created (the sky and your imagination is the limit), and the interface boasts quite a lot of features for a free service, like quest items, coins, backgrounds, music, etc.

Motivation: It’s completely free and games can be shared. Games can be divided into levels, which can in turn be divided into stages. This is great for expounding upon bigger lessons. No scripting required; everything does what it does without you having to try and figure it out. Great for gamifying lessons, making quest-based activities or having students do presentations or tell stories.

Pros: It’s free! No scripting, only a basic knowledge of how link logic works (link logic is very simple to use and works as a drag and drop allowing you to connect items or text and create simple or complex reactions based on your connections). This can be found in tutorials for Sploder and on the Sploder forums. Also has an app for creating retro games on iOS.

Cons: Not really required and not much of a con, but it’s handy to have some basic understanding of Sploder’s link logic tool if you want to create complex reactions. For example, defeating two enemies makes a barrier disappear, or hitting three switches makes a treasure chest appear. It’s not complicated, but it will take some experimenting.

Scratch

Usability: Scratch is a browser-based software that focuses on coding that allows you to create games, stories, and presentations. Scratch doesn’t require any background in coding or scripting, and gives you plenty of tutorials for using it. It has a bright and fun interface, and the lines of code are presented as colorful blocks you can snap together.

Motivation: Teachers can easily create interactive lessons and presentations on Scratch. Students and teachers utilize critical thinking skills and exercise creativity and knowledge in math and logic. Scratch also teaches digital citizenship as it is community where projects can not only be shared but also added to. For example, a user may create a project to be used as a base for another project. Other users can use that base in their own projects.

Pros: Community-oriented. Free and simple, with no prior knowledge of coding or scripting required. Great for students and teachers.

Cons: Takes some experimenting to get the right actions you want. No way to set your games to private, if you didn’t want to share it with a community. This can present privacy concerns for younger students. No way to really embed a game into a site without using an outside program.

Augmented Reality Apps

Augment

Usability: Augment is augmented reality app available for iPhone and Android. It easy-to-use, allowing users to scan QR codes for models, download models, and create their own. It has a very simple and clean interface. Users may find the models hard to maneuver, but overall, it’s pretty straightforward, and gives a quick guide on how to position models on your screen.

Motivation: Teachers and students who want to get creative with building. Students can import models from 3D modeling software like SketchUp, AutoCAD, Blender, etc.  They can also download models from the app itself and import models from Augment’s QR codes. Students can see what their creations look like in reality whether they’re buildings, advertisements, furniture, etc.

Pros: Free, easy-to-use, allows users to import their own models into the app. Also allows users to share QR codes of their models. Users can see what they’re models look like in reality.

Cons: Models can be difficult to maneuver on screen.

SkyView

Usability: Sky View is a star-gazing app available for iOS and Android that is very user-friendly. It automatically calibrates based on your location allows you to view the night sky at any time of the day. This is great for use for those who are hobbyists or adamant star-gazers.

Motivation: Students can use SkyView to see orbits of planets, stars, and other celestial objects like nearby galaxies, constellations, space junk, and satellites. They can also use it to find planets and stars. The app also provides facts on any celestial body they choose, as well as classifications for stars. The program also is an AR that allows the stars to overlay the sky.

Pros: Free, but there is a paid version, too. Students can see what planets and stars are in the sky by pointing their phone anywhere. For example, they can point their phone or tablet to the ground and see the constellations and planets near the southern hemisphere. Has a sightings guide that allows you to see what stars and planets are out and when you can see others.

Cons: Sometimes the calibration is off; sometimes the stars don’t line up exactly where the app says they are, but it’s not too far off. Best used in an open space, as opposed to being at a desk or some other stationary place.

Formative Assessments

Socrative

Usability: Socrative is a formative assessment tool that allows you to create different types of quizzes and assessments for your class. It has an easy to use navigation, and teachers can choose whether to do a multiple choice, true/false, or short answer quiz. It is web-based and offers a pro option with more features.

Motivation: Teachers have a choice of making assessments student-paced with immediate feedback or student navigation, or making assessments teacher-paced. Teachers can create rooms for different classes. Also, Socrative allows team assessments, where students can work together to solve problems. The program also allows for the creation of exit tickets. Teachers can add explanations to questions as to why the answer is wrong or right.

Pros: Socrative is free but does offer a pro option for increasing classroom size and number of rooms. Results are neatly organized and can be saved easily to computer, email, or Google Drive. Quizzes can be imported from either Socrative or Excel spreadsheet. Quizzes can also be aligned to meet different Standards.

Cons: Doesn’t integrate with Google Classroom or Edmodo.

Formative

Usability: Formative is an online assessment tool that supports PDF and Word document upload. From here, Formative turns any worksheet into an online assessment. It has a simple interface with drag-and-drop capabilities. There are also videos online that teach you how to use this software.

Motivation: Teachers can cut down on paper by uploading a single file and sending it to the class. Teachers can choose to have students answer questions in a variety of ways: written responses, drawings, or images, etc. Teachers can see student responses in real time and grade and provide feedback immediately.

Pros: Possibility for a paperless classroom. Perfect for flipped classrooms, 1:1, BYOD, and blended learning. It’s free for teachers and students and assessments can be aligned with standards. Live results and live feedback. Ability to share assignments with other teachers. Integrates with G Suite for Education (formerly Google Apps for Education) and Clever.

Cons: None.

Vlog #5