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Survey Says…Games in the Classroom Keep Students Engaged

Note: We have covered Gamification in another recent blog post about Kahoot! Feel free to stop over there first to learn about why instructors are choosing to spend class time playing games like Kahoot!, Family Feud, Jeopardy, and Cash Cab.

As our previous post explained, gamification is one way that instructors here at the College of Nursing and across the globe attempt to battle the monotony that can reign over class time.  It is a particularly useful approach to breaking up long stretches of class time when student attention may begin to drift. PowerPoint templates are available that allow instructors to easily create assessments from existing lecture content.  The games that result are an interactive way to assess student learning on the day of the lecture or in anticipation of a quiz or test.  Lifewire.com has free PowerPoint templates to get you started (Note: Always use caution when clicking on links to free resources to avoid downloading malware).

Recently, the graduate family nurse practitioner students led by Dr. Kelly Casler tried their hand at a game of Family Feud based on recent lecture content. Check out the video below which shows how our graduate school lecturers are using Gamification in their classroom:

If you would like assistance with identifying the right game template for your instructional purpose, contact the College of Nursing IT Department. We’ll be happy to help!

Need Some Spice in Your Classroom? Try Kahoot!

For nursing educators who like their students awake and engaged in class, the challenge of finding activities that are both relevant and exhilarating remains a tough nut to crack.  Some teachers in the College of Nursing and elsewhere have incorporated games into their classrooms to add competition, motivate students to stay engaged with material, and help students remember a lesson long after it ends.  Enter Kahoot!, an online interactive quiz platform that allows the classroom to turn its energy toward the age-old goal of winning a game.

Gamification has gained popularity in recent years as a tool for engaging people in tasks that might otherwise be un-stimulating to the point of boredom (think exercise apps, shoppers rewards programs, and even investing apps that create a prize system to keep users interested.) Several examples of gamification in the nursing education world already exist, such as this study which used Kahoot! to help drive pharmacology lessons home for nursing students.

Kahoot! allows instructors to ask questions with a countdown timer and lets students play against each other, alone or in teams.  You can add a song or video clip to questions as well.  Learn more about Kahoot! on their website, and watch videos that highlight the capabilities of this platform.

Wondering where you can get started using Kahoot! in your classroom? Check out this blog post on using Kahoot! in the college setting.  Next, watch this video on how to get started.  Have you used Kahoot! in your nursing classroom or in other professional development? Please comment below with your experiences!

Addendum (by Joni Tornwall)

Since this article was posted, some frequently asked questions from faculty have come to light:

How do I sign up for a Kahoot account?

The College of Nursing does not currently have a paid account with Kahoot.  Sign up for a free account at kahoot.com.

How do I use Kahoot?

The video Lara references above (1:35) is a good visual demonstration that will help you get started in Kahoot.

How do I launch my first Kahoot quiz in my classroom?

Ask your students to open a browser and go to kahoot.it on their laptop, tablet, or phone. Then, ask them to enter the Game PIN, which you will see on your Kahoot interface after you launch your game at kahoot.com.

Can I use Kahoot to take attendance?

You can see how many students have joined your game, but they may enter a name that is not their own.  If you need to know specifically who is attending your class on any given day, contact the CON IT department to learn about other applications that can easily do this electronically for you, like Top Hat.

References:

Kaizen: A Gamification Platform for Academic and Patient Education

When: Tuesday, November 13, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Where: OSU CCTS, 240 Prior Hall
Join CON faculty member Carolynn Thomas Jones and her colleagues from University of Alabama at Birmingham to learn about Kaizen, a gamification platform for teaching and learning.  Kaizen has been used in academic programs in public health and nursing, including our own MACPR courses where students learn about clinical research quality management.  If you’ve been considering integrating an element of gamification in your course, find out if this platform might be just what you need.

UAB KAIZEN

A Gamification Platform for Academic Education, Training & Patient Education 

November 13, 2018; OSU CCTS, 240 Prior Hall

AGENDA

10:00      Welcome, Introductions (Carolynn Jones, Becky Jackson)

10:15      James H. Willig, MD, MSPH, Associate Professor,

UAB Division of Infectious Diseases

  • What is KAIZEN? The Story, The Applications, Future Plans

11:00      David Redden, PhD, Professor and Vice Chair of Biostatistics

UAB School of Public Health

  • R2T Kaizen; Academic applications (Biostatistics)

11:45      Penny Jester, MPH, RN, Instructor OSU CON/MACPR; Clinical Research Educator/Consultant

Carolynn Jones, DNP, MSPH, RN, Associate Professor, OSU College of Nursing/MACPR

  • Kaizen at UAB College of Nursing- Academic Courses and Patient Education
  • Kaizen at OSU: Quality Kaizen – MACPR Quality Course: NUR7482
  • In the Works: GCP Kaizen

12:15      Q&A Discussions, Demonstrations

1:00       Adjourn

Additional information on Kaizen

An invitation from MACPR faculty member, Carolynn Thomas Jones:

On Tuesday, November 13 (10-1pm ET), members of the CCTS at the University of Alabama at Birmingham are going to join faculty from the CON MACPR program to present the use of gamification for academic learning, training, and patient education. The game platform was developed by James Willig, MD at UAB for the purpose of educating interns and residents in the UAB internal medicine program via a gamification platform he has named Kaizen. It was a huge success with intensive engagement and a marked increase in board scores. Since that time, this gamification platform has been used for multiple academic programs in public health and nursing academic education, to train rigor, responsibility and transparency to translational scientists. It has also been used in nursing for patient education. Carolynn Jones and Penny Jester have used it in one of the MACPR Courses addressing clinical research quality management and are currently working on a Kaizen game for GCP training under a UAB CCTS supplement award. If you are interested in learning about this platform and toying with the idea of gamification in your courses or nursing applications, please RSVP by email to Terri Ryan at theresa.ryan@osumc.edu. We will be meeting at the OSU CCTS- Room 240 Prior.