Game Based Learning (GBL) Faculty Interest Group (FIG) – Notes from Meeting

Friday, Nov 20, 2020, 12:40pm via Zoom

Grace Axler-DiPerte, Facilitator

Participants:  Grace Axler-DiPerte (KCC BIO), Christina Colon (KCC BIO), Amy Haas (KCC ENG), Anna Karpathakis (KCC BEH), Lorraine LaPrade (KCC LIBR), Kathleen Offenholley (BMCC MAT), Mary Ortiz (KCC BIO), Michael Ortiz (KCC BEH)

Meeting began at 12:40pm.

1. Grace welcomed everyone.
2. Grace discussed her Escape Room for Microbiology and how her students enjoyed it and learned micro at the same time.
3. Kathleen shared that she did a Kahoot! with her class and had a good experience. It was more of a lesson and less like a quiz.  Because it was a game, students paid attention to why they got something wrong.  She did it live.  The students are begging her for games.
4. Grace shared “Sets”, where you must categorize things.
5. Christina shared that she uses a game where the students are put into the role of fisherman. When the student is the fisherman, their mindset changes, and they deplete the ocean before the game ends.  They do not realize what they are doing when they are doing it.  Christina asked if there is a way for students to be in breakout groups to do this.  It was mentioned that if they had a Google Doc, they may be able to do this.  Grace googled over-fishing, and the Cloud Institute came up (but it runs on Adobe Flash, which will soon no longer be supported).  Role playing can be a real eye opener for students. Grace mentioned going over HTML5 next semester as a possible replacement for Adobe Flash.  There is no easy solution.
6. Michael shared using Goldfish snacks in class and learning patience.
7. Christina shared she likes to give students activities to do that they can do with their families. These can provide new learning opportunities for all ages.
8. Grace has her students play at home. She asks them what happened and has them share out.
9. Kathleen shared how a friend of hers uses Monopoly to teach about inequality.  Christina mentioned an SNL skit on Monopoly.
10. Grace shared that we can modify a game for our lessons. We can also rig a game to demo a concept (ex. bankruptcy to demo inequality). We can also use roles to solve problems (ex. Medical Clinic with the professor as the patient and the students play the roles to diagnose and treat).  Discussion followed.
11. Kathleen shared a game: https://www.setgame.com/set/puzzle . It is a challenging daily puzzle that tells you why you are wrong. It is collaborative.  She did a demo.  Some of us tried it.
12. Another related game was mentioned: Google Sets with Friends. This one does not tell you why you are wrong. Start with easy games.  “Brain Warm Ups”
13. Grace shared labeling games: purposegames.com . She demoed with a motor neuron. It is timed and a good warm-up.  She also showed one with the carbon-oxygen cycle.  This is like the “Do Now” exercises we did in high school.
14. Michael shared using Jeopardy in class.
15. Grace mentioned this is the last meeting for this semester and asked about interests for Spring 2021. She will gather resources in the winter. Christina asked for more focus on games that teach things we cannot learn otherwise.  We also talked about making an Escape Room tutorial and learning by doing.
16. Kathleen mentioned that the CUNY Games may do something over the winter. Join the CUNY Games Network by going on the CUNY Commons to find and join it. The CUNY Games Conferences were discussed (they are great; “What’s Your Game Plan?” – a game to learn how to make games by Joe Bisz, who is planning to do this online – should be interesting)
17. A library in Pennsylvania has a Hogwarts Escape Room (it is Google Docs based).
18. Everyone thanked Grace for facilitating this FIG.
19. Grace will send out the end of semester survey. Please fill it out and return.
20. Meeting ended at 1:40pm.

Notes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz, KCC Bio

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