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Meeting Minutes 05/06/2022

May 24, 2022 / Leave a comment

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

Friday, May 6th, 2022, 1:50pm via Zoom

Grace Axler-DiPerte, Facilitator

Participants: Grace Axler-DiPerte (KCC BIO), Lilja Neilsen (KCC BIO), Mary Ortiz (KCC BIO), Tom Lavazzi (KCC ENG), Amy Haas (KCC Business)

Meeting began at 1:50pm.

  1. The CUNY Games Network hosted a second, “First Fridays” Idea Exchange event immediately prior to this meeting.
    1. The next event is on June 3rd, 2022 at noon. You can get information by joining the CUNY Games Network mailing list.  More information can be found here: https://games.commons.gc.cuny.edu/  and here: https://commons.gc.cuny.edu/groups/games-teaching-and-learning/ .
  2. We continued to work on our collaborative escape room in our privately shared google drive.
  3. The discussion focused on the settings for branched decision making and giving targeted feedback to a player, based on their response using a Google Form.
  4. Amy shared an Escape Room she created for her accounting class, and we worked on troubleshooting the settings so students would be sent to a particular section, or back to the main room when needed.
  5. Discussion of topics for next semester include:
    1. Continuing with Escape Room Design
    2. Working on ideas for Student-Generated games for formative or summative assessments.
  6. Post semester surveys were sent via email.
  7. An example of an escape room generated using Google Forms and Slides can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/y5ry2zdy
  8. Meetings will resume in the Fall of 2022. Please contact Grace for more information.

Meeting Minutes 4-08-2022

April 11, 2022 / Leave a comment

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

Friday, April 8th, 2022, 1:50pm via Zoom

Grace Axler-DiPerte, Facilitator

Participants: Grace Axler-DiPerte (KCC BIO), Lilja Neilsen (KCC BIO), Christina Colon (KCC BIO), Tom Lavazzi (KCC ENG), Amy Haas (KCC Business)

Meeting began at 1:50pm.

  • We began with a review of how the semester is going:
    • The James Goetz Memorial Photo Essay Contest is now open for entries.
    • Amy mentioned she found a good online tool for making crossword puzzles, that students can do entirely online.
      • https://crosswordlabs.com/
      • Is free, and very simple to make a crossword
      • Students can submit a screenshot of their work for credit
      • Has response validation so students know when they have the correct answer
      • Fun review of vocabulary
      • Can also collect clues from students to make a student generated crossword, or have students make a crossword for their classmates to solve.
    • Tom mentioned that he is working on a new tool to help students become immersed in sentence diagramming.
  • We worked on how to set up Groups in Blackboard for a more collaborative environment.
  • We continued our work on Escape Rooms, working on the folder in Google Drive (contact Grace for the link).
    • Discussed using Escape Rooms in teams. We think it might best work synchronously, rather than asynchronously when working as a group.
    • Went through set up of the “room” or Google Slide to include links to “locks” or Google Forms, as well as instructions for players of your “room”
    • Instructions can be made as a Google Doc, another slide, or even a fun video that goes with your theme or lesson.
    • Not all clues/locks need to be Google forms.
      • Ciphers, webpages or videos can also contain information or clues to unlock your room.
      • You can make fake text messages, newspaper articles, or even receipts using tools available on the internet, and these can serve as clues or devices to add drama and interest to your room.
    • We went through an example of a branched choice with feedback in Google Forms.
    • Some effective escape rooms may be entirely in Google Forms without a slide “room”
    • For our next meeting, each participant has been asked to try and make a “lock” in the Google Slide, or Google Forms. It need not be elaborate, and at our next meeting on May 6th, 2022, we will put the locks together to make our final “door” to escape the room.
  • Meeting ended at 2:50PM

Meeting Minutes 03-18-22

March 28, 2022 / Leave a comment

Game Based Learning (GBL) Faculty Interest Group (FIG)

Friday, Mar 18, 2022, 1:50pm via Zoom

Grace Axler-DiPerte, Facilitator

Participants: Grace Axler-DiPerte (KCC BIO), Lilja Neilsen (KCC BIO), Mary Ortiz (KCC BIO), Christina Colon (KCC BIO) Victoria Somogyi (LGA; ENG), Olga Kagan (SPS), Tamika Twiggs-Jennings (KCC Continuing Education)

Meeting began at 1:50pm.

  1. Recap of the CUNY Games Conference 8.0 which occurred on 1/27 and 1/28/2022, via Zoom. The program can be viewed here: https://games.commons.gc.cuny.edu/cgc2022/
    1. Highlights included a rapid version of “What’s Your Game Plan?” designed by Joe Bisz, Designing for HyFlex, and Universal Design in Gaming. There were also idea exchanges surrounding virtual escape rooms, and mini-games.
    2. The CUNY Games Network will be hosting “First Friday” Idea Exchange events. The theme will be “Bring What’s Broken” on April 1st, 2022.  Bring your “broken” classroom activities and discuss with others on how to “fix” them using game mechanics. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUqdu-grzwsHtFriR56YgdvoFGvJYiqznn5
  2. Tamika shared ways she uses games like Minecraft to teach elementary students sustainability. Playing in create mode to design, with unlimited access to resources, followed by survival mode can help determine if the design was sustainable, and also encourage community and collaboration among players.
  3. Victoria shared about her experience using mini-games to develop story writing in her students.
  4. Discussion about the use of cooperative games like Forbidden Island, Angry Dragons and Fish (https://fishgame.cloudinstitute.org/).
    1. Some games do not translate the same to online gaming, as people sometimes behave differently in person than they do online. Certain lessons and nuances of the games may be different depending on modality.
  5. This semester the FIG will explore online escape rooms. How to make, and how to assess whether students do, and learn from them.
    1. Today we went through the basic structure of a simple escape room we will work on together this semester in the Google suite of applications.
    2. Discussed how to gauge participation and collect responses.
  6. Meeting ended at 2:50PM

Meeting Minutes 11-17-2021

January 13, 2022 / Leave a comment

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

Wednesday, Nov 17, 2021, 1:50pm via Zoom

Grace Axler-DiPerte, Facilitator

Participants:    Grace Axler-DiPerte (KCC BIO), Evrick Brown (KCC Beh Sci), Christina Colon (KCC BIO), Amy Haas (KCC BUS), Olga Kagan (SPS Nursing), Tom Lavazzi (KCC ENG), Mary Ortiz (KCC BIO)

Meeting began at 1:50pm.

  1. Grace welcomed everyone to our 3rd and last meeting for this semester.
  2. Grace shared the post semester survey link: https://forms.gle/n7sfnyKHw5rUm3pw8
  3. Last time Amy shared items she did using flippity. She did a scavenger hunt with locks and keys with her class (it was more like an escape room).  The students liked it.  Amy demoed it for us via screen share.  It was on depreciation.  It was great because it got the students to know basic facts.  She was thrilled.  She had the students do this in teams as an assignment.  She showed us how she has this set up in Blackboard and showed us how it works.  Flippity is easy to use (do not touch the blue cells).  The students get several attempts at this.  Grace and Amy shared how to get students to actually do the games (ex. 1 point to participate, 2 points for the right answer).
  4. Grace spoke about flippity.net. She shared how it works and what it offers.
  5. Grace shared puzzlemaker: https://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/You can use this to make puzzles for your classes.
  1. Grace spoke about Ink (https://www.inklestudios.com/ink/) , a programming language you can use to make branched stories.
  2. We discussed Mind Mapping and available online tools. She also discussed using Google Jamboard and flippity to do mind maps.  There are a lot of mind mapping tools available.
  3. Grace shared flippity.net Manipulatives. You can use Google Draw to make backgrounds.  Grace uses PPT to make backgrounds.  In flippity, remember to publish what you make, or you can lose it.
  4. Grace showed a trick: take a PPT slide, make a picture (you can re-size it), File, save as a jpg (you can do it for just one slide or all). She discussed using this to make backgrounds that don’t get lost.  In escape rooms she uses Google Image Search.
  5. Grace suggested not overwhelming students with lots of things in a game at once.
  6. Christina shared that she does scavenger hunts with her students using iNaturalist.
  7. Grace shared Taleblazer, an augmented reality gaming platform: http://taleblazer.org/. This hails from the MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program Learning Lab.  Grace “placed” microbes across the KCC campus for students to use a phone app to find the microbes.
  1. Christina shared that you could have students or teams of students do a mini bio blitz on the KCC campus in iNaturalist. See who can get the most species/taxa.  In iNaturalist students contribute observations to a global database.
  2. Christina mentioned the Journey North site for migrating butterflies. Also, Nature’s Notebook.
  3. Tom showed/shared his first flippity. He used the Flippity Randomizer to have students make an ad for Advertising.  Discussion followed.  He will come back next semester to let us know how it went.
  4. Christina mentioned Prokaryotes Are Us to have students sell a prokaryote to us. It is a multi-media assignment (ex. video).
  5. Grace mentioned a board game called Snake Oil to sell things. She showed us a photo of it.
  6. Christina mentioned a fishing game to show over-fishing and its repercussions. The site is: https://cloudinstitute.org/fish-game
  1. Grace shared we want our student’s attention, not just have them do a game. She spoke about the game she and Mary created and published called, “What’s Your Diagnosis?”.  Students must ask the right questions to find the correct microbe causing the disease.
  2. Amy mentioned Herstory and playing Monopoly with uneven amounts of money.
  3. Grace thanked everyone for participating this semester and is so glad we are trying out different things shared in this FIG.
  4. In the Spring, Grace will go over Google Forms. She may set up a separate meeting for this topic.
  5. Our GBL spring meetings will be on campus, but maybe online, too. Grace will let us know.

Meeting ended at 2:53 pm.

Notes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz, KCC Bio

Meeting Minutes 10-20-2021

November 9, 2021 / Leave a comment

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

Wednesday, Oct 20, 2021, 1:50pm via Zoom

Grace Axler-DiPerte, Facilitator

Participants:    Grace Axler-DiPerte (KCC BIO), Amy Haas (KCC BUS), Tyronne Johnson (KCC),

Olga Kagan (SPS Nursing), Tom Lavazzi (KCC ENG), Mary Ortiz (KCC BIO)

Meeting began at 1:50pm.

  1. Grace welcomed everyone.
  2. Grace mentioned “inky”, which has a coding language with Unity. They have an editing software to create games.  You can use it to skeleton a game.  More on this later.
  3. Olga discussed her game where you look at ingredients to see if the food is safe. She discussed food allergens/components and cross-references.  The premise for the game is to teach people how to read food labels because there is a great deal of misinformation out there.  It is important to learn/know about ingredients (ex. sesame in tahini, anchovies in Caesar dressing).
  4. Amy shared Mind Mapping. She used Flippity to develop two games for her students.  Her class is in teams.  Amy explained how she set it up in Flippity and showed us her game where students must place steps in an accounting cycle in the correct order.  Each team must submit it.  The website for Flippity is: Flippity.net.  We mentioned this could be used to do something with the Krebs Cycle.  Grace may try this next semester in General Microbiology with the Krebs Cycle.  When using Flippity, you must remember to publish it (File, Publish to web).
  5. Amy showed us her second game (puzzle) using classification of accounting terms on a page with columns. We discussed this.
  6. Grace shared a Mind Map Template in Mural. The URL is:

https://www.mural.co/templates/mind-map

She showed us how to use it.  There is a tutorial.  She is working on this for skin and eye diseases for Microbiology.  The template is large, but the print is tiny.

She Googled mind mapping to find it.  Grace demoed setting it up and using it.  You can use shapes, arrows, etc.  Discussion followed.  You can set it up based on categories (ex. bacterial, viral).

  1. Olga tried Kahoot with her children. It would be hard to do in Nursing because the curriculum does not give much leeway.
  2. Tyronne has used Kahoot for review with his students. He got the upgraded version to make his own slides.  He likes Flippity and Mural over Blackboard Collaborate.  Amy shared that you could use a Word document instead of the blackboard white board.  Grace purchased an inexpensive document camera from Amazon that she uses as a blackboard.
  3. Amy mentioned using Poll Anywhere.
  4. Grace mentioned Questions.
  5. Grace shared that she assigns Kahoots as homework. The students get extra points if they beat her score.  They may do it 3-4 times to beat her, but they are actually studying.  This can be a challenge in an asynchronous environment.
  6. Amy wants to try an escape room. This can be done via Google Slides in Google Drive.  She showed her Library example and how she set it up (ex. background elements, add sections, add questions).  There is opportunity to give students feedback on wrong answers.  Students get a “key” (ex. carrot) to get out of the room.
  7. Grace demoed her Virtual Gram Stain Lab.
  8. Grace shared that if you only want to use text, you can use “ink”. She showed us this.  “ink” is a language.  It is text-based.  There is a YouTube video by hoverboard that gives a tutorial on how to use “ink”.  They have a demo on WWII you can look at.  You can download the editor for free.  You can upload what you do to other places.  The editor is “inky”.
  9. Tyronne asked Grace to show us her Virtual Gram Stain Lab. Grace shared it with us. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1vlvf3-r782HvxWKr0w-2DybBnNFk0oU1GYLJxPVnvoE/preview

Discussion followed.  Grace gives the students the preview.  You change the slide ID to preview so the students cannot change what you give them.  Grace will send the link.

  1. At the next meeting Grace will do more on ink, escape rooms, Google Forms, and Questions. Also, for the next meeting, let Grace know what you want and come to share what you tried.
  2. The next (third and last for the Fall 2021 semester) meeting will be on Wed, 11/17/2021 at 1:50pm via Zoom. Grace will get the meeting info out to us.

Meeting ended at 2:54 pm.

Notes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz, KCC Bio

Meeting Minutes 09-29-21

October 15, 2021 / Leave a comment

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

Wednesday, Sep 29, 2021, 1:50pm via Zoom

Grace Axler-DiPerte, Facilitator

Participants:    Grace Axler-DiPerte (KCC BIO), Amy Haas (KCC BUS), Tom Lavazzi (KCC ENG),

Mary Ortiz (KCC BIO)

Meeting began at 1:50pm.

  1. Grace welcomed everyone.
  2. Grace shared that the Mollie Industria website is not working anymore. You get a warning that it may not be safe.  Grace found it on Crazygames.com.
  3. Grace asked if we tried anything discussed previously:
    1. Tom tried Flippity and had a hard time setting it up.
    2. Amy used Monopoly “in class”. She was trying to find a version for remote.  She tried working in Excel.  There is a Monopoly version online for $1.99.  She found a free game, not Atlantic City, but you can play it.  She was trying to get students in groups outside of class (one is synchronous, one is asynchronous).  The game she found is Business Game: Monopolist.  A group can be divided in half and play against each other.  The students make journal entries.  Discussion followed.
  4. Grace had groups in Google Docs for asynchronous sections, so she did not have to coordinate.
  5. We discussed groups and games. Amy used data from Monopoly in a spreadsheet.
  6. Grace has students do a reflection on the games. She uses Flippity.  She has students share a study tip.  The Flippity URL is:  flippity.net
  7. Grace mentioned having students do collaborative flash cards. Each student creates a card so that the class has a whole set of flashcards.
  8. Grace showed us how to use Flippity to set up flashcards. Do not modify anything in blue.  Grace has the students make flashcards for Bacterial Metabolism in her Microbiology class.
  9. Grace showed https://jeopardylabs.com It is best for synchronous or in person classes.  Kahoot is better for use in asynchronous classes.
  10. Grace went over the Flippity Randomizer (like spinning a wheel). She uses it in Microbiology to set up to see if conditions are possible.  Discussion followed.  In Flippity you can do concept maps with manipulatives.
  11. Grace demoed Google Jam Board (through the Google suite) using sticky notes (text boxes) as elements to arrange so that a concept makes sense in a flow chart. This can be used for doing ordered steps.  You can Save/Share it like a Google Form.  Discussion followed.  You could also use PPT or Google Slides as “old tech” to do this.  Let Grace know if you try this.
  12. We also looked at the following in Flippity: Word Search, Crossword, Hangman, Mad Libs.
  13. Our next meeting will be on Wed, Oct 20, 2021, at 1:50pm via Zoom. Grace will send out the Zoom info.  (The 3rd meeting will be on Nov 17, 2021, at 1:50pm via Zoom.)
  14. Amy mentioned her FIG for tomorrow and the book, “Intentional Tech”, by Derrik Bruff.

Meeting ended at 2:51 pm.

Notes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz, KCC Bio

Meeting Minutes 5-19-21

May 20, 2021 / Leave a comment

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

Wednesday, May 19, 2021, 1:30pm via Zoom

Grace Axler-DiPerte, Facilitator

Participants:    Grace Axler-DiPerte (KCC BIO), Amy Haas (KCC BUS), Olga Kagan (SPS CUNY),

Alex Mulligan (KCC BIO), Mary Ortiz (KCC BIO)

Meeting began at 1:30pm.

  1. Grace welcomed everyone.
  2. Amy shared her experience at the TATYC (Teachers of Accounting in Two Year Colleges) Conference. She shared using escape rooms in accounting. One presenter (Leslie Van Wolvelear at Oakton in Des Plaines, IL) did the whole semester as an escape room.  Amy will meet with Leslie and subsequently share with us.  This was creative and keeps the class engaged all semester.  Grace asked Amy to invite her to our meetings in the Fall 2021 semester.
  3. Amy also went to the meetings Joe Bisz had and shared her experience. The CUNY Games network has been hosting monthly to semi-monthly sessions. You can find out more about it at: https://games.commons.gc.cuny.edu/ .
  4. Grace spoke about the CUNY Games network and what it is. We discussed the CUNY Games Conference.  It is held at different CUNY locations with different formats.  They do brain-storming sessions.
  5. At the last meeting, Grace showed us how to set up an escape room.
  6. Grace asked how any game or activity we tried this semester went.
    1. Alex spoke about switching the grading format to a 1000-point grading system for the semester (# points earned / # points graded).  With this new system, fewer students asked about grades.  It was like a game (“gotta get points”).  Alex asked how to handle extra credit points in BlackBoard.  Amy gave some pointers on how to do this.  Discussion followed.
    2. Amy shared keeping things easier the first week of the semester so as not to bombard the students. Give the basics.  Discussion followed.  Consistency is important.  Grace shared how she organizes materials.
    3. Amy and Grace shared Kahoot experiences. Grace said students do it over and over to beat her score.  This tricks them into studying the material.  We discussed putting in silly answers to make it fun.  Adding pictures also makes it fun.
    4. Alex emphasizes to students that assignments are studying.
    5. Grace had students select a fungus on iNaturalist and research it. Maybe will have students look for particular fungi next time for points in a Scavenger Hunt.
    6. Mary encourages her Biostatistics students to look at problems as puzzles to solve.
    7. We discussed “Two truths and a lie”.
  7. Grace and Alex did Up Goer Five. We discussed it and Grace demonstrated using it.  With this game you must explain something technical without using technical language.  You use the 1,000 most common words in the English language.
  8. Next meeting will be in Fall 2021. We are not sure yet of the format (online, in person).  Next semester we will ask Kathy to share Mad Libs.  Grace asked us to let her know what we would like to do next semester.
  9. We discussed CUNY Games Network Academic Commons. Notes from the “openspace” during workshops and conferences provide a lot of resources, and one example can be found here.
  10. Meeting ended at 2:30 pm.

Notes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz, KCC Bio

Meeting Minutes 4-28-21

May 13, 2021 / Leave a comment

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

Wednesday, Apr 28, 2021, 1:30pm via Zoom

Grace Axler-DiPerte, Facilitator

Participants:    Grace Axler-DiPerte (KCC BIO), Olga Kagan (SPS CUNY), Lorraine LaPrade (KCC LIBR), Mary Ortiz (KCC BIO), Raluca Toscano (KCC Math)

Meeting began at 1:30pm.

  1. Grace welcomed everyone.
  2. Grace showed how an Escape Room works.
    1. She started with a demo slide show on How to Make an Escape Room.
    2. Start with a Google Slide (Bitmoji, Background, Instructions, Links). You can then post a link to Google Docs.
    3. With each step you can get a word and at the end get a key to unlock the door to escape. For example, “test” “always” “room” “your” becomes “Always test your room.”
    4. When you complete the room, you get “You’ve escaped”. The students can upload the photo of this to show they did it.
    5. Put the slides in viewform.
    6. The slides can give feedback.
    7. Discussion followed.
    8. You can search Google Images with selection for “Free to Use” for images.
  3. Grace showed how to set up an Escape Room.
    1. For each Escape Room set up a folder on Google Drive with a Google Forms document and a Google Slides document.
    2. Use “edit” mode to create your slides.
    3. Grace went through her Virtual Gram Stain set up in Goggle Forms.
    4. Grace went through the anatomy of a single question. If students get the question wrong, you can tell them why, let them go back to do the question again.
    5. Make every question required so that they cannot skip ahead.
    6. Keep track of where the questions are.
    7. Use the “two bars” to add a section.
    8. The process of setting this up will take less time as you do it more (from about 5 hours the first time you do it, to 1.5 hours once you have done it several times).
    9. Grace used Google Chrome and showed how to set up a room 9need Google Forms and Google Slides).
    10. Instructions should include how to play the game.
    11. Share the game but do not let anyone edit it.
    12. Then put in an Escape Room slide. Insert the link.  Paste it.  Then test it.
    13. Next, write a branch decision pathway.
    14. Grace showed how to create a question. Multiple choice questions are easier to work with.  You can make and remove options.  Use “go to section” based on the answer.  Then do branching decisions.  Link sections to answers.  Grace showed how to make, do, and edit sections and make them required.  You can force making the right choice.  Discussion followed.
    15. Test every choice to see where it goes. Make sure it goes where you want it to.  Check to see it sends you back to correct sections.  Test it.  Use preview.
    16. Create a flowchart or map before you create the Escape Room to stay focused.
    17. Sections update automatically when you change/add a section.
    18. Grace went through a series of setting up questions with options/answers/links. Discussion took place.

 

  1. Next meeting will be 5/19 /2021 at 1:30 pm on Zoom.  Grace will send out log in info.
  2. Meeting ended at 2:30 pm.

Notes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz, KCC Bio

Meeting Minutes 03-24-21

April 21, 2021 / Leave a comment

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

Wednesday, Mar 24, 2021, 1:40pm via Zoom

Grace Axler-DiPerte, Facilitator

Participants:    Grace Axler-DiPerte (KCC BIO), Joe Bisz (BMCC ENG), Christina Colon (KCC BIO), Amy Haas (KCC ENG), Lorraine LaPrade (KCC LIBR), Tom Lavazzi (KCC), Alex Mulligan (KCC BIO), Kathleen Offenholly (BMCC MAT), Mary Ortiz (KCC BIO),Michael Ortiz (KCC BEH)

Meeting began at 1:50pm.

  1. Grace welcomed everyone.
  2. Joe discussed having an event every two months; rapid ideas (variation on “What’s Your Game Plan?”). There will be an event next month on a theme.  Grace will put in a plug to the GBL group.
  3. Grace shared experiences at the 2021 Gaming Conference.
  4. Grace shared flippity.net . It has a Randomizer.  Grace walked us through this showed us how it works with a demo.  She also showed us a Randomizer she created for General Microbiology on bacterial growth and selective and differential media.  You create and can give students the link to spin the wheel. It is not hard to use.  It has a template that is easy to edit for customization.  This is free.  It has templates.  There is also a Flashcards feature (like the quiz show Jeopardy).  The Randomizer requires you to File, Publish to the Web, then Publish (must do this to get the link), then Get the Link to give to students.  Grace also demonstrated Manipulations in flippity.  This is nice because it is open ended, and you can change the background.  Students find it fun and engaging.  Amy shared how she could use this in Accounting.  Alex shared the possibility of using flippity for diseases in Microbiology with symptoms, drugs, etc.  Tom said we could use it for Concept Values in Marketing.  Grace mentioned there is a Memory Game on flippity that could be used for review.  Much discussion followed with Q&A.
  5. Grace mentioned canva.com . It helps you design with a color palette and fonts.
  6. Grace shared Google Jam Board with background, sticky notes and how to share it. She recommended making copies for students.
  7. Alex had an idea to have students design a flier about a disease because many have stated they want to go into public health. Grace shared there are templates for pamphlets.  Students can use a template to create pamphlets so they can concentrate on the content.  They can download the file as a PDF or JPEG.
  8. Christina shared that she plans to have the student do role playing in Ecology.
  9. We discussed trying one new thing each semester to see if it works or not.
  10. Alex discussed a “1000 point” grading system. It makes the whole class a game.
  11. We discussed how to manipulate the Grade Center in BlackBoard (ex. hiding the weighted total).
  12. At the next meeting Grace will share how to create an Escape Room.
  13. Grace will send out the beginning of semester survey. Please fill it out and return.
  14. Next meeting will be Wed, 4/28/2021 at 1:50pm on Zoom. Grace will set out log in info.
  15. Meeting ended at 2:58pm.

Notes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz, KCC Bio

Meeting Minutes 11-20-20

December 15, 2020 / Leave a comment

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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