Lesson #9 Innovative and Creative Use of Digital Technology: LiveWorksheets and Educaplay

RESEARCHING IN EDUCATION

Today we've learned how the world of apps and educational platforms is constantly changing.

We can use these apps and platforms to:

1. Tackle a need or problem (our students don't understand some concepts, they get bored just listening, they need to visualize it, etc).

2. Think about whether it is better to solve it with or without technology and and which one entails more benefit than effort.

 

To find an app/platform, we have to take into account some important criteria:

• Cost (free or partially/completely payable).
• Difficulty for us to set up and prepare the activity..
• Complexity for students to use.
• How it manages student data (privacy).
• Reconsider if it actually contributes significantly to our teaching. 

 

Finally, for this lesson we did a group exercise on our Job & Professions topic using a new app or platform that we had to find on the internet and learn how to use:

• First activity with Live WorkSheets

The first activity we developed was a drag and drop proposal using a pre-existing worksheet taken from https://en.islcollective.com/. We first chose which type of activity we would like to do and then decided that a “drag and drop” exercise would be appropriate to help students become aware of a wide range of vocabulary that exists regarding professions. It is an activity for 5th grade students who are already acquainted with vocabulary regarding this theme, so it is an extension and refreshing activity to bring what is already known to the surface.

We followed the instructions in the tutorial and created the worksheet. Creating boxes for each part and typing in the appropriate information: drag: 4 would match with drop: 4 for example. At the end you can save the activity and post it on blogger. It also gives you the opportunity to embed it using HTML.

This is the link to the live worksheet that we created. Figure 1 is a screenshot of the activity being done:

     

Fig. 1 screenshot of drag and drop exercise of jobs and professions on Live Worksheets. 

• Second activity with Live WorkSheets

The second activity we made was for younger students at the end of 3rd grade, when they are very familiar with reading and identifying words and understanding them although they still do not have sufficient vocabulary to work on very extensive worksheets. We decided to create a matching game which student have fun doing. They get a grade at the end of it with the results so they can self-assess what they did right and wrong. We created boxes with the matching words and images using the term join: 5 matching with join: 5 for example. The result was this fun exercise that is very easy to make and fun for students to play and learn.

This is the link to the worksheet. Below in figure 2 we can see a screenshot of the activity being completed.

 

Fig. 2. Matching activity made using Live Worksheets. 

Other resources created on a different Application for the Creation of Educational Content: Educaplay Below we can see a screen caption of all the different activities that can be done when using Educaplay

Fig. 3: Types of activities that can be done on this platform

 

Overview: Educaplay is a collaborative platform where you can build your own resources with an interactive and professional result or where you can search for your perfect activity in a wide catalog (crosswords, puzzles, riddles, matching, dictation, presentations, interactive maps,...) with all kinds of subjects and levels.

Main features: to play or perform the activities you don't need to register, just link the activity. However, the free registration on the website is worth it if you want to create your own activities and save them. They also offer a premium version and although the free version has enough resources to use, when you pay, the options are greatly expanded.

How did we find it?: We used these words in our internet search: "free platforms to create online educational activities". Then we clicked on the first link https://www.teacherandcoach.com/5-apps-educativas-para-crear-actividades-online/, we read what they said about it and chose the first app. 

We then decided to make an “Alphabet” game. In Spanish it is known as the "Pasapalabra” game. Figure 4 is a screenshot of us creating the game. This is the link to it. We chose a profession for every letter in the alphabet. We chose a riddle to describe each profession. The game is then to guess and write what profession it is according to the answer of the riddle. This app was very user-friendly, and the result is very attractive and clear.

 

Fig. 4: a screenshot of how we configurate and create our Alphabet game before publishing it 

We were also able to type in what year the level of the activity corresponds to as well as the duration and the number of mistakes that the players can make. That allows us to make it highly specific and classify it according to our student’s needs as we can see in figure 5.

 

Fig. 5: a screenshot of the beginning of the activity

Finally, once we had all the letters of the alphabet with their definitions it can be used to play! The screen with the letters is on the left and the answers are typed in on the right. There is n no need to play in alphabetical order. Figure 6 is a screenshot of the final activity:

 

Fig. 6: The “Alphabet game” or “Pasapalabra" in use 

 It is possible to play for an unlimited number of times and restart the game to try your best! The only thing that is necessary is to register and then there are many free features available.