Studies have shown that games are an entertaining and highly effective method to review topics. Would the use of games as a pure instructional medium to teach learning objectives also be effective? The correct answer is “Yes, Absolutely!” Instructors know their classroom lectures should be engaging, interactive and encompass proven instructional strategies. They also know the importance of assessment and feedback to check for understanding. All these elements can be accomplished using a game in the classroom. Games Bring Learning to Life Games make situations come to life. They give your student the opportunity to collaborate with others in a team environment, demonstrate leadership, solve problems, organize details, create and tell stories. How do you begin to use a game as an instructional tool? Here are Ten Steps & Guidelines we recommend to help you jump-start the design of your game: 1. As with any session you are teaching, define your performance objectives. Make certain they have the three elements of a solid objective: Task; what do you want your student to be able to do when they leave your classroom? Condition; under what condition will they perform the task? Standard; what will be the measurement for knowing what “good” looks like? Once you have your performance objectives written and approved, you can move on to the next step. 2. Create questions based on your performance objectives. Remember your goal is to effectively communicate the objective, not necessarily to create fun. Granted, you are using a fun method to help you achieve your goal. 3. Choose a game format. Most people are familiar with the Jeopardy-style game format. This format translates well to the classroom because instructors can use multiple categories with four or more questions in each category. Try to vary the question formats by using true-false, open ended, multiple choice, and even questions based upon a display of images or video. Another popular format is the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?-style game. Participants have increasingly difficult multiple choice questions to answer with the aid of the audience, a 50-50 elimination or with the help of other players. 4. Control the pace of the game. Try not to rush through the questions and answers. This will increase comprehension of the questions and retention of the answers. Slow down the game and allow sufficient time to review key points in more detail. 5. Go beyond the questions and answers. Do not limit yourself to using questions or answers in your game to deliver your teaching points. Use your questions as a stepping point to your key points. You can use a question to drill down and talk about multiple points within a game. 6. Use appropriate images, video and audio whenever possible. Having the option of using video files, graphic files and even audio files to review the topics in greater detail enhances the experience for visual and auditory learners. Granted not everyone can run or have access to video, but if you can add images or audio, this will bring the presentation up to another level. 7. Re-purpose your PowerPoint presentation. Chances are you already have content and images in your PowerPoint presentation you can re-use to build your questions and answers. Following the answer portion of your question, you can also deliver a mini lecture within your game using multiple slides from PowerPoint. It is simple to convert a slide to a .SWF or .JPEG file format and import it into the Summary Area. To help you, there are many programs available that will convert slides from PowerPoint into a .SWF format. 8. Read the questions aloud to your audience. This helps with a previous point about pacing. You want your audience to clearly understand the questions so they can answer them correctly and increase their understanding. If it’s taking more than seven seconds for your audience to answer, then repeat the question. It’s the question that gets the audience thinking and this will enhance the learning. 9. Use props or demonstrate procedures. Don’t limit yourself to the visuals on the screen. For example, show the class how to perform a three or four-step procedure to process on patient assessment leaving out one step. Ask your audience to identify the next correct step. Base questions off of scenarios that proceed a question. Don’t forget to include those conditions or standards we discussed in Step 1 in your possible answer options! 10. Use summary points. When you watch TV game shows, the objectives are to entertain the viewer, sell commercial advertising and move the game along because it is essentially a competition. Their objective is not to teach or inform. If you are using a game as an instructional medium, always discuss and summarize your key points after each correct answer. This reinforces learning and increases retention. Summary Whatever game format you choose, it is your framework for creating an interactive, fun and challenging method of teaching performance objectives. Games help you maintain your audience’s attention longer than traditional lecture coupled with demonstration. Everyone ends up a winner when you help your class retain more information after playing a game. John Dillon, C3 Softworks To learn more: Watch video

Here is something that I did at a recent class reunion; it was a really different way to use Audience Response Pads and the BRAVO! Game Builder Suite for me especially since I primarily use “games” and show people how to use games as serious teaching tool. Initially I volunteered to make a trivia game to place on a website prior to the reunion, but someone thought “hey” wouldn’t it be great to play a few games at the reunion? So it was said, and so I got to work, it really was pretty easy coming up with the questions, thanks to having class yearbook at hand (did I really have all that hair?), and the internet, I grabbed photos from the yearbook and even grabbed photos and created a few question based off classmates Facebook pages, (ain’t the web a grand tool?). When creating the game I was trying to figure out a way to play the game at the event. I had many options, ring in devices, single player, teams, etc. But I decided I wanted to involve as many people as possible in the game and to try and make is as fun as possible. I decided I was going to play in teams and to get everyone involved I was going to use Audience Response Pads so everyone could play. I then came up with a name for the game “Do you Trust the Audience”, (I am so clever sometimes I even amaze myself) the title will make sense as you read on. Here is the basic premise of how the game was played, we broke the audience into 2 teams, and each player had their own Audience Response Pad (ARS), each ARS pad was assigned to one of the teams, when the questions would appear they would submit their answer via the ARS pads and the game would track all the responses for each person and tally up the score of each team. To play the game, and this is where the title “Do you Trust the Audience?” comes in, I would pick a “contestant”, this contestant would choose the answer for each question. Here is how it worked, when a question appeared in the game, each audience member would submit their individual answer via the ARS pad, when all the answers where submitted, I would not reveal the answer quite yet, I would just reveal the overall votes for each possible answer. For example when I reveal the results of the votes submitted I could see that 65% of the audience picked answer A, and 30% picked answer B and the remaining picked C as an answer. I would then ask the “contestant” do you “Trust the Audience?” or do you want to choose your own answer. Whatever the “contestant” chose is how I would reveal the answer. Surprisingly, we found that the majority vote was not always the correct answer and in some cases the answers were all over the place showing that the audience did not have any clear consensus on what the correct answer was. Another fun moment in the game is after the “contestant” picked an answer, the moment of truth of which team won the round came, this is where were game would display with a little fan fair the overall percentage of correct responses for each team. The “contestant” in this case was really a prop for the game, I needed a way to reveal the answer, I could have just simply chose the most popular response but if there was a tie I would have to choose which answer to reveal, not a big deal but by choosing a “contestant” I was able to have them choose the answer. Just using the ARS pads and breaking the group into teams was a hit on its own, but adding the “contestant” was the icing on an already great tasting cake. After the event, I then easily modified the games for the web (changed out the intro screen, the initial one Was titled “Do you Trust the Audience”, since the online version would play differently from the event version I changed the names and added a thank you note to thank the organizers in the opening screen, the game now is being be shared with those that could not attend or if people wanted just play it again. To see sample trivia games click on links: 1979 Trivia Example 1 and 1979 Trivia Game 2 John Dillon, C3 SoftWorks, johnd@c3softworks.com

JUNE 2009 - C3 SoftWorks PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release: Monday, June 12th, 2009 C3 Softworks Releases: BRAVO! Response: C3 SoftWorks; Minneapolis, MN. June 12, 2009: C3 SoftWorks, a leading software provider in the training and educational markets, is pleased to announce the release of BRAVO! Response. BRAVO! Response takes classroom training to a whole new level. Combining the engaging qualities of a training game with the power of a comprehensive assessment tool, this exciting new program puts your whole class “in the game.” Your audience will be completely engaged, as they “click” on their wireless keypads to “play” the game and interact with your content. Ideal for introducing new concepts, content review, or knowledge assessment, BRAVO! Response provides instant feedback to let you know what they know in real time. Whether in traditional team mode OR as individual play – this new training method leaves no one out. Designed to engage all learners, BRAVO! Response utilizes the BRAVO! game suite to offer a dynamic way to present any content. The suite is available in three formats (classroom, web, and LMS) and is comprised of the following games: Quiz Show, Billionaire, ShowDown, and Spin Off. BRAVO! Response provides an easy-to-use interface that walks users through the simple steps of creating a game and using the keypads. To create a game, one simply types in a category, inserts questions, and in seconds, you’re ready to play. A handy wizard is provided with the software, making keypad registration and implementation a snap. BRAVO! helps trainers create an educational experience that “sticks.” Whether they’re introducing new content, or reviewing content that they’ve just presented, BRAVO! helps instructors engage everyone in their class. It's easy to add audio, video, and still images to any of the games, to provide context for the material presented, and ensure Trainees’ rapt attention. About C3 SoftWorks. Founded in 2006, C3 SoftWorks is committed to producing tools that enhance every educational experience. With over 25 years of involvement in education and training, we bring a deep understanding of the instructional challenges educators face. Try our games in your next training session and see for yourself how serious (and effective) fun can be. More Information: Click Here for more information on BRAVO! Response. Pricing: For pricing, contact C3 SoftWorks at: sales@c3softworks.com Press Contact: Corrie Anderson corriea@c3softworks.com www.c3softworks.com (800) 906-7056