You wouldn’t give a hyperactive child a can of Red Bull, would you? Heck no. Well, as silly as that question seems, it does bring me to my topic today, on using ring-in devices (those that show who rang in first, not to be confused with audience response pads) when using games to teach. What do the 2 have in common? Well, for starters, many people think that ring-in devices are a necessity when playing a Jeopardy-style game. They feel that the devices add an exciting, game show element to the proceedings. This is true, but does it provide the desired outcome for your training session?

Many years ago, when I first started using games in the classroom as a review tool, I used ring -in devices to amp-up the energy in the room. Not only did they add to the “game effect,” but the ring-in devices also provided a clear answer to “who rang in first?” It seemed to make sense at the time, and for about a year, I continued to use the ring-in devices, because of what I thought it brought to the training session. Then one day, I was doing training for a group of Police officers, and when I got to the location, I realized that I had forgotten the ring in devices at home. I truly believed the game would not be the same without them, and as it turns out, I was right. So for that session, I needed to control which team would answer a questions. I decided to play the game in round robin mode. After the first 4 questions, I realized how much smoother and more controlled the game was playing. In fact, I found that not using the ring-in devices, not only improved the quality of the training session, but to my amazement it did not affect the engagement factor for the students. With this group, the lack of a ring-in device had a calming effect, compared to the hyper-competitive effect that ring-in devices created in previous training session with them. I found it easier (and less distracting) to present my content to a group that was more concerned with getting the answer right, than ringing-in first. Playing the game in round robin mode help me create that environment.

In retrospect, I realize that I was influenced by TV game shows and how I saw others use ring-in devices with similar style games. I thought that I needed to ensure that the game was competitive, by introducing ring-in devices. What I found, was that the game provided enough stimulation, without the help of ring-in devices.

I am not saying that ring-in devices don’t have their place (in the right environments, they provide order, so you don’t have to spend all of your time discussing “who rang in first”), and with some groups you may need an extra boost of energy. The key, is to not be afraid to experiment. My mistake, the day I forgot the ring-in devices, was probably the best mistake I’ve made in a long time, and it greatly influenced how I’ve used games in the classroom since.

There are a lot of good resources out there on how to write good questions. In this section, we will talk about how you can best use BRAVO! and provide some suggestions on ways you can use questions more effectively in your game.

To start, what is your objective? Are you reviewing for a test, or are you using the game as a way to deliver content? Are you using the game online, in the classroom, or through a webinar (PING)? How you create a game for classroom will and should differ from a game that will be played online. Since a classroom game will be projected, you have to watch your question/answer length to ensure maximum ease of readability. Forcing your audience to read long questions and answers can seriously slow down game play.

Common Pitfalls of formatting questions and answers

Lengthy Questions

In the classroom, one of the biggest mistakes instructors can make is to get too wordy with their questions and answers. Here is an example of a lengthy question:

Question: “You get called to a 56 year old male, complaining of severe chest pain and shortness of breath. He is diaphoretic, has no current medical problems, and isn’t taking any medications. What is the first thing you should do for this patient?”

A. Give nitro
B. Give baby aspirin
C. Acquire a 12 lead EKG
D. Get insurance information

The Problem: In the game builder, this is a lot for the students to read, and more text means it will be tougher to read. Since everyone reads at different speeds, this can make absorbing the information tougher for some. You want to make sure that your text does not consume a page. You can probably get away with this with an online game, but for a classroom game this is getting too wordy.

Solution: When building your questions, ask yourself this question: “Can I get the same answer with less?” For this example, I shortened the question without losing any important details and I was able to get the same answer:

“You have a 56 year old male with severe chest pain, shortness of breath, and diaphoretic. What should be the first thing you do for this patient?”

If you need more information to answer the question, then add this information either in a Preview or Summary Slide. Preview Slides introduce additional information prior to your question. Summary Slides show additional information after a question.

For this example, we could add the entire paragraph to the preview slide which would look like this:

“You get called to a 56 year old male complaining of severe chest pain and shortness of breath. He is diaphoretic, has no current medical problems, and is not prescribed any medications.”

Then the question would read: “What is the first thing you should do for this patient?”

Lengthy Answers

Keep your answers short for the classroom. If you see, in the game player, that your answers are spilling into 2 lines, you have way too much text. I recommend employing a rule of no more than 6 words per answer. Here is an example of lengthy answer:

Preview: You get called to a 56 year old male complaining of severe chest pain and shortness of breath. He is diaphoretic, has no current medical problems, and is not prescribed any medications.

Question: “What should be your treatment?”

A. IV, Nitro, ASA, Oxygen, 12 lead, EKG
B. IV, Nitro, ASA, Oxygen
C. IV, Nitro, Oxygen, ASA, Morphine, 12 lead EKG
D. IV, Nitro, 12 Lead EKG

NOTE: In this example, notice that all of the answers are similar. Remove the redundancy, and either add it the question or the preview slide. Also, instead of listing multiple items in an answer, (which would be okay for online games) try to have the answer as a single focus.

Solution:

Preview: You get called to a 56 year old male complaining of severe chest pain and shortness of breath. He is diaphoretic, has no current medical problems, and is not prescribed any medications.

Question: “What should be your treatment?”

A. IV
B. Nitro
C. 12 lead EKG
D. Aspirin

As I mentioned earlier, you have a few more options and a little more latitude when it comes to making games for the web. However, if you are in a classroom, and especially if you are using audience response pads, keeping your questions and answers short aids readability.

How you write your questions can really have an impact on the results you are looking for. The basic objective of questions and answers is to lead you to the key point(s) you want to convey. These points don’t always have to be covered in the question and answers; rather they can be presented in a preview or summary slide as well.

In conclusion, don’t try to cram everything into your questions and answers. Just cover one teaching point and don’t forget to use the preview and summary slides to add additional information.