Online learning tool ‘The Reading Game’ took out first prize in the web-based game category and second place overall at the recent Educational Games Competition in Berlin.
“I’m really am pleased we did so well in the company of such high standard games,” said Learning and Teaching Centre Educational Developer and Reading Game program designer and developer Robert Parker.
Compared to the overall competition winner – a private company with a large team of coders, designers and developers working with a university research centre and a huge budget – Robert says they were able to produce a well-designed and effective game for a twentieth of the cost.
“The Reading Game focuses on course content,” he said. “It leverages game mechanics to make the participants’ interactions with the game fun. To the convenor of a course, however, it is much more.”
The crowd-sourcing framework that enables a group of participants to collaboratively create a learning space in which every action serves to introduce, build or clarify concepts from the course material by asking questions is what makes this game distinct.
“Following the competition there were many academics who wanted to use the Reading Game right away and over multiple platforms,” said Robert.
The Reading Game will soon be available for staff use in iLearn. In the meantime contact the iLearn team (ilearn.help@mq.edu.au) to find out more about its potential use in your unit.