One of the most difficult and significant tasks in creating content in the game generator is to adapt the content that you want to transfer to the “correct” format.
For the purpose of clarifying the matter, we chose to write the post in the style of an interview, in order to allow clearer and sharper writing.
The “interview” and the post were written by Ami Hania – the founder of ClapLab and a wear expert.
Ami has been creating and adapting content templates for more than twenty years .
Question: What is the purpose of the game in pedagogical content?
According to my perception and experience and that of the company in the field, the game can be referred to in several ways:
Game for practice and repetition –
Perhaps the easiest way to incorporate games is to introduce the game into the lesson as a fun repetition of the material learned, and to use the questions themselves as a refinement of the most important things in the content that we would like to convey.
A game for learning new material –
A more challenging goal for the creator of the game, which requires much more thinking and correct construction of the content,
And maybe also a combination of guidance during the game.
In a game for relearning it is easier to use material that is material for memorization.
In material that is more educational and thought-provoking, the recommendation is to create a system of which the game is a part, or to build a system of games that will teach the material gradually.
Exam through play – use quite similar to practice.
However, since this is an exam, one should choose a pattern in which the required acting skill
Does not harm the ability of the players to show their knowledge in the field.
There is also a very good option for teachers and learners – to create an exam using a game without the testee knowing that he is in the exam.
This neutralizes the pressure and resistance of the test takers towards the “test”, when at the same time
The teachers can draw conclusions about the level of knowledge of the learners.
Question: How do you access the content you want to play?
In the first step, I recommend scanning the content you want to display in order to get to know it well .
After getting to know the content well, you can start thinking about what kind of game it can fit.
Even before that you have to think about another parameter which is the target audience ,
Who are the players who will play in the game we will create.
After we know what the content is adequately and understand who the target audience is,
You can scan the existing templates and start to familiarize yourself initially
For templates that fit well with the content you want.
My general approach to creating game content and matching is:
- The first measure is how easily the players will be able to connect to the content and how much fun they will have while playing, because playing without fun is problematic.
- The second measure is to think about the important points in the content that we would like the games to know and learn .
- The third measure is matching the fun and the content to each other in the right format, and matching the format to the target audience.
There are templates that are more childish and even if they are correct they will not suit an adult audience, and there are templates that have a lot of words and this makes it difficult for a younger audience, and vice versa.
Question: Following on from the answer about the nature of the patterns, who is it even suitable to play in learning?
Always remember that everyone loves to play! Everyone at any age loves to play. The shell and content need to change but everyone connects and wants to play.
In the games that we developed in the generator and in general, players of all ages, from all strata of the population and at all levels play. Engineers in high-tech companies and even top judges participated with great pleasure in the games we also developed for kindergartens.
The games combine challenge and knowledge, so if they are adapted to the target audience and the audience experiences the games as ones that respect them, they will rush to play and enjoy the game and the learning a lot.
question: Are there additional parameters in choosing the template?
Of course, there are many parameters and every content creator has different considerations when choosing the template and content.
However, two particularly significant parameters are time and place.
The time parameter – how much time do we have to play? If we have little time for the game we will choose faster patterns and patterns where the players will finish the game quickly.
The place parameter – where will the players play the game? Will this happen on their computer? On the smartphone?
And maybe they even play it as a group and would prefer a group or individual game that we will broadcast to everyone?
Question: I chose a template and created an adaptation to the content. How do you know it is true?
The best way to test pedagogical content, and certainly games, is to try them!
Only after experience can we know if they are good or not.
The first examiners of the content are the creators themselves. If you are a content creator just play the game yourself.
Feel if he is good, if he conveys the material, if you enjoy it.
After that, it is recommended to pass the game on to other people, perhaps partners in the project, the school or the subject of the exam.
And finally, watch who the target audience is while playing physically or digitally.
We check the games using Google Analytics and analysis of playing time and the end of the game of the players.
These metrics help us identify successful templates and successful content.
It is always recommended to listen to feedback, correct, improve and change until the games work. Both playful and pedagogical.
Sometimes you should try different templates on the same content and check which one works better.
Final question: What is your favorite template out of all the templates available on ClapLab today?
As always, you could say they were all my daughters. And they are all kind.
However, in choosing a template, the puzzle game is my favorite because it combines the skill of putting the puzzle together with answering questions.
And also on its visual side, like many other templates that combine images, it has a special and pleasant fun.
In the group game patterns, I really like the cracks, or alternatively the circle X ,
And this is because they combine strategy with the knowledge required of the players.