Excellent and Free Game-Based Educational Sites

 

         Game-based learning is becoming a more prevalent tool for classroom instruction and for the reinforcement of educational skills and concepts.  While there is a plethora of pricey software and costly sites that teachers and students can use to enhance instruction, there are also some really effective, well-recommended, free game-based learning sites on the web.  The main educational sites that I’ve explored are the American Library Association’s (ALA) list of Top 25 Educational Websites and the educational sites on Time Magazine’s 2012 list of 50 Best Websites.

Photo Provided By: Philip Taylor

    In many school systems, the school librarian is also the person in charge of purchasing educational software for the school. He or she is also responsible for maintaining the school computer lab, and accountable for recommending online educational sites for students to use to enhance their instruction.  This is why a list of recommended educational websites from the American Library Association is so credible.  The ALA’s list is broken down into six categories and each of these groupings feature sites that help to meet instructional goals and objectives that support the Common Core Initiative. The categories are: 

•  media sharing  
• digital storytelling
• management and organization
• social networking and communication
• content resources
• curriculum collaboration   

    The ALA’s website states that they chose these sites because of “their exemplary histories of authoritative, dynamic content and curricular relevance” (ALA).

            I spent some time checking out each of the ALA’s recommended sites.  From my personal point of view as a student, my favorite was in the realm of digital storytelling.  “Comic Master” is a digital graphic novel creator, much like the program “Comic Life” that I’ve used in other Mass Comm. classes.  It allows users to set up a graphic novel page, choose from a series of backgrounds for each section on the page, choose characters, create text bubbles, and text to write a graphic novel.  While it is limited in its characters and backgrounds, the user’s imagination is unlimited in the stories that can be created.  An additional fun feature of this site is that there is a music player at the top of the page that allows the user to set the mood with music as he or she works.  This program could be a great introduction to creating graphic novels at an upper elementary to middle school level, and I think it’s a great way to get students interested in writing and creating in general. Please click on the link to check out the ALA’s entire list of recommended sites to learn more.

            TimeMagazine’s 2012 List of 50 Best  Websites features websites that could be used in many venues, but only four that they consider specifically educational:

1. Learnist
2. Coursera  
3. Codeacademy  
4. Vocabulary  

     Learnist, is an information sharing site that features user-created lessons that bring together web pages, videos, Google e-books and other items on a specific topic. Coursera features free courses from universities from all over the world.  Codeacademy features free courses on topics such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript.  Vocabulary is a multiple choice site designed to help enhance your vocabulary.  Much of the vocabulary is similar to or is featured on the SAT exam.  I personally found this one the most fun, simply because I really enjoy word games and word play.  Click on the links to check all of these sites out!

            As the classrooms of the future evolve, it is inevitable that an enormous feature of them will be the usage of technology and game-based learning.  That’s why it is so crucial that educationally solid, credible sites are freely and readily available for all learners.