Teaching Revisions for Online Learning Games

            Online learning is perceived as an aim to “broaden and expand student experiences” (Picciano & Seaman, 2010, p. 2). As a future educator, I plan on teaching English to high school students. Online learning is definitely a facet I plan on incorporating in my teaching pedagogy. When I do decide to use an online educational game as a part of my lesson plan, there is nothing more that I want than for my students to be be fully engaged and cooperative. Ways in which I, as a teacher, can revise my assignments for my students when using an online educational game are to: integrate applicable challenge levels for my students to maneuver about, ensure equilibrium between instruction and entertainment within the game, and provide adequate performance feedback to my students. By executing these objectives in my online educational game, I feel that I can establish an effective online learning environment for my students.

            Online learning games have a variety of levels of difficulty. As a high school English teacher, I want to incorporate an online educational game my students can enjoy and be motivated to attempt, yet appropriately challenge them. If I were in my students’ shoes, I would not want a game too easy or too challenging for me. If the game I am applying my students to attempt is too easy and simple, then my students would probably get easily bored and lose interest. Consequently, if I give my students a very challenging game to complete, then it would not benefit them in any way because they would end up getting frustrated and quit. I feel that having an online educational game that meets the appropriate challenges amongst students will help them pay attention, as well as warrant an impactful learning and gaming experience.

            When applying an online learning game into my teaching pedagogy, I do not want my students to forget the goal of their gaming experience, which is learning. Some online educational games can be too entertaining to the point that distracts the learner from finishing the task at hand. I want my students to be totally engaged in the online educational game, but at the same time I do not want that overall engagement to hinder their ability to lose focus on acquiring the knowledge and skills displayed within the game. I believe that the entertainment aspect is just as important as the instructional and learning aspect in any online educational game. Finding an equilibrium between these two aspects will go exhibit effectiveness and efficiency in the online learning game as a whole.

            Feedback is crucial in any learning environment. According to Shelley Stagg Peterson (2010), verbal and written feedback can be an influential teaching tool. Feedback can be delivered in various ways, but in an online educational game, I feel that the most helpful way of giving feedback is through student performance. I understand that students do not take feedback too lightly, but they need to realize that feedback does more good than harm. With my students, I plan on giving them feedback on their performance after they complete the game, as well them providing me feedback on their thoughts and concerns regarding the online learning game. Feedback enables me to understand and pinpoint areas my students and myself need to work on. By providing adequate feedback to my students, I feel that my teaching pedagogy will be strong and effective because not only will feedback help me as an educator, but will also help my students learn from their mistakes and make room for improvements.

            Online learning certainly enlarges an individual’s learning and gaming experience. Implementing an online learning game as an assignment for my students will be definitely be challenging, but I am hopeful that with the right teaching pedagogy, I will be able to overcome such a challenge. Because I am going to be teaching English to high school students, I want to make sure that I am applicably meeting my students’ needs in successfully executing an online education game as a part of my teaching pedagogy. The online learning game I will distribute to my students will contain a level of difficulty in coherence to their level of understanding of the subject. Balancing entertainment and instruction within the online game is a must. I want my students to have fun, yet learn. In addition, feedback is important in any learning environment. It provides students, as well as teachers, an assessment of their strengths and weaknesses as learners. Revisions such as these will help me grow and flourish as an educator. Teaching online learning will, without a doubt, be such an experience for me as a future educator.