Like most teachers, I’m a fan of using Quizizz, Kahoot, or Blooket in my classes as fun reinforcing learning games – plus, they’re great formative assessment tools!
I’ve wondered over the years if some creative people would ever develop a similar model for writing practice.
Frankenstories came closest (see “Frankenstories” Is A Quizizz/Kahoot-Like Game For Writing), but I never thought it was an ideal set-up. I just went to their site tonight, and see they’re off-line. I’m not sure if that’s just a temporary glitch, or if it’s permanent.
Today, I learned about a new site called Groovelit which, I think, comes a lot closer to being a helpful writing game for teachers and students.
Plus, it’s free!
You first choose the writing genre for the game. Then, you choose the topic. It lists the key elements the Artificial Intelligence will be looking for in students’ writing, and the points each element will be given. Then, students are given a code and five minutes to write. The AI evaluates student writing and gives points as students reach each criteria.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know – I’m not a fan at all of having student writing evaluated by AI. I strongly believe that they deserve to have our teacher eyeballs on what they write.
However, this is a game! And, it’s for very, very short writing! Plus, it seems to me it should generally be used only after, or during, you’ve been teaching a unit on the genre, so you’ll already have plenty of student-written examples.
Will the AI assess writing appropriately? I don’t know. It could be an opportunity for students to challenge the AI assessments, too (however, it’s unclear to me how much student data teachers can access in the free version – the subscription version offers more features).
It’s probably not feasible for ELL Newcomers, but definitely could work for ELL Intermediates through English proficient students.
I’m adding this info to The Best Websites For Creating Online Learning Games.
Like most teachers, I’m a fan of using Quizizz, Kahoot, or Blooket in my classes as fun reinforcing learning games – plus, they’re great formative assessment tools! I’ve wondered over the years if some creative people would ever develop a similar model for writing practice. Frankenstories came closest (see “Frankenstories” Is A Quizizz/Kahoot-Like Game AI, ESL Web, learning games Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…