Google+Jeopardy

Learning Environment Design Project:
 * Google Jeopardy! **




 * Learning Principles Involved: **

**Practice Principle**: //Learners get lots and lots of practice in a context where the practice is not boring (i.e. in a virtual world that is compelling to learners on their own terms and where the learners experience ongoing success).//

Performing Google searches in a necessary skill in a PC Basics course, but it can be dull to sit and search silently and alone; instead, students will work together as a team in a lively, active environment that encourages the competitive spirit. While accuracy is vital in finding search results, often times, so is haste, and by having students compete against one another in a race to find the correct answer, they are inspired to search harder and faster than they likely would alone.

**Affinity Group Principle:** //Learners constitute an “affinity group,” that is, a group that is bonded primarily through shared endeavors, goals, and practices and not shared race, gender, nation, ethnicity, or culture.//

With the class divided into teams, students are inspired to help this affinity group succeed by the shared goal of answering the most questions accurately and accumulating the most “money” in order to help their team win the game.


 * Learning Outcomes: **

By participating in this game, students will practice and refine their Google searching skills by competing in teams against each other. By the end of the game, students demonstrate the ability to locate the answers to specific questions by quickly and accurately performing Google searches – their accuracy judged by the successful answering of the Jeopardy questions.

Both speed and accuracy are important in this game, so search skills must be refined on the fly in order to retrieve accurate information in a timely manner. Contestants who simply type the entire question into the Google search will waste precious seconds over those who pick out specific keywords and search criteria, so savvy searching -- not just speedy typing -- is a major advantage.


 * What You Will Need to Play: **
 * A computer lab, with one computer per student
 * A whiteboard or padded easel for scoring
 * A projector to display the Jeopardy tiles and questions


 * How to Play: **
 * 1) Download the following Google Jeopardy Power Point here: []
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Divide the class into two equal teams – each team should have a name.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">On the whiteboard/notepad, write the names of the teams and in each column -- leave room to add and remove scores.
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Open the PowerPoint and use the projector to enlarge the image – make sure everyone can read the questions!
 * 5) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Decide which team will go first – flip a coin – and ask them the category they wish to attempt.
 * 6) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Using the grid on slide #2, select the category and dollar amount.
 * 7) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Display the question on-screen – allow the students to use Google to find the answer
 * 8) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The first team member to raise their hand gets to attempt to answer; if they get it wrong, the other team is allowed to attempt to answer it.
 * 9) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Add the points to the whiteboard once the team answers correctly.
 * 10) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The team that gets the answer correct is allowed to choose the next category and dollar amount.
 * 11) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Once the questions have all been answered, add up the scores and the team with the most money wins the game!


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">In-game Screenshots: **

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 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Experience Reflection: **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">I attempted this assignment in my PC Basics course and it was an instant success! All of the students were familiar with the game format (more-so than I was!), so the focus was on Google searching, having fun, and cheering on both each other and the competing team! I had a few issues with two of my questions being incorrect (I don't have a professional fact checker -- that's my excuse!) but the errors actually helped prove the validity of the Google searches the students were making -- they were more accurate than I was! I have a similar assignment that involves them performing an Internet Scavenger Hunt, but when I re-configured that into the Google Jeopardy format, it was far more interactive, engaging and just plain fun to be involved in. I found the addition of game-play to the classroom to be the highlight of the term so far, and will definitely look for further ways to "gameify" our classroom activities.