SESSION 1D

Anne Louise Butterfield
Engaging Students with Mobile Game Platforms

Abstract
In a 2011 study, researchers found that over 50% of 16-22 year olds surveyed would prefer to give up their sense of smell than lose their mobile phone. Teachers with students this age could probably agree with that finding without even surveying their own class. This attachment to their mobile telephone can be useful because their love of their mobiles can be utilised within English lessons using different platforms in order to engage, encourage and assess students. There are several free game-based platforms which are growing in popularity as learning tools in the classroom. One of the most recognised of these is Kahoot, but teachers can also use Quizizz, Quizlet and Socrative for free. These kinds of platforms are an excellent way to not only review English, but also introduce new concepts and test understanding.

This presentation will introduce all four of these platforms to teachers and show them the different ways they can be used as well as their individual strengths and weaknesses. This will give teachers the opportunity to see how these game-based platforms work and discuss how they could be useful in their own classes. It will also allow teachers to be the students for a change and learn about these activities by doing rather than merely listening. At the end of the session, teachers will hopefully feel enthusiastic about this emerging technology and eager to trial it in their lessons.

Bio
Anne has been an English teacher for 17 years. She has worked in Korea, Japan, Taiwan and New Zealand and has taught every level of English ability from children’s phonics classes to Academic English for adults. In 2014, she moved to Australia. Starting at an Australian university opened up teaching options that she hadn't had before giving her and her students the chance to incorporate technology into the classroom to make the lessons more productive and engaging.