The Progress of Interactivity.

These days Interactive Learning is really starting to take off.


I love how developers are working on making games that are truly innovative and make a difference in the educational world.



Recently I have been interested in the development of mobile interactivity. I would enjoy being able to make my interactive game into a mobile version. But, I am not sure time wise how it would work out.

Accessibility of these games are getting better and better. Students can now use mobile phones to access Applications that are both fun and educational. The touch screens, accelerometers, and portability of the devices make the development of mobile games so interesting. Students can actually touch what they are doing, and control the game in front of them.

Mindsnacks is a company that takes these ideas to heart. They have games to learn Spanish and French. They are also developing games for SAT prep. They use fun interactive games to teach vocabulary, writing, reading, and listening skills to foreign language learners. They use the mobile platform of the iPhone to reach the masses.

Interactivity is a huge key to learning.

Principal Sharyn C. Gabriel has taken steps to use interactivity to help educate kids in her school at Ocoee Middle School outside of Orlando, Florida.

"It is deliberate and conscientious that I am putting technology in kid's hands," Gabriel says. "You can't teach them if they're sleeping or disinterested. It doesn't work."

Tina Rooks is the vice president and chief instructions officer of Turning Technologies in Youngstown, Ohio. Turning Technologies provides an audience-response system to schools.
She has been watching the progress of Ocoee Middle School.

"The reality is these kids really are engaged in this digital world," she says, "and we bring them into kindergarten and say, 'Power down.' We lose them, and we lose them early."

By using interactive games to motivate students to learn, they feel a connection and a more positive engagement in the learning.

Interactive Learning

The goal of my project is to make an interactive game that engages the player and allows them to learn something.

Merriam-Webster says that learning is "the act or experience of one that learns."

That's it. The Experience. I want the game to be a learning experience.

I have been doing some research on how students learn.

Sara DeWitt, the vice president of interactive at PBS Kids says, "When kids are engaged, they're more likely to learn."

If students are engaged, they are drawn into the subject.

I have been working at the Pre-school on campus at Shepherd University this semester and part of last semester. I have really enjoyed it, and I believe I will be making my game to fit the ages of 3-5. The Pre-school to Kindergarten age. It is a really fun age range to work with. The absorb everything. It will be fun making a game that the pre-schoolers can play and learn from.

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