Blooklet- Enhance Classroom Engagement Using Games | Educational Technology and Mobile Learning
Blooket is a game-based learning platform that allows teachers to create educational games to share with students. You can host live games that students can play using a generated ID or assign games as homework for students to play at their own pace.
Blooket works in the same way as other game-based learning tools namely Kahoot, Quizlet, Quizizz, and Quizalize. As a teacher, you can create your own question sets or use ready-made sets created by members of the Blooket community (Blooket lingo refers to games as question sets and I use both terms interchangeably in this review).
Students are not required to register to play the games. However, having a student’s account allows students to “track their stats, place in global leaderboard rankings, buy and sell Blooks, and participate in upcoming community-wide events!”
Teachers can leverage the educational potential of Blooket to boost teaching and enhance students learning. Gamified learning is a surefire strategy to drive engagement and increase students participation. There are multiple ways to use Blooket in your teaching. For instance, you can use the question sets as formative assessment tools to help gauge students learning in real time and plan for immediate remedial work.
You can also design question sets to test students prior knowledge of a topic, check their learning progress during a lesson, use them for reading comprehension check, as exit tickets, and many more.
The way Blooket works is simple. Teachers host live games with unique game mode on their screen and students join the play using generated game IDs. Teachers also have the option to assign learning games as homework so that students can work on them at their own pace.
Here is how to create a question set on Blooket To create a question set on Blooket, log in to your teacher account and click on ‘Create a set’. Type in a title for your game and provide a short description. Edit the settings of your set to your liking.
You need to make your game public so students can access it. Next, choose how you want to go about adding questions to your set. You have the option to start from scratch (manual), import questions from Quizlet, or import them from a spreadsheet.
Once questions are added, add answers and set a time limit for students to finish the game then choose whether to turn on or off the Random Answer Order (when chosen answers will be given to students in a random order ).When you are done click on ‘Save’.
Watch this video to learn more about how to create a question on Blooket
How to host a live game with your students?To host a live game, you can choose games you have created or use pre-made games in Blooket library. Click on ‘Host’ and choose a Game Mode from the options provided and click on Assign. Make sure you select the game mode that supports live hosting because there are modes that only support homework and there are modes that support both. Game modes that support live hosting or both include: Gold Quest, Fishing Frenzy, Crypto Hack, Tower Defense, Café,Battle royale,Racing, Factory, Classic.
After you select a game mode you can then edit its settings the way you want. You have two options to help you control when the game ends: click on Time to set a time after which the game ends, or choose Cash if you want the game to end after a player reaches the cash amount you set.
You can customize the other settings of the game including whether or not to allow student accounts, late joining, random names, ect. When you are done, click on Host Now. A game ID will be displayed on the screen for students to use to play the game live. You can also copy the Join link and share it via email.
Watch this video to learn more about Blooket teacher edition
How to assign a question set as homework for students?Assigning question sets as homework is a great way to promote self-paced learning among students. To be able to assign question sets as assignments choose one of your own games or or select one from Blooket library and click on Host.
Next, select one of the following game modes that support homework assignments: Factory, Tower of Doom, Crazy Kingdom, Tower Defense, and Café then click Assign HW. Set the due time, provide a descriptive title for your assignment, and edit the game mode options to your preference then click on Assign HW. Copy the generated code and share it with students.
Blooket libraryBlooket library is where you can search for and find ready-made question sets to use with your students. To access the library, click on Discovery from the top bar in your dashboard. Type in your keywords or phrases in the search bar and browse through the collections. Unfortunately, Blooket search functionality does not include helpful filters such as (subject, grade, topic, ect) that you can use to find specific games.
You can only filter your search by cover image, minimum questions, and minimum answers. When you find the question sets you are interested in, click to open them. You can then choose whether you want to host them or play them solo. You can also add them to your list of favourites or duplicate them to use later.
StatsAs a teacher, you can use the Stats feature in Blooket to access insights on students performance and track their progress. Blooket also includes detailed game history reports to track students progress over time. Use these reports to gauge students learning progress, identify learning difficulties, and plan for future learning activities.
Blooket subscription plansBlooket offers two subscription plans: A free plan with limited options and a premium plan with more features. The free plan allows you to create “an unlimited number of question set and host a game with up to 60 people (1,000 people for Plus members (except Racing and Battle Royale Teams)).”
Blooket video tutorials:Getting Started with Blooket – Student Edition, by BlooketBlooket Vs Quizizz, by TeacherFYIBlooket Tutorial for Teachers, by EdTech ClassroomBlooket – Race Gameplay, by Señor Belles
