Several months ago, I wrote a blog post on the growing movement in education to harness the power of digital media and interactive video games for strengthening instruction in content areas like early literacy.
We are even more delighted that “Game-Based Learning” (GBL) has emerged as a powerful educational innovation (see Andrew Miller’s examination of GBL on Edutopia here) since the Ooka Island adventure falls squarely into this dynamic and cutting-edge method of instructional delivery.
Mr. Miller was quick to point out that computer equipment is not required for a successful Game-Based Learning experience, although he did note that it “can be more rockstar when using technology.” (We always knew Ooka was rockstar!!!) As I read through his outline of what comprises game-based learning, I found myself nodding my head over and over. The Ooka Island early literacy curriculum was built upon these same principals—once again, we’re ahead of the curve!
He describes two necessary components: smaller, individual quests and larger “boss-level” mission(s) where the skills achieved through the quests are synthesized to meet a higher-order goal. Hmm…..where have I seen those components before?
Oh yes, on Ooka Island!
An Ooka adventurer strives to become a fluent reader. Fluency and comprehension are the end game, the boss-level goals. The Ooka Island online game itself is constructed as a hero mission, a quest for a non-reader or developing reader to learn and/or strengthen the foundational building blocks of literacy and emerge a reader at the 2nd grade level. We’ve translated these boss-level goals into a challenge exciting to young learners: Save all the Ooka Elves from the Mischievous Fliggs! How does one save Ooka Elves? By unlocking new books in the Popcorn Library! The player saves an Ooka Elf each time (s)he successfully reads 5 new books from the sequenced and leveled library. Players can’t just unlock titles at will, however; they can’t achieve the ultimate boss-level goals until they’ve completed smaller, individual quests. They can’t read all the books/save all the Elves/reach reading fluency until they’ve mastered each of the phonetic and linguistic activities along the way.
So, then, the instructional, building-block activities become the smaller quests, the “engaging game activities to have students learn and/or practice using content.” The Ooka adventurer must learn to identify letters, recognize sounds, match letters and sounds, identify syllables and words, blend sounds, and on and on until reading fluency is achieved. On Ooka Island, these skills are sharpened through the interactive challenges of Alphabet Mountain, Cave of Sounds, Clumsy Wacky, Bubbly Trubbly, Cake Factory, Word Ball, Submarine Listening, Z-Doo, and the Popcorn Library. Each minute spent playing with a purpose on Ooka Island is one spent working to complete a phonetic/linguistic quest that will eventually, upon mastery of all through ongoing instruction and practice, result in the achievement of the overall boss-level goal: the formation of an enthusiastic and lifelong reader!
As you can see, the engaging, game-based mission is at the very heart of Ooka Island’s complete early literacy curriculum, and fits quite neatly into the Game-Based Learning model with its individual quests and boss-level goals. But Mr. Miller’s explanation didn’t stop there: it also detailed the importance of challenges, feedback, and incentives. Stay tuned for how Ooka Island has these covered, too!
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