GAME-BASED LEARNING
Best Practices for Basic Writing Instruction
As part of a blended learning strategy, faculty can unleash the full potential of
games by integrating them with other course readings, discussions, and activities.
Valuable Blended Learning Tools
The ability to write well is perhaps one of the most foundational, universally important skills for
success in school and in one’s career. Developing a skill requires practice. If practice activities
are tedious and disconnected from reality, many students lose interest, fall behind, get
discouraged, and in a worst-case scenario – drop-out.
Game-based learning is attracting the attention of educators as an innovative and exciting new
way to engage students and inspire intrinsic motivation to practice essential skills and
demonstrate mastery of learning objectives.
Toolwire Writing Games
The 17 Toolwire Writing Games are stand-alone practice units that each take approximately 1020 minutes to complete. These games deliver personalized learning experiences with built-in
formative assessment capabilities, dynamic remediation, and performance analytics that
measure outcomes as students build skills and knowledge. Instructors tell us that the ability to
provide students with first-person experiential learning is a game changer that can improve the
quality and level of interactivity in both online and on-ground courses.
Toolwire games use authentic, photo-realistic digital media with live characters filmed in real
locations. This authenticity enhances relevance and believability, both key components for
student engagement. As cognitive research supports, experiences that elicit emotional
responses lead to deeper learning.
Each game targets one to three specific learning objectives. Faculty can assign these games as
an engaging way for students to practice essential skills and demonstrate mastery of learning
objectives.
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In order to support faculty success, Toolwire helps instructors identify which games are the best
fit for their course and works with them to map games to their course syllabus.
Writing Games
Writing Game Learning Objectives
Writing Basics: Getting Started
• Differentiate between compound and complex sentences.
• Distinguish sentences with proper subject-verb agreement.
Grammar: He Said, She Said
• Demonstrate proper comma and apostrophe usage.
• Distinguish sentences with proper pronoun-antecedent agreement.
Sentence Types: Writer’s Block
• Demonstrate correct application of sentence mechanics and grammar.
Sentence Structure: Writer’s
Block II
• Demonstrate correct application of sentence structure and mechanics.
Thesis Topics: Get Focused
• Distinguish thesis statements with well-formed positions and properly-scoped
topics.
• Identify the qualities that make a thesis topic researchable.
Thesis Statements: What’s the
Point?
•Demonstrate the ability to write a clear and focused thesis statement.
Outlining: Make a Plan
• Identify the steps in the writing process.
• Create a topic outline that includes main ideas and supporting details.
• Construct an organized, well-developed outline for an academic essay.
Sentences and Paragraphs:
Laying the Bricks
• Demonstrate an understanding of consistency, completeness, and parallelism.
• Identify the characteristics of an effective paragraph: topic sentences, supporting
details, internal transitions, and concluding sentences.
Paragraph Structure: Essay
Construction Kit
• Demonstrate the ability to write well-constructed paragraphs.
Paragraph Structure: Find the
Balance
•Differentiate between objective and subjective opinions and information.
•Demonstrate how to properly use a quotation to support a thesis.
Introductions and Conclusions:
Set the Stage
• Demonstrate the ability to write effective introduction, body, and concluding
paragraphs.
Revising and Editing: Final
Polish
• Differentiate between revising and editing.
• Demonstrate revising techniques for essay introductions and conclusions.
• Identify proofreading techniques for revising and editing.
Revising Rough Draft: Make It
Shine
• Demonstrate revising and editing techniques to improve an essay draft.
Revising Final Draft: Make It
Shine II
• Demonstrate the use of revising and editing techniques to improve the style,
tone, mechanics, and APA style in a research paper.
Research Process and Sources:
Who to Believe?
• Identify the purpose and process of research writing.
• Identify the qualities that make a thesis topic researchable.
• Identify proper sources to use in the research process.
APA Citation Evidence: Say
What?
• Identify proper in-text citations according to the American Psychological
Association (APA) style guide.
• Demonstrate appropriate use of APA style for citing source materials.
APA Reference: Citation
Operation!
• Identify appropriate use of APA style for citing references.
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Teaching Strategies and Suggestions
Toolwire’s Writing Games serve as useful and stimulating springboards for other course-related
activities and assignments. The goal of the tips below is to present best practice strategies and
suggestions for how to use the Writing Games as part of a blended learning approach. These
suggestions are presented as additional ways to help you bridge the gap between theory and
real-world application of content.
1. Play Before You Teach – It is highly suggested that you play the games before you
discuss them with your students.
2. After Playing the Game: Discussion Questions – Games can be a powerful way to
motivate students in all aspects of your course. Here are a few questions that have been
used by faculty to engage students in discussions after playing the games:

Games are valuable tools for exposing students to authentic real life scenarios.
Have you ever had a student ask, “Why do we have to study this? How does this
relate to the real world?” Games are the ideal tool to help students understand
why it is important to master writing skills. Ask your students about how they
handled certain situations and what the experience was like.
i. Did you feel prepared to play the role assigned to you in the game?
ii. If not, how can you now fill that knowledge and skill gap?

How many times did you play the game? Was it easier or more satisfying the
second time through?

Would playing the game again help you cement your understanding and
demonstrate your knowledge? Note: Remind students that they can play the
game as many times as they like so that can continue to practice and improve
their skills.
3. Grading - The game assessments should be a required activity counted as part of the
final grade. The percentage of the final grade typically ranges from 20% to 40%
depending on course design. If you have questions, Toolwire would be happy to speak
with you to share best practices from other faculty.
4. Add Support Information to Your Syllabus – As your learning partner, Toolwire wants
your students to have the best experience possible, and we look forward to supporting
you every step of the way as you introduce this exciting learning tool into your course.
We suggest that you include the contact information for Toolwire’s dedicated Learner
Advocacy team into your course syllabus that that they can help students whenever
they have any questions.
5. Share Your Best Practices - The suggestions and strategies above are just a small sample
of the many ways that faculty can make the most of the learning opportunities possible
through game-based learning. We hope that you how found this useful and would
welcome any additional suggestions about learning activities you find effective in
extending the usefulness of these games.
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Faculty Feedback

“As an instructor, I enjoy the rigor and additional practice this programming has added to the
course. Additional practice and insight is needed, and this forces students to interact with
important knowledge that will enhance their academic performance.”

“I received twenty or thirty posts from students who enjoyed the interactive learning
environment. Many of them also mentioned that they appreciated they could do the
assignments more than once for a higher score.”

“I think the game exercises are more beneficial to the students than the previous My
Foundations Lab exercises were. The students seem to enjoy the scenario as they see a practical
application for the writing exercises.”

“Each of the 8 students in one class who responded to the thread said that the game was by far
their most favorite part of the course. They felt it made the material fun and kept their
attention all the way through the lesson. “

“Several students said the assignments made more sense after completing the game, and I
found that they almost always submitted the game assignment before attempting the written
work. “

“I saw very few missing assignments, perhaps because they were willing to take the risk with
the written assignment because they already did so well on the game module. “
Student Feedback

“I really enjoyed this assignment. I love how interactive the game is. I feel that it makes
learning very fun. I liked being able to see what I need to improve on. Also, I was able to see
the correct way to do something when I made an error.”

“The game learning was always great. I'm a hands-on learner and being able to see visuals
makes things easier for me. I'm looking forward to the next class.”

“I learned a lot from playing the game. Did anyone else enjoy this as much as I did? Some of the
past weeks games were difficult and fun at the same time. “

“This has been a great learning tool for me this class. When I first began I thought this would be
a horrible experience but I was wrong. This experience gave me ample tools to become a
successful writer.”

“A very productive and fun way to learn. I love doing these every week and hope that we keep
getting to use this method of learning throughout the rest of this course. I believe that I learn a
lot more using this game than I do reading the book. Thank you again for providing such useful
and fun ways to learn.“

“I really enjoyed the game. It was a great way to get us out of the textbooks and using the
material we were learning in an almost everyday life style. I did enjoy how interactive it was and
made me think on my feet.”

“It was a breath of fresh air to be interactive instead of having to just read about all of the
information. Seeing as though I am more of a hands-on type of learner, the game was really
helpful with my success in this class.”
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