Task 1 - Osmo Words

Authors Note: some small updates were made to this post on 28/03. Changes include providing image credits, and minor edits to the length and grammar of the post.

Video games can be a fun way to increase engagement, and motivation for students (Squire, 2006), plus they can encourage students' ability to think creatively. With so many different options available, what is actually useful? Osmo Words is a great place to start.

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So what exactly is Osmo Words you may ask? Describing itself as a tool to "develop language skills through self-guided gameplay" (TangiblePlay, n.d.), Osmo Words is a game in which students must discover what the picture on screen is trying to represent by placing letter tiles in front of a device. There are multiple game styles, and difficulty levels. There is even an option to upload custom images and corresponding words for tailored game play.

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The International Society for Technology in Education (ITSE) sets out standards designed for students’ empowerment, holding an expectation that students “communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of a purposes” (ITSE, n.d.), so it is especially important that we try to foster creativity in our students. While the standard game play can be beneficial for students, as well as a bit of fun, the rigidity in its rules does not really encourage creative thinking. To foster creativity in students, teachers can utilise Osmo Words’ custom option to ask students to upload their own galleries for peers to play. This means that students will have to think about what words they want to add, and then also decide what kind of image best represents that word. Creative thinking can be displayed by using imagery to express meaning or a message (Wheeler et al., 2002), so an activity such as the one described above certainly meets the ITSE standards.

In the NSW English syllabus, EN1-SPELL-01 requires Stage 2 students to “apply phonological… generalisations and strategies when spelling” (NSW Education Standards Authority, 2022). Students can improve their phonological abilities while playing Osmo Words, as it is important that they guess letters that appear more frequently in English words to ensure they win the maximum number of points.

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Despite the benefits of using Osmo Words in the classroom, this is not to say it comes without limitations. Osmo Words can be costly, and requires an tablet to be played on. If the school does not have these facilities directly, it may be inaccessible for a teacher to bring into the classroom. Similarly, the game-based, competitive nature of the game can lead to tensions in the classroom and lower motivation; competitions can be detrimental to students who regularly do not win, and long-term gamification can sometimes lead to lower motivation in students (Hanus & Fox, 2015).

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References

Hanus, M. D., & Fox, J. (2015). Assessing the effects of gamification in the classroom: A

longitudinal study on intrinsic motivation, social comparison, satisfaction, effort, and academic performance. Computers & Education, 80, 152-161. https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.compedu.2014.08.019

International Society for Technology in Education (n.d.). ITSE standards: Students.

https://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards-for-students

NSW Education and Standards Authority (2022). English K-10 syllabus: Content. NSW

Curriculum. https://curriculum.nsw.edu.au/learning-areas/english/english-k-10-2022?tab=content

Squire, K. (2006). From content to context: Videogames as designed experience. Educational

Researcher, 35(8), 19-29. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X035008019

TangiblePlay (n.d.). Genius words. Osmo. https://www.playosmo.com/en/shopping/

games/words/

Wheeler, S., Waite, S. J., & Bromfield, C. (2002). Promoting creative thinking through the use

of ICT. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18(3), 367-378. https://doi.org/10.1046/ j.0266-4909.2002.00247.x