How to convert "I have/who has" game to digital?

September 28, 2020 6:19 PM

Ok nerds, help me out! In the past I've played a very large flashcard game with my classes (in person) regarding rhetorical strategies and definitions and examples. The game plays in that I randomly distribute the 70+ cards to my students, we start with one student reading a definition from a card, and the students have to figure out the word that matches the definition. That card is then read "I have [], who has []?"

They then say "I have [e.g. metaphor], who has [a figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in different senses (e.g., John and his license expired last week) or to two others of which it semantically suits only one (e.g., with weeping eyes and hearts )]?" The next student would say "I have zeugma, who has [etc.]."

So, we have 70+ flashcards. The words and the definitions/examples don't match front-to-back, so the cards actually have a sequence based on what is on the front and what is on the back. If we can do it right and eventually go in order (because there is some ambiguity, like the difference between invective and sarcasm) we will actually loop back around to the first card "played." We can also play this backwards, in which a student says "I have zeugma, who has comparing two things without using like or as (to be simplistic about what a metaphor actually does)," and then the next student says "I have metaphor, etc."

The question is how to play this game online. Do you know of an easy way to set up this essentially looping game, but randomly assign the cards? We could do this easily enough if I mailed the cards to students and we played, but that would mean that every student only experienced the same set of cards. Kahoot isn't going to do it randomly enough. I'm sure I could learn Java and make the game, but this teacher doesn't have time for this nor the resources to code it and then somehow distribute the cards, however that would work.

Do you have an online resource that does this? Do you have an easy way to make the game happen? I can load all of the words and definitions, but the code is what I don't have. We have access to GSuite, Zoom, Teams, and all the regular online platforms. I can get the school to pay for access to something simple if need be.

I'll actually try to threadsit this one a bit because I don't know better ways to describe this, or what I actually mean.

posted by Snowishberlin to Education (6 answers total)

Could you post two links for kids:

One to a spreadsheet with their name and a number (or numbers) randomly assigned to them beforehand.

One to a spreadsheet that had numbered rows with the front of a card in the column next to the number, and the back in a column next to that?

Kid gets their number (or numbers) from spreadsheet #1, and then uses the front and back of the card that are in the row corresponding to that number in spreadsheet #2 to quickly make their card or cards at home.

Each time you played it you’d want to generate new numbers for spreadsheet #1, or reassign the numbers to random rows in spreadsheet #2 and resort them.
posted by charmedimsure at 8:23 PM on September 28, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The first thing I thought of is a mail merge using MS Office applications or GSuite, whatever you're using. (Instructions for MS Office below)

1. Make a spreadsheet with columns: Email, First, Last, Word, Definition.
2. Add your students info and the paired word/definition combo you want for each card. Don't worry about which student is assigned to each yet.
3. In the "Number" column, put "=RAND()" in all the cells. This will put random numbers that change every time you update the sheet.
4. Select only the Number, Word and Definition columns, and "Format as Table". This will effectively glue those columns together, and leave the student info ones alone.
5. Sort on "Number" using the dropdown arrow. This should effectively randomize the order of your "cards" related to the list of students.
6. Save the file and close it

Now open a Word doc. Go to "Mailings -> Start Mail Merge -> Wizard" (or do it manually if you are comfortable with that). Use the spreadsheet you made before as your recipient list, and pull the data fields in to your content, something like this:

Hi «First»,
For this week’s game, your word is: «Word»
Your definition is: «Definition»
See you Tuesday at 2pm!
Professor Snowishberlin

Preview the results and then "Merge to Email". Each student should get an email with their word and definition. You can re-sort the spreadsheet rows later, update the mail merge, and everyone will get a different "card" for the next game.
posted by bethnull at 8:24 PM on September 28, 2020 [1 favorite]

Er, I hope that made some sense. I made word and excel files to test. If you want, message me and I'll send them to you.
posted by bethnull at 8:28 PM on September 28, 2020

Oh, and the spreadsheet columns are: Email, First, Last, Number, Word, Definition.
posted by bethnull at 8:41 PM on September 28, 2020

Response by poster: charmedimsure and bethnull, these are great ideas! I was hoping someone would just say "oh, this website already has that game!" I can definitely do the spreadsheet thing.

bethnull specifically, could students have multiple cards if I just put their names and emails in there 4-5 times?

Thank you all so far!
posted by Snowishberlin at 11:03 AM on September 29, 2020

Yeah, repeating the students should work. Each card would be it's own separate email.
posted by bethnull at 3:34 PM on October 1, 2020 [1 favorite]