Hi, I'm Marsha! I'm a science teacher candidate at Queens College, CUNY. This website is a compilation of my work in SEYS 753: Computer Applications in Science Education.
Web 2.0 Application: JeopardyLabs
URL: https://jeopardylabs.com/
Review
JeopardyLabs is a Web 2.0 application that allows users to create an interactive Jeopardy game on any topic they choose. Short description of the Web 2.0 application, open source software application, or app.
The developer, Matt Johnson (an undergraduate student at Washington State University), did not specify a target audience in any of the “About” documentation on the site; however the example templates are labeled “Review” so I imagine that JeopardyLabs was developed as a fun way for students to review academic content and for teachers to give their students a fun way to review.
JeopardyLabs is used to create an interactive Jeopardy game that students and teachers can use to review academic material. To start, users are required to set up a password that they can use to continually edit their game. Then they are giving a blank Jeopardy template to fill in. Once you complete your game, you click “Save” and on the following page you are given two URLs, one to edit the game and one to play the game.
The user interface, in the design stages, is very easy to use. The format is a simple point-and-click. To start building your Jeopardy Template, click “Build” on the home page and you are then guided to choose a password. Then on the template page, the user can just click on the section they would like to update in order to edit it. When developing the Jeopardy questions, a window pops up to guide that process as well, reminding the user that in Jeopardy players are given the answers and are asked to come up with the corresponding question. Unfortunately, after the design stage, playing the game is a little confusing. The button to “Save” your design is hidden underneath the Jeopardy template, and when playing the game, it's unclear that you must manually adjust the score for each team then click “Continue” to have the points recorded correctly and have the question removed from the game board. There is an FAQ list on the About page, however, that helps to answer these questions.
JeopardyLabs is web-based, therefore it can work on Windows, Apple and Linux operating systems. Since you do not need to download any software for JeopardyLabs, there are no minimum memory requirements.
JeoparyLabs is compatible with any browser that has a Flash plugin (including Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox).
The strength of this application is the ease of the design process. In the past, when I wanted to create a Jeopardy review for my students, I either had to draw the gameboard on the blackboard while writing the questions on index cards. As the technology in my classrooms advanced, I used Powerpoint to do the same thing, however the design process took hours. JeopardyLabs cuts the design time to 20-30 minutes if you already have the content questions prepped. In addition, because the site is completely web-based, there is no need to be concerned about whether the game will be compatible with the technology available in the classroom. Game templates can also be saved and reused indefinitely so teachers can set up their game once and use it each time they teach a particular unit. They can also send their students the link so they can play the games on their own. For a $20 fee, teachers can also set up a lifetime membership that allows them to build a bank of Jeopardy game templates that can be reused.
The major weakness of this application is the fact that it is web-based so teachers can only use them in classrooms that have internet access, a tool which may be limited in some classes. The FAQs indicate that users can download their games to a flash drive, however, the process they described on the site did not work for me. Also, if you are not a paid member of the site, you can not delete your game or make it private which may lead to privacy issues for some teachers.
I would primarily use JeopardyLabs as a fun review session for my Living Environment units. I could also assign my students the task of working in groups to develop their own Jeopardy game as a study aide, then have groups present their games to each other. Lastly, teachers can embed the game onto their websites for students to use on their own time.
The major tip I would offer science teachers is to make sure they run through the game completely, even after it is designed, to make sure they know how to work the scoring and controls. They are not as intuitive as one would like and it would be difficult to have to figure them out in front of your classroom.