WordWall: Plenty-O-Options

Hey and welcome back to another digital tool review, by yours truly!

I learned of this tool from the Facebook forum for TEFL grads and it's called WordWall. The website lets teachers create custom classroom/homework activities via online games or as a worksheet. With COVID-19, shutting down school for the majority of my time in Bangkok, I was hard-pressed to find an online platform that both my students would be excited to use and I wouldn't be frustrated or stressed about making the activity unique every time. Plus, activities can be applied in both summative and formative assessments. Summative because this can easily be done at the end of a lesson, to see if they grasp the information at the end. However, this can easily be adjusted for a formative scenario where the activities are the ‘building blocks’ or ‘scaffolding’ activities throughout the entire unit. Something like this can be used in several varieties successfully.

WordWall offers both individual plans and school plans as well. But they all offer the same three tiers: Basic, Standard, and Pro. Obviously, the benefits do get better the higher in tiers you are. More interactive (online-based) and printable (physical worksheets) are available to those in the Standard and Pro tiers. Those tiers also allow the user to create unlimited activities; essentially you can create a library of activities that can be reused and updated at any point in time.

the pricing model of Wordwall

But the greatest strength is in that all of the features of sharing activities and privacy levels are the same across the board. Therefore no one misses out on a feature because they didn't pay enough.

included features of WordWall

With that let's look at some of the pros and cons of Wordwall...

Pros

• Saves teacher’s preparation time

• Making online classes interactive

• Reduce the use of paper waste, no physical worksheets

• Student-centered activities can be done at their own pace

• Summative assessment results, analytical summary

• 40+ Activities available (only in the Pro tier, however)

Cons

• Lack of instructor-pace options, if the teacher were to review Q&As are not any options

• A limited number of free activities (5 available at Free pay tier)
• Absence of “import” feature; can not import Qs & As with a spreadsheet of typed information
• Limited Formating for multiple-choice quizzes; unable to change the font, underline, bold, or italics

The Ratings

As we go over core components that facilitators will be using this tool, I use the following 4-star rating system: 4=Excellent, 3=Good, 2= Some Concerns, 1=Serous Concerns

Privacy: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Can ‘manually’ sign in or use a google account to sign in. As a learner or an educator, you don't put in very little personal info. The biggest personal information piece you'll put in will be your credit card for a subscription payment. And in a surprise twist, this company is based in the United Kingdom, so the company does not adhere to either COPPA or CIPA. It's the GDPR, General Data Protection Regulation, after briefly skimming this, it's as extensive as COPPA or CIPA.

Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐

This tool is compatible with smartphones, laptops, and tablets. Doesn’t matter the OS (iOS or Android). There are components to address the accessibility deficiencies of all learners, this works remarkably well for the visually impaired but not so much for the hearing impaired. And the activities can be switched to an online game or a paper worksheet for in-class work or homework.

Pedagogical Considerations: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This platform excels in assessing learners in formative or summative manners. The ability to have over 40+ options to keep your students engaged as well is also incredibly helpful. This allows the educator to switch up assignments and activities in addition to introducing new options to learners as well. I definitely think of this as both a summative and formative tool because with a sheer number of activities available you can introduce this into the classroom at any point be it a warm-up, in-lesson activity, or a take-home assignment.

all the interactive activities available to use

Data Retrieval: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Yes, you can embed assignments, receive reports, and export them to an LMS (Learning Management System) quite easily on this site. It was easily a big help with eLearning in Thailand and using Google Classroom.

Support: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A wide variety of blogs, articles, and YouTube videos are available at the user’s disposal. There are no official videos from the platform itself, however. But independent creators have gone to great lengths to show how this platform can be used to increase participation and engagement in learners.

In conclusion, I still recommend using this platform day in and day out. The variety of options you have to present the learning material to learners is varied. The privacy features are simple to use, community support is big for the platform, data retrieval and integration with LMS are great and its pedagogical considerations are spot on. Teachers just starting in education or veteran teachers alike should try Wordwall.