Exploring Digital Apps
How can digital apps contribute to learning about democracy? We discovered a free game-making app called Genially and used one of their templates to make this simple game.
Also see our training unit and an example of a classroom resource
Unit 4 - Democratic Competences in the Digital Learning Universe
Making a Digital Campaign for Better Democracy
Defending Democracy - Avoiding Dictatorship
N.B. This is not a finished resource!
It is important to learn about how a country can drift from democracy to authoritarian rule and how a population can be persuaded that oppressive laws are good for them.
Here is a link for you to try: https://view.genial.ly/62bd0a6a547fb70015f13631/interactive-content-mystery-breakout.
This game uses a multiple-choice quiz format based on an escape room structure. Gamers have to work together to read a statement from the government and then decide how they should respond. We think this could help learners to understand democracy and the manipulative language used to justify authoritarian laws.
This is just an early prototype. We hope it will trigger your thinking about how we can use free online apps to make learning more engaging. In this case the simple multiple-choice format oversimplifies complex issues and requires ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers. A more complex design with different answers leading to different challenges would be better.
Perhaps your learners could try this and then devise their own much better games to learn about defending democracy and avoiding authoritarian dictatorship
The expanding universe of digital apps offers immense scope for gamification in learning settings. Games can set collaborative challenges, introduce elements of uncertainty, maintain motivation and providing immediate feedback. Learners, if they work in groups, can develop collaborative competences through democratic processes.