For the gaming workshop I did with Aaron Schmidt at the Computers in Libraries conference a few weeks ago, I created an online quiz called Better Know Your Association.

I wanted to show how much more engaging this type of tool is than a paper-based multiple choice quiz, just to provide a small glimpse into how gaming can be used for assessment in addition to literacy and learning. I downloaded some free, easy-to-use software called ContentGenerator.net, even though it doesn't really include a component for individual assessment. It's more a proof-of-concept at this point, but I think participants had more fun and were more engaged by shouting out answers than just having me spout factoids standing in front of them. (Note that I'm not espousing that as a classroom technique.)

This might be a fun tool for libraries to use in general, and there are lots of software options for this kind of thing. We could argue about whether or not this is really "gaming" in the traditional sense of the term, but I do think it shows that we have tools that help us to better handle things like assessment in a way that is more engaging to a large number of users, not just younger people. There are a lot of users whose learning styles are more interactive and experiential than ours, and I worry that our tutorials, classes, and resources don't work well for them. Of course, the next step (in my spare time) is to experiment with Game Maker and Scratch.

Feel free to take the tongue-in-cheek test and see how much you know about ALA.