Spelling Bees and Interactive Vocabulary Quizzes #37

E-Learning Spelling Bees #37: Challenge | Recap

The 2014 National Spelling Bee competition kicked off this week. Spellers from around the world will compete for the crown in one of America’s most enduring celebrations of academic excellence.

While the children are buzzing about spelling words most of us can’t pronounce, I thought it would be fun to pull together a few interactive audio packages that could inspire some practical applications for course designers. Knowing most of you have an affinity for the written word, I thought this would also make a great e-learning challenge.

Before we jump into this week’s challenge, take a look at some innovative spelling projects to get a sense of what’s possible.

National Spelling Bee: Public Sample

Test your spelling skills to see if you could qualify for the Semifinals. Featuring audio pronunciations and text entry fields, this format is great for practicing your spelling.

Are you a word whiz? Test your spelling skills!

USA Today: Could you win the National Spelling Bee?

This quiz includes audio pronunciations and options for visitors to learn more about the definition and origin of the word and to hear the word used in a sentence.

Notice any similarities to the previous example? Most of the same options are provided but rather than pushing everything on the slide, the USA Today interactive used a pull approach giving visitors more control over their experience.

Click to test your skills!

Annenberg Learner: Spelling Bee

This audio quiz uses a story-based approach to spelling bees. Visitors listen to a story and then spell the words from each story.

Clicking the text entry fields pauses the story so visitors can repeat the words. Very clever interaction. I’m hoping several of you take on this model for your challenge demo.

View the Spelling Bee Quiz

The Guardian: National Spelling Bee

This spelling quiz doesn’t use audio—it’s entirely text based. It’s a good option for course designers who face multimedia constraints where audio isn’t an option.

How would you fare in the National Spelling Bee?

Challenge of the week

This week your challenge is to build an interactive vocabulary quiz. You can focus your interaction on spelling, pronunciation, comprehension, or anything else.

Look for interaction opportunities to capture learner responses. You’ve seen how text entry and multiple choice interactions can work. What else would work?

Need vocabulary content ideas?

Last week’s challenge

To avoid an interactive dry spell, check out the interactive steps your fellow community members took in last week’s e-learning challenge:

More about the e-learning challenges:

The weekly challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. We’ll feature your work and provide feedback if you request it.

Wishing you a spellbound week, E-Learning Heroes!

Even if you’re using a trial version of Studio ’13 or Storyline, you can absolutely publish your challenge files. Just sign up for a fully functional, free 30-day trial, and have at it. And remember to post your questions and comments in the forums; we're here to help. For more e-learning tips, examples, and downloads, follow us on Twitter.

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Jackie Van Nice
Gemma Henderson
Gemma Henderson