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Toolwire Writing Games Attain Contextual Relevance For English Composition In The Real World


Toolwire has won two silver medals at the 2015 International Serious Play Awards for its Virtual Medical Internship and Writing Game Series products. Providing a “virtual internship” experience at a fictional television news station, the Toolwire Writing Game Series challenges students to review, practice, and demonstrate college level writing skills in authentic workplace scenarios.

Toolwire Writing Games immerse students in photo-realistic settings with interactive video-characters and hands-on simulations that leverage on a seamlessly integrated “natural assessment” infrastructure. Along the way, students make decisions, study with experts, play learning games, receive dynamic remediation, and attain contextual relevance for English Composition in the real world.

The series consists of 17 writing games that enable students to apply knowledge related to key writing objectives (grammar, thesis statements, paragraph construction, revising & editing, and research & citation) in a way that is relevant and engaging.

Each game takes about 20 minutes to complete and targets one to three specific learning objectives. These games deliver personalized learning with built-in formative assessments and performance analytics that measure outcomes as students build skills and knowledge.

Here are two examples out the seventeen games available in the series :

Game 1: Thesis Topics: Get Focused

A game where students must help prepare focused broadcast news stories by completing a series of tasks focused on thesis statements and topics. Proficiency demonstration includes classification and evaluation.

Game 2: Thesis Statements: What’s the Point?


A leveled burst game where the objective is to get three news stories aired on the fictional Live!News broadcast. To succeed, the student must build a series of effective thesis statements that include properly-scoped topics, clear positions, and well-formed supporting points.

A distinguishing characteristic of Toolwire games is the use of authentic, photo-realistic digital media with live characters filmed in real locations. This authenticity enhances relevance and believability, both key components for student engagement.  Cognitive research supports how experiences that elicit emotional responses lead to deeper learning.

About Toolwire

Toolwire, Inc. is a leading innovator of immersive online simulations and games for higher education.  For over 15 years, the company has developed, hosted, and supported immersive learning technologies for the world’s leading institutions in education and corporate training. Since 2011 Toolwire has delivered over 600 million minutes of simulation and game usage – the equivalent of approximately 130 years of continuous play.

Earlier this year, Toolwire announced it will launch 80 new game-based learning products in 2015. Covering topics such as writing, student success skills, critical thinking, psychology and environmental science, the company expects these games will help higher education institutions engage and retain students within core general education courses.

For more information, visit www.toolwire.com.