Instructify

A mustached man named Alex is staring at you, waiting for you to ask some sort of question. Familiar music plays in the background, and although the song has only been playing for thirty seconds, you sense that it’s almost over. The crowd watches nervously as you scribble the words “What is JeopardyLabs.com?” on an electronic touch-screen monitor.

Thirty seconds earlier, our host reads the following clue: “This is an Online Jeopardy Template, which allows users to build their own Jeopardy-style games entirely online, without the assistance of PowerPoint or other software. Oh yes, and it’s free.” To see how it works, JeopardyLabs.com gives you the opportunity to browse existing user-submitted templates, which range in subject from ‘Ancient Civilizations’ to ‘Women of Web 2.0.’ After selecting the number of teams, the familiar blue screen appears. Once you’ve picked a category and a dollar amount, the interface lets you add money to a team’s score for correct responses, and subtract money for incorrect responses, just like in the show.

Whether you decide to use someone else’s template or one that you’ve created, JeopardyLabs.com is a fun, free resource for teachers. It’s a great way to break up the monotony of routine questions and answers, and really, what classroom couldn’t benefit from doubling as a game show every once in awhile? –JIMI RADABAUGH

JeopardyLabs.com

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Photo credit: Orange Beard on flickr