The Educational Adventures
of
Galswin
Galswin is filled with graphics, animations, sound and interactivity
that’s targeted towards 3rd and 4th graders. This software
was created by teachers and the goal is to give children an exiting
way to learn. Learners are given several adventures to choose
from. In those adventures, they have to solve problems, answer
questions, and find keys to win. Learners can also play with other
people online and create their own email address to chat with
other people as well. Although there are a lot of features, this
software doesn’t live up to my expectations.
There are some strengths to this educational software. One of the strengths is that there are lots of graphics. Being that this is targeted towards 3rd and 4th graders, heavy graphics is really important in getting their attention. Another strength is the companion that the learner can choose. Learners can choose from four companions to bring along with the journey. Another strength is that it allows teachers to set the level of the game. In the beginning, teachers have the option to add more activities to an adventure or take out some. This is really advantageous for some students, because the software can be divided into different group levels for that particular grade. For example, students that are extremely advanced in math and science can have harder and more questions related to that subject, and students that are stronger in reading and English can have more activities related to that subject. This companion will occasional talk to the learner and give him or her feedback at times as well. Although there are strengths, there are several weaknesses as well. One weakness is that this software is filled with bugs. In the beginning after the intro, I tried clicking on the demo button, but when I did that everything automatically blacked out and I had to restart the program. The internet feature has bugs as well. When I tried to connect to the internet, it returns a bunch of unreadable text. The email feature doesnít work as well. Another weakness of the software is the confusion in the activities. When certain activities came up, there were no instructions that told me what to do or how to play the game. It assumes that I already know how to operate this activity. Some activities are so confusion that it took me about 5-10 minutes just getting the hang of playing it.
The information and activities are pretty accurate. In the beginning the game was very entertaining. There was a nice introduction in the beginning, and I was really motivated to play the game. I started playing in one of the adventures, and I was lost. There were no instructions in the beginning to tell me what to do. I then saw a question mark at the bottom right that explained how to navigate and use the interface provided. As Iím exploring the game, I found that you could change the background scene every time you click on the background. It was a very cool feature, but I couldnít find how it was relevant to the story or game. As I was traveling though the activities in the game, I found that it was difficult for me to answer some of the questions. The feedback were somewhat decent, but they could have done a better job. As I kept playing, I realized that I didnít know what I was actually suppose to do. All I did was explore the land and answer activities, but I didnít really know what I was suppose to do after that. Eventually, my motivation to play the game started to fade. The question seems too hard for 3rd and 4th graders and thereís not enough instructions on how to play the activities.
This software doesnít seem to be gender biased. There is only one character, and the rest of his companions are animals. I couldnít seem to find any assessment for the game. It was frustrating enough doing the activities. This software was self-paced in that it allowed the learner to take any adventure and explore any part of that land. It was also their decision to answer or not answer the activities. But by not answering the activities, they will lose energy and eventually lose the game.
Overall, The Educational Adventures of Galswin was not entertaining or fun to use. Instructions were often not clear or it was very hard to find. Even though this is a very inexpensive educational software, reduced from $12.00 to $6.00, I would not recommend this software to any 3rd or 4th graders. Although the creators seem to try really hard to enhance learning by having rich graphics, sound, animations, and interactivity, it falls just short in the functionality, level of difficulty, and amount of instructions.
