Roblox is a popular multiplayer game that many kids play outside of school hours, in the evenings, and on weekends. It includes interactive technology that allows students to build and play in worlds they have created.
The collaborative aspect of Roblox can allow students to connect with others virtually while co-creating worlds. As educators, we know that when students are interested in a topic, they are more engaged and thus learn more. We also know that when we develop learning activities in exciting ways beyond traditional lectures and worksheets, students can experience the content in many ways.
One way to bring these types of experiences through experiential and project-based learning into the traditional classroom is by adopting Roblox (opens in new tab) and creating a Roblox classroom. A Roblox classroom can have a wide range of features while providing students with opportunities to code, create, and collaborate!
To get started, create a free Roblox account (opens in new tab) for your Roblox classroom and take the Roblox Educator Adaptation course within the Roblox website.
Creating a Roblox Classroom: Coding
One of the special features of Roblox is the ability for students to code as they build their virtual worlds. In your Roblox classroom, developing coding skills and opportunities to practice coding can be an integral part.
If you are new to coding or coding in Roblox, CodaKid (opens in new tab) offers several courses aimed at students ages 8 and up to create games in Roblox Studio using the Lua coding language. If your students are native speakers of Spanish, genius (opens in new tab) offers Roblox Studio courses for Spanish language learners.
Roblox also has numerous other external code development capabilities focused on the coding language in Roblox Studio. In addition, The Roblox Education web pages also have a variety of templates and lessons that teachers can work on to support student development in Roblox classrooms. Lessons are aligned to curriculum standards and vary across levels and subject areas.
Creation
There are many options for creating virtual worlds, simulations and 3D options in Roblox. To keep your Roblox classroom connected to teaching and learning, it can be helpful to structure and organize the output of what you expect students to focus on when they create.
A good start is a tutorial offered by Roblox, is An introduction to game coding and design (opens in new tab). This lesson is also linked to the ISTE Standards for Innovative Design and Creative Communicator.
Other creation options that Roblox already offers are Coding a story game (opens in new tab)which would relate to English Language Arts, Animate in Roblox (opens in new tab)which relates to engineering and computer science, and Galactic Track (opens in new tab)which is associated with science and mathematics.
These are just a few examples of ready-made games and templates you can use to start the creation process. As your students in your Roblox classroom develop their skills and expertise in design thinking, animation, coding, 3D modeling, etc., you can work with them to create different worlds to address other skills and areas of content.
Cooperation
Social presence, community, and collaboration can be achieved seamlessly in Roblox classrooms. To take advantage of the collective input of students, create different opportunities where students will have to use the multiplayer feature to solve problems in the virtual world. To get you started, Roblox has Escape room (opens in new tab) and Build A for treasure (opens in new tab) experiences that require students to work collectively.
Don’t worry about other people outside of your class or school joining your Roblox classroom. Roblox has several privacy features available, including enabling private services for classroom use that only invited students will have access to.
Trust us, students love Roblox, and if you embrace all that it has to offer and integrate it into your teaching, you’ll not only be one of the favorite teachers at school, but you’ll also support students in developing their coding, creativity and collaboration skills, all of which are part of 4 Cs (opens in new tab) and essential soft skills that all learners must be equipped with to be successful beyond their classroom learning.
https://www.techlearning.com/how-to/creating-a-roblox-classroom
