"Jargon Blaster" learning game gains national attention

Jargon Blaster, an interactive tutorial created by UT Libraries to help students better understand academic and library jargon, has gained national attention. The tutorial is currently a Featured Online Learning Object on the Association of College and Research Libraries’ website.

In an interview with ACRL, Elijah Dies, instructional developer and designer at UT Libraries, said, “Sometimes, as people working in higher ed, we assume students will arrive on campus already familiar with terms like database, peer-reviewed, call number, and abstract — but that isn’t always the case.” 

“I had been imagining a gamified experience that let Smokey move around the city in a board game-style format,” Dies said. He gradually worked on the project while mastering the Storyline course authoring tool.

Playing as UT’s beloved mascot, Smokey, learners move through the city of Knoxville, answering questions about library terminology to save the day. 

Jargon Blaster is available to individual learners from the Libraries’ Tutorials website and to entire classes through Canvas, the university’s course management portal.

Learn more about development of Jargon Blaster in ACRL’s interview with Elijah Dies.