Topic outline
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Background
Between 2000 - 2012 I developed many Flash-based learning activities. These frequently involved multiple choice quizzes that then triggered learner access to a quick game. The original aim was to support disgruntled
Year 10 boys who had no interest in learning but had an interest in being competitive. By creating starter or plenary activities that involved an element of competition based on demonstrating knowledge, they become a powerful classroom device.They are not based on any high level learning theories nor high level technology. Instead they were produced as a teaching aid to support disgruntled and angry teenagers.
As a teacher, I'd build the interactive game or quiz into part of the lesson activities. This would often be a plenary activity, with content based on the main activities of the lesson. Being web-based, it could also be set or shared easily on an Learning Management solution like Moodle. -
I made the
games available online, firstly on a history website and then later on an ICT/Computing website. They became very popular and I got many requests from teachers to make their own versions with their own custom questions. Consequently, I developed some
Flash-based tools, which installed on a Windows PC, that allowed anyone to 'generate' their own versions of the games or activities.When Flash stated to die away, I stopped further development, but the most popular game (and free program) was Fling the Teacher. Many thousands of these games were developed by teachers entering their own questions, pressing 'generate' and uploading their .swf file to their website. To cover costs of hosting, I developed paid-for versions that could be purchased by schools and teachers, allowing them to generate their own learning content on their websites. The only limitation was that they weren't allowed to charge for access - it had to be freely available and accessible to all. The most popular of these programs was the 'Penalty Shootout generator' and, again, many thousands of learning games were generated.
By 2012, when Flash was being seen as obsolete and bloated, I stopped development of the Flash materials. Flash was unfairly labelled as a resource hog by Apple mainly because Flash allowed teachers and individuals to create their own content, whereas Apple wanted to control the publishing through app stores. As Adobe stopped investing and developing the Flash player, it was seen as not suitable for mobile devices and slowly stopped being used. Despite this, all of the educational content and tools/programs already created remained usable, just not updated.
On 12th January 2021 Adobe blocked the Flash player from functioning online. Highlighting security risks based on no further development or patches being available. See - Is Flash dead yet? - for more. All existing content, including huge numbers of really useful Flash-based learning games and activities - were switched off. Many websites had transitioned to alternatives anyway, but it was a huge shame to see teacher created content no longer available.
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However, rather brilliantly, an Open Source tool called Ruffle has been developed and made available. This web-based solution allows you to emulate the Flash player, and make use of ActionScript 1.0 and ActionScript 2.0 Flash (.swf) files natively in the browser. It isn't perfect, but testing a variety of games and learning tools that I still have access to (credit to those websites who kept them available) all seem to work.
https://ruffle.rs/#what-is-ruffleTo get any old Flash content working we need to:
1. Link to the ruffle.js - or, for more security, we host our own version.
2. Embed the .swf file just as you would have done in 2005. It then just works.
It isn't perfect, as can be seen in some of the examples below where transparency effects on text and presentation features don't look as sharp as they did. However, it is a remarkable piece of work and worthy of exploration.
Consequential validity / so what?
This helps serve as a benchmark for those saying that 2022 developments in learning tools are significantly better. They aren't. What is as crucial as ever is the skills and tenacity of the teacher delivering their lessons. Identifying the ideal time to make use of an interactive learning tool for maximum learning impact - and when not to - remains as important as ever. Tools today should be significantly better than the ones an engaged and enthusiastic teacher was able to develop.
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