Does anyone else remember Miley Cyrus when she was sweet little Hannah Montana? The witty girl with the double identity of famous country rock star and the ordinary schoolgirl... Well if you do you may like me by really struck by her recent and almost Black Swanesque metamorphoses into the iconoclastic new her. All traces of sweet little Hannah Montana have been obliterated by the new tattooed, twerking and all turned up Miley...
Hannah it seems is now a long since gone distant memory as Miley herself has grown into a young beautiful woman with a desire to be seen as a grown up artist with an identity and act to match. Now I could comment on her recent spats with Sinead O'Connor about how young women can prostitute themsleves to the industry in the way it has been suggested Miley did by wearing nothing but her birthday suit as she straddled a wrecking ball in her not so subtle metaphor laden video for the song of Wrecking Ball, but there is something else that I would like to comment on, something that is more insidious, complacent and destructive - in Miley's new world it seems we say 'hell yeah' to drugs...
I bought the .mp3 of her song We Can't stop. I think it is a great pop song...honestly! I was playing it on guitar and singing it with my daughters and noticed that we had to change one of the swear words at one point but then read the verse that said:
"And everyone in line in the bathroom
Trying to get a line in the bathroom
We all so turned up here
Getting turned up, yeah, yeah"
Getting a line in the bathroom...an obvious reference to drug use and one that I ended up having to carefully explain to my Hannah Montana adoring daughters what that was. Now I know Miley is all grown up now and that she must break free from the constraining old identity of Hannah and in some ways I am really happy for her but what ended up happening from that song lyric was a learning opportunity for us... I ended up sensitively explaining what cocaine was, where it came from and about some aspects of what it is like for families growing up in countries where Drug Lords and the horrendous levels of violence that we hear of impacting on family life in some parts of countries such as Colombia, Peru, Mexico in order to serve the habits of those partying and getting all turned up in Miley's grown up and sybaritic world.
What an opportunity and a doorway in to exploring the real world of drugs and drug taking... deconstructing the carefully crafted new image of a valuable commercial asset such as a pop star like Miley to reveal what they are actually saying and how the lifestyle being portrayed is in a word - ugly. How being part of the turned up world might get you years in jail as a drug trafficking mule, how corruption can become rife where you live , how fear can become a part of everyday life, how execution and murder can stop people from using their mouth to say what they want to.
I saw that a Colombian diplomat is currently giving a lecture at UK universities about how we should be Rethinking the War on Drugs. it seems that Colombia and other countries blighted with an indigenous drugs industry are looking at changes in policy to help address the challenges that they face in this regard:
"One of the main drivers behind this is that of course it is the Latin American countries which are drastically affected by a trade where the demand does not lie in their own countries, but largely in North America and Europe.
'These are countries which have been ravaged by this trade for decades and are now looking at how they can approach it in different ways. This talk will be a fascinating insight into an international debate that will have major repercussions in years to come."
Maybe it is the case that we begin to rethink the way we educate our young people about drugs and its impact on communities around the world? Maybe situating the learning in the cultural domains learners inhabit and by subverting these we can help challenge established media driven views? Maybe a more critical and empathetic understanding of global citizenship can play a small part in helping countries such as Colombia and Mexico meet their long term aspirations? Maybe there are ways in which we can raise the understanding and consciousness of our young people so that they can deconstruct the messages that are fed to them via culturally valued mega-stars such as Miley? Maybe we can create a culture in our schools that helps our young people develop a critical and informed world view that helps them recognise injustice and oppression and the way in which their actions can play any part in its perpetuation...
Maybe... meanwhile, I have two young daughters who are beginning to develop an awareness that the pop culture that envelopes their world is not as lovely and innocent as it might appear and that saddens me.
I have been spending some time playing Device 6, the new game from Simogo a studio I came across a while back when I found out about their last game Year Walk. This was a beautiful and surreal game that was unlike anything I had ever played before. Its sparse yet beautifully crafted aesthetic conveyed a sense of being lost in the wilderness that matched the narrative of the game. It was one of those games that took the game play experience in new and exciting direction. So far Device 6 has totally captured my imagination in the way that Year Walk did…have a look at the trailer and find out a bit more about the game here.
The nature of my job is such that every time I play a game I think of ways in which it can be used in an educational context, you know, how can these incredibly rich and engaging resources/contexts be used to capture learners’ imagination and then be used as the contextual hub from which intrinsically motivated learning and purposeful can take place. The developing nature of narrative driven games such as Device 6 is an area that I am really interested in and in the past I have tried to use a range of games that have a narrative thread to create contexts for rich learning that would allow writing, reading and a host of creative endeavours to come to life for learners. In 2007 I first tried this when the brilliant Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney came out for the DS. My thoughts were that such a game would encourage learners to engage with the game and then possibly be motivated enough to create their own court room type scenes that could be written or dramatized in a range of ways. Some of the schools that worked with me on this focused on characterization and wrote character descriptions for the main characters in this game. Here you can see my very first Teachmeet presentation in 2008 at BETT. It is called, ‘Objection! Games in the Classroom’ and it focus on Phoenix Wright as a learning resource.
I also did some interesting work with teachers and learners from Perth High School and Madras College (Glow login required) when we used Hotel Dusk Room 215 as the context that allowed us to explore the genre of Noir Novels. The game was given home, along with a DS, to a class of S2 learners for the Easter Holidays and they were asked to have a go at it over those two weeks. On return we found that every learner had played it and completed it! This then allowed the teacher to explore other Noire texts such as movies, books and radio broadcasts. The final one gave us the context in which learners could then write their own Noire style story inspired by Noire and mystery based radio broadcasts from the 1930s, 40s & 50s that featured characters such as The Shadow and Sam Spade as well as the stories from organisations such as The Molle Mystery Theatre. The pupils learned all about the principles and component parts of the Noir genre and used these to create their own broadcast ready audio files that dramatized their creative writing. I think that this context could work so well in schools when you consider that if learners wrote such stories and released them on a serialized basis through weekly podcast just think what this could do for situating writing within a context that has real purpose and audience. I attempted to practice what I preach when I made a ham-fisted effort at creating my own mystery style audio broadcast for an event I was presenting at last year:
Anyway back to Device 6. As devices such as iPads and Android tablets become more and more commonly found and used at the heart of learning in schools I really hope that we see a real shift from using them to carry out traditional type of activities and move towards using them in such a way that maximizes their potential. It would be great to see a continuation of the type of work the Scottish Government recently started that looked at the pulling together of a picture of the developing narrative of the use of tablet devices in schools, a narrative that would hoepfully see such resources being used to enhance and enrcih learning. There is great potential in using apps such as Device 6 to create the context that can encourage learners to write for themselves and for an audience - a global one at that, hey, you could even get them to write their own stories inspired by Device 6 using Inkle. So so much we could do here…
If anyone is using Device 6 ort any other narrative driven computer game to encourage literacy development in their school please let me know what you are doing.
We spent our summer holidays on the beautiful island of Islay this year. We were so lucky with the weather and as a result much of our week there was spent on the beautiful Kilchoman Beach at Machir Bay. This stunning beach with its untouched sands and incessantly crashing Atlantic Ocean waves was virtually deserted with the next stop West being America!
I interviewed my youngest daughter in the surf of the beach as she and her sister filled their empty plastic bottles with water from the Atlantic Ocean. Have a listen to our chat to capture a mental image of the waves and just how incredibly beautiful this place was:
As a result of this experience we had a subsequent chat about oceans and seas and continents and countries and the creatures that lurked beneath the waves. I really think that opportunities such as
If you want to get involved in this and send water to the exhibition from seas as distant as the Dead, Red, Baltic or Caspian Sea or a s close as the North Sea or Atlantic Ocean then check out the All the Seas details on the Fruitmarket gallery's website to get the submission details, BUT if you are at school in Scotland then email your details to the learncat@educationscotland.gov.uk and will be sent a special label to attach to your bottle of water to show that you learned about Tania Kovats through Glow with The Fruitmarket Gallery.
It would be great to see this exhibiton being supported and also for Scottish teachers and families to get involved with the Glow aspect of things. You can read more about All the Seas and Glow here.
Tomorrow is my last day working at Education Scotland. I have worked under this banner for the past two years but previous to that and prior to Government restructuring it was with Learning and Teaching Scotland that I earned my crust! This working relationship began in August 2006 when I left my post as a Lecturer at the University of Dundee and accepted a seconded post at LTS as National Development Officer for Game Based Learning, with the success of that seconded post leading to a permanent role from 2008 until now. Now, I am reversing that move as I head back to Dundee University to rejoin the Lecturing and Research teams in August.
At the heart of what I did and what I always do was a desire to create contexts that will impact on better outcomes for learners and it was with this in mind that I took to the floor to speak to the SICTDG key contacts in December 2006. In a 15 minute slot, I shared with them my developing thoughts and theoretical perspective on the purpose, nature and potential of game based learning and then invited them to come to the Consolarium - a space I ambitiously named the Scottish Centre for Games and Learning - to play with and learn about games and and to partner me in some GBL initiatives that I had planned. The response was a mixed one with some colleagues finding the thought of GBL quite an amusing one and others concerned that this was simply a frivolous waste of taxpayers money. Nevertheless, this experience and opportunity was a valuable one because very soon some real notes of interest came my way and before long I had to get the biscuit tin full of tasty things for visitors to scoff as I prepared for the series of visits to the Consolarium from Scottish and international educators - visits that didn't stop until the Consolarium had to close its doors in 2011.
Some of what we did includes:
It was not always an easy job trying to convince people that GBL was a good idea and it is fair to say that the occasional media swipe and a disappointingly placed FOI did unnerve those who maybe should have believed in me and my team a bit more than they did. The creation of Education Scotland in 2011 and all that that entailed meant that the Consolarium space was no longer available, the team was disbanded and the funding stopped. Nevertheless, Scottish Education has shown that it has the capacity to take informed risk and that it is not afraid to explore innovative ideas and practice with digital technology. Maybe it just needs to be wary of the inexorable, glacial march of the habitus of education and the destructive power that this can wield and not to allow itself to lose sight of how innovation and culture change needs long term commitment and high level support.
As I look at back at my time here I want to make mention of the people who without their help none of this would really have happened. First mention goes to Anna Rossvoll who when she was with Aberdeenshire Council was one of the first to visit the Consolarium. She and her team then became a hugely valuable partner in what we were doing. Many of the early ideas were given her full support with their first school tests in Aberdeenshire and it was she who came up with the idea of putting Nintendogs in to a P1 class. At this time I was introduced to a class teacher from Aberdeenshire called Kim Aplin who was the first person to take on board my Guitar Hero ideas. As a result of her continued work in the field of GBL Kim even joined me later as seconded member of my team! Other LA people who merit specific mention include Laura Compton, John Low and Margo Kerr from West Lothian, Sally Fulton, Margaret Cassidy and Joe Shaw from Stirling Council, Hamish Budge from Eilean Siar and Maggie Irving from Argyle and Bute. Great colleagues who really supported my ideas in the early days. Thank you and sorry if I missed anyone special from this list.
I'd also like to thank Graham Brown Martin for the invites to speak at the Handheld Learning and Game Based Learning Conferences in London. He gave us a great platform to share our work and to promote our ideas, Some of our Spotlight Scotland sessions were really memorable! Great to be part of that. Thank you.
Lastly I'd like to thank Brian McLaren, Brian Clark, Charlie Love and Ollie Bray who were just simply superb members of my team and who really helped to raise the profile of our work and tried to effect change in classrooms across Scotland. Thank you.
Ach well, it was good while it lasted but now it's time to move on... it's been quite an experience but I look forward to the future knowing that there are so many people in education who are prepared to continually grow their practice, take on board new ideas and use a range of digital tools that can allow learning to be situated within culturally relevant contexts that offer challenge, demand and appeal for learners. It's great to be part of that and to be a colleague to so many of them.
During the middle of last week I found myself in a Twitter discussion about the word failure. When speaking about the development and evolution of the use of tablet devices by teachers in his school one of my Twitter contacts commented that he thought that teachers should get hands on devices and fail first. You can follow the thread of that discussion to see how the conversation developed but the nub of my argument was that the word failure is imbued with negative connotations and is a term that can be oppressive, constricting and an enemy to creative thought and action. It belongs to a culture of externally imposed values and expectations, a culture that I believe is one that we as learners are socialised into as we engage with and progress through the formal world of schooling.
Tbe main factor that underpins this belief is based on the observations that I have made over the years when watching children learn - independent of adult intervention - when playing computer games. As the failure discussion ensued on Twitter last week I couldn't help thinking of the world that my two daughters had been making in Minecraft on their Xbox360 that evening. Now, my girls are 9 and 10 and I have never really shown them how to play any of the computer games that they've had over the years and from Nintendogs, to Lord of the Rings, to Little Big Planet they have worked things out for themselves with no intervention from the more skilled and knowledgeable (I think) adult in the house! The same is true of Minecraft and the world they had created with its Redstone roller-coaster, the creeper traps and the flushing toilets in every room of their glass and gold Minecraft palace were testament to that. I have left them to it very much over the past months of Minecraft mania in my house...
How have they managed to learn so much? Where did they learn all this stuff?! They are learning from the support materials built in to games, from their peers and most definitley from YouTube -that's where. I have seen my girls collaborate and work as a team with one of them watching Minecraft Tutorials and giving the instructions to the other who is in world. Their friends have been round and YouTube is on. They learn in this flattened world of collegiate creativity and never think of failure, never! This is a joyous experience and one that appears to me to show the learner in its most beautiful form: free, open, responsive, conversational, successful and confident.
A couple of years ago I gave a talk at the E-Assessment Conference at Dundee University (go to 12:15 for killer Guitar Hero solo) and the themes of intrinsic motivation, peer support, flattened hierarchies and built in support mechansims in games were explored then. I featured some videos I had made of my neighbour's son Jack who was rather handy at playing FIFA. He regularly thumped his dad and me at the game and so I asked him what he had done to get so good at it. It turned out that it was not just about practise but that he was also using the self-assessment tools that are built in to the game to identify what he was good at it but more importantly what he needed to improve on and then once this was identified he used the tools to self-improve. He was in control of his own learning - no requirement for dad to teach him.
Here is the first of two videos with Jack. What you'll see in this video is a example of how young learners/players are able to use the assessment and reporting mechanism within games to help identify and then address their development needs.
Assessment in Games: Promoting Learner Engagement from Derek Robertson on Vimeo.
Accompanying this first video is this one focusing on 'Progress and Achievement. Here we see a learner who is taking charge of his own progress by using the tools within a game environment -independent of the intervention of a qualified adult- to identify his development needs and to plot a path will that enable him to have the best chance of success.
Assessment in Games: Progress and achievement from Derek Robertson on Vimeo.
So where does failure fit, if it all, in the world of learning that young people situate themselves in? Is it a word that they use? Is failure a concept that they fear in the world of the computer game? My experience makes me question whether any of these questions can be answered with a yes...
Is it possibly the case that the concept of failure is one that has been socialised in to our young people by the formal settings that they are obliged to play a part in? By the systems they find themselves attached to and by the values of this system that are externally imposed by the qualified adults who know how to teach. By systems that require YouTube to be blocked...
Maybe Ivan Illich had a point in Deschooling Society when he argued concepts such as fear of failure helped create the conditions for an institutionalised value system to take hold and allow learnes to lose what they appear to possess naturally?
“Most learning is not the result of instruction. It is rather the result of unhampered participation in a meaningful setting. Most people learn best by being "with it," yet school makes them identify their personal, cognitive growth with elaborate planning and manipulation.”
Maybe we as educators have lessons to learn from the way 'with it' young people learn so effectively in the meaningful, culturally relevant and hugely challenging worlds that computer games can offer. Maybe we need to take a step back from the established norm of thinking that learners need taught. Maybe, just maybe we can learn from them...they might even introduce some us to YouTube.
As a big fan of sci-fi I have always been particularly taken with some stories but particularly those that depict a dystopian vision. Particular ones that struck me form my school days were The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury and The Fun They Had by Issac Asimov as well as the movie The Day The Earth Stood Still with the classic, "Klaatu, barada nikto!" call to Gort the intergalactic policeman.
My exposure to sci-fi stories was enhanced in the late seventies when I and many many
others became seduced by the magical sci-fi stories that featured in the 2000AD comic. Featuring favourites such as Judge Dredd, Flesh and Strontium Dog I would get totally lost in the amazing future worlds that were beautifully depicted in this comic but the one theme that always used to make me think was Tharg's Future Shocks. Tharg was the alien editor of the comic and he would occasionally throw in a story that always had a quirk or that would kick you right in the backside and make you think.
This blogpost is about one such 'Future Shock' called The Fourth Wall. Published in Prog 85 in October 1978 this cautionary tale warns of the inexorable march of advancements in technology, and in particular technologies for entertainment. In the story we see the young boy, Chris, very excited about nis new TV experience. The Fourth Wall is an experimental televisual experience and works only when you close the door. It then immerses the viewer in a very 'lifelike world' with terrible consequences...
The Fourth Wall from Derek Robertson on Vimeo.
I remember a few years ago when the NIntendo Wii first came out that I couldn't help thinking just how prescient Tharg was. Here, 30 years ago was a short story predicting immersive technologies so lifelike and involving that you didn't just consume the visuals, you participated in them.
Now with the PS3 Move and the Kinect system from Microsoft coming out the future of immersive gaming is getting very to close to The Fourth Wall. However, I am very excited about the prospect of what both these technologies will have to offer and how they can enhance game play but I do have some concerns too. For example, imagine a system that measures the player's body movements and efficiency to score, for example, how well you placed the plastic bag over the hoodlums head in Manhunt and held it just so and just tight enough to dispatch him! Now that would be immersive gaming but with some sensationally dubious outcomes....maybe not as severe as the boy in the Fourth Wall's but one for us to carefully consider...
After reaching the heady heights of the high score/performance domain in Just Dance we have now moved on the the more theatrical dance world of Dance on Broadway. This dancing game for the NIntendo Wii is set in the world of musical theatre and requires that you perform routines as perfect as possible....
For those of you that might wish to emulate John Barrowman, Denise van Outen or even Michael Ball then this game might be right up your street.
Still thinking about it's educational application but already I have managed to make my young daughters aware of a range of muscial theatre shows and their underpinning storylines as a result of their developing interest in some of the songs that they enjoy playing/performing.
Only problem with this game is that the proper jazz hand technique is compromised when holding the Wiimote ;-)
Earlier in the week I was chatting with my neighbour's 23 yr old son about music. Somehow we got on to the subject of nightclubs and when I mentioned the fact that i hadn't been to a disco for at least 6 years the young whippersnapper sniggered and took great pleasure in telling me that, "No-one calls them discos anymore!" Sheesh, the ever marching nature of time and how it dates one (even when you don't think it isn't doing so) will catch up on you...as, it so appears, it has with me!
Well, if like me you don't get to go to discos now but still would like to 'get down' (dated disco reference from 1970/80s for younger readers) but in the privacy of your own home then you must get your hands on Just Dance for the Wii. You will be digging out the flares and dusting down your your old Tavares and Earth Wind and Fire records before you know it and show the younger members of your household that you can still do The Hustle!
This game is a huge load of fun and a really good way to exercise too. There are a number of really decent tracks in the game that accompany a choreographed programme of moves that you need to copy in real time in order to dance along with the on-screen dancer. The more accurate the moves the bigger your dance star power build (as with Guitar Hero) and then you can score extra points. Today we must have played this for at least 3 hours with Ring My Bell by Anita Ward and Pump up the Jam by Technotronic my particular favourites ;-)
Have a look at the game trailer:
This game does get the heart rate up let there be no doubt about that. Great exercise with proper movements required in order to score decent points. Check out this game play video. Apart from the engaging game play one does wonder as to the appeal that this may have with younger and pre-early teens/learners particularly in relation to the health and well-being agenda. Two things that have made me reflect on this are:
What about boys? Well I have seen 12 yr olds on stage dancing to their own choreographed moves as part of a Guitar Hero project. Not only were they swinging arms and legs but they had the serious face on too! They really meant it so I wonder if this might work for them...
There have been and are a number of exertainment games that require some degree of physical activity. These have worked to varying degrees for me but the fact that I spent so long playing this today and can't wait to get on it again tomorrow night must say something about its engaging game play. Or maybe it's just that I need a night out at a disco ;-)
If you attended BETT10 how was it for you? For me, it was a disappointment. I could not help but feel a sense of deja-vu as I walked around the exhibition and saw really much of what was on display and offer last year and try as I might I could find little or no evidence of commercially available computer games and games consoles showing their educational face at the event. My tweets at the time captured my disappointment:
Why should I focus solely on computer games you may ask when there was so much else in terms of educational technology available for delegates to engage with and consider how that might be used to support and enrich learning? Why should my experience be such a disappointing one when it appears that Play and Playful learning was apparently a major theme of this years conference? I'll tell you why, it's because commercially available computer games that have been built for entertainment are, in our experience in Scotland in recent years, some of the very very best educational resources that schools teachers and pupils can get their hands on today. Yet, at this huge event they were singularly absent from the exhibition.
In this article about the theme of Playful Learning at BETT10 Professor Stephen Heppell said, “Playful learning has re-energised classrooms, rekindled school and parent relationships, re-engaged brains, provided a powerfully competitive space for problem-solving, and at other times a place for real individual concentration,”
Prof. Heppell's Playful Learning stand was one of the very few areas in the exhibition that at least made delegates question just what we mean by educational technology and the rationale and underpinning approaches that will have a positive impact on learning in classrooms. It was great to see resources that we are trialling in Scotland, such as 2DIY and Manga High featured on the stand. This is no surprise when you consider how much of a friend and advocate Prof. Heppell has been of the GBL work that we have been involved in over the past few years. However, I was very surprised and disappointed to see that the excellent game based learning practice with resources such as the Wii, DS, PS3, Xbox360 etc that has been nurtured, grown and embraced by schools across Scotland, England and further afield not really at the show. But apparently....
"...signs of a games-based, ‘playful’ approach were in evidence on many stands around the 14,000 square metres of trade show that made up BETT 2010. Arvind Desikan, head of UK consumer marketing for show lead sponsor Google, said tech-savvy, creative students can also come up with new ways to use technologies. Interactive games-type approaches help teachers and students alike."
Where was this? I didn't really see it. I believe that the success that we have had in using commercially available computer games in schools has been down some fundamental principles. One of our GBL principles that is of particular relevance to this post is the fact that COTS belong in children's own cultural domains. For very many young learners game-play with COTS is what they choose to do in their own time, COTS culturally resonate with young learners, COTS have status, attraction, appeal and they are not from the domain of the school. This very fact has an immediate impact on interest and engagement when we work in schools because learning is being linked to a context that has significant cultural appeal and a sense of an "I belong in this activity...this makes sense to me" effect. James Paul Gee articulates this very well when he talks about Semiotic Domains and we use this to help explain the dynamic that we see when we use COTS in classrooms.Yet what do we see at BETT10? On the most part more educational technologies being sold and linked under the banner of play and playful learning when, to me, they are very much in the domain of the school and the teacher. Yet apparently, as the article from Channelweb.co.uk, it does not have to be about 'conventional computer games. What does this mean? What is a conventional computer game anyway? Is this in some way an attempt to dismiss the world of COTS and the place that they may, and in my opinion, should have in classrooms?
Most of the tools that I saw that were linked with the Playful Learning theme are very interesting and no doubt of great use in the hands of good teachers but for me to not have the some of the most dynamic, appealing and hugely engaging learning resources that are currently available on show or display at BETT10 was a huge own goal. It may be the case that the major game companies wish to remain to be seen as entertainment companies and not to be explicitly linked with education. If this is the case then so be it but I think that horse has well and truly bolted though when you consider how game based learning with built for entertainment COTS is becoming more and more mainstream and widespread in schools.
Maybe BETT2011 will embrace Play and Playful learning in a far more wide reaching manner than it did this year. I hope so, we need to be showcasing the best resources and practice available to teachers to help inspire and engage learners and for me some of what would be 'Best in Show' were not even on the exhibition floor of this trade show.
Picture the scene, my daughters are sitting focused, determined, engaged, applying their strategies to win as their faces, illuminated in the light that comes from what they are holding, exhibit the utmost concentration. This concentration must be broken though because the power of the game console is causing this game based learning enthusiast some grief at home ;-) and if a recent report in the Metro has any substance then it appears that I, along with thousands of parents, am causing physical harm to my girls by allowing them to get their hands on these modern day folk devils!
"Right you two, put those DSs down now and come through for your dinner. I won't tell you again!" This is the shout that I have had to use on quite a number of occasions since Christmas when the girls' grandad so kindly bought my daughters a DSi each. Their DSis came with a few games one of which is the wondrous Mario Kart and they must have played this every day since they placed their excited mitts on it. I have been secretly watching them as they have played Mario Kart (as well as the odd occasion playing Little Big Planet) and I have to report that I am seeing some incredible things from them in terms of learning and collaboration. I must also say that any externally forced parental guilt that I may be causing irreversible and actual physical bodily harm, to my girls by allowing them to play games is somewhat assuaged by what I have been seeing! Well what have I been seeing?
Now my girls do not only play computer games. In fact I limit their time on games consoles believe it or not. They go to gymnastics, trampolining, Rainbows, Brownies, the library, we paint and make things as well as playing various board games like Junior Scrabble, pairs, dominoes etc. Computer game plays a moderated part in the balanced diet of activities that we present to our children. This is the central issue for me, how parents make sense of and decide what experiences their children are presented with. But how can parents make sense of games and how they can be used for good with their children when we are faced with the continual construction of them as modern day folk devils?
Now I wonder how many parents ever watch their kids and observe just what can happen when young learners engage in good game play. I have been working in the field of game based learning for a wee while now and what we see in schools across Scotland via Learning and Teaching Scotland's Consolarium initiative is not only what I am seeing from my own children but the added value that comes when a teacher takes a commercially available computer game title and then uses that to drive curricular learning. We are seeing so, so much superb practice and active, intrinsically motivated learning in classrooms...this stuff works. The methodology that we apply sees the game sitting as a contextual hub about which the learning revolves, emanates and grows. Here are just a few examples of this practice that were initiated by the Consolarium and that have now spread to very many classrooms across Scotland and beyond:
But is it the case that parents most probably won't see or be aware of the potential benefits to their children's development? How can they, in fairness, when the general message that they get from the wider media about games and their impact on their children's development is almost a solely negative one? Take the article in the Metro that led with the headline. Gaming Leads to Surge in Rickets. I won't go in to the debunking of this myself due to the fact the article has no real substance or evidence to support this headline other than a cursory suggestion of a causal link. It seems that the issue most evidently linked to this so called upsurge is poor diet yet computer games are somehow linked to this and pulled into the dock yet again! Some readers from the Times Online forum gave this article the treatment and this more balanced piece did the job of sticking up for the falsely accused 'computer game'. The article did cause the games based learning fraternity to take this accusation seriously and with the Game Based Learning 10 conference organisers ensuring that your health would be supported if you attend the event ;-) ...
Whenever I see this kind of article I wonder just how long it's going to be before the good that can come from game play is given the prominence that I feel it merits? Games can be a force for good provided that at home parents play a confident and informed role in engaging with their children in the game play and possibly initiating rules or a framework that provides their children with a wide range of activities. Possibly sites such as As About Games can help here. As for their use in schools then maybe the continued work of the Consolarium and other educators who are exploring game based learning such as Ollie Bray, Steve Bunce, Tom Barrett, Dawn Hallybone and many, many others who are, writing about the appropriate use and brilliant impact of game based learning in their class can continue to promote what are in essence...damn good learning resources.
One of the games that I think set a standard in terms of its aesthetic was Loco Roco for the PSP. I remember playing this when it first came out a few years back and how transfixed I was by the combination of the incredibly appealing, malleable and down right cuteness of the graphics coupled with the mesmerisingly beautiful soundtrack. Played with earphones on this was just a sheer delightful pleasure.
Watching some music videos in order to chill out tonight I cam across Sing Sang Song by Air. Have a look and just give a nod in the direction of Loco Roco as a possible inspiration for the design of the video.
I wonder if there have been many other music videos that have been inspired by the world of the computer game.
Hope you enjoy their music anyway.Oh, and Eddie, this is the first of many posts ;-)
Sometimes your best ideas for classroom practice can be found in the most unlikeliest of places. Well just the other day I think I stumbled upon another excellent opportunity for learning via a COTS game. I had heard about a game called Let's Tapfrom the Nintendo Wii and that the gameplay involved tapping the desk in order for the Wiimote to pick up the vibrations. Said vibrations would then control what happened in the game. Well. the most certainly do and I found myself playing this game for about an hour on Tuesday afternoon with my Development Officer at the Consolarium Brian McLaren. What larks we had and after an hour of mirth, discussion and competition the ladies in the main office in LTSDundee said that we were, "squealing like a couple of lassies!" (No sexist inference from me...just reporting what was said.)
Well what is Let's Tap? Have a look:
The game involved include:
Tap Runner: Sprint for the finish line in over 16 courses while avoiding obstacles including hurdles, ice wall and electric fields. (1-4 players)
Rhythm Tap: There are a wide range of songs to master in Rhythm Tap. Feel the beat and tap light, medium, hard in sync with the on-screen tap indicators. (1-4 players)
Silent Blocks: Different modes using light and hard taps to strategically remove blocks one at a time from the column without causing it to topple over. (1-4 players)
Bubble Voyager: Clad in a space suit, solo players tap to keep their character afloat through many levels filled with dangerous objects; a double tap will launch a missile. In multiplayer matches, you will shoot each other a number of times to win. (1-4 players)
Visualizer: Everyone will take their turn with several unique stages including Fireworks, Paint, River, Gem Game and Ink. Tapping with light, medium and hard strokes produces on-screen effects ranging from a fireworks display to undersea bubbles. In special tap sequences, various sea animals will appear. (1 player)
I feel that there is scope for the incorporation of all of the games in to the classroom in one way or another but the one that has really resonated with me is the Visualiser and the possibilities that this may have in the ASN context. Brian and I were lost in this part of the game and found ourselves orchestrating the most vivid and wildly beautiful firework displays, causing consternation in the coy pool or creating random Jackson Pollockesque canvases (ok maybe pushing it a little) by by tapping and banging on the table. The impact on a large projection screen within this game as a result of a simple tap or bang is just simply wonderful.
I'd very much like to see what this game could bring to the experiences of learners in the ASN context because of the simple way that players can engage with the game and the incredible return they get from a simple tap on a desk. I hope to report back on ways in which it has been put to use in schools very soon. I wholeheartedly recommend this game just for the fun aspect but yet again within a game designed for entertainment we see great educational potential.
As you will have seen from the date of my last post I have been a bit busy of late. Or lazy as may be the case! Never quite finding the time to get online what I have been thinking or finding out about in my work and play time. However, my experience at the Education 2020 Unconference in Islay last week was soooo good that I just had to share my thoughts about it.
I first had the pleasure of meeting Ian Stuart from Islay High School a couple of years back when he presented at HHL07 (he also won a Wii in the prize draw). I learned all about how they had been looking to integrate ICT into the life of the school by virtue of the umpc and One Note amongst other things. So after hearing all about this it wasn't too long before I had managed to make my way to Islay to visit Ian and the school, a visit that left me truly impressed with the school's set-up, vision and ethos.
So after this initial visit it was with great pleasure that I received the opportunity of visiting Islay again last week to attend the Education 2020 Unconference. This unconference was a focal point for a group of educators from all aspects of the Scottish (and further afield) Educational landscape who use a range of online technologies to collaborate with professional colleagues in order to develop their own professional practice but also to contribute to their peers development. It must be said that I am less than prolific contributior to this community but to be part of it is something that I greatly value and feel confidence in. I can honestly say that I am a better profesional person for being a part of this community.
The chats we had were excellent, the high jinx and singing in the pub on Friday night just superb but the thing that impressed me the most about my time on Islay was my experience with the young people from Islay High School who presented to the conference delegates on ther Friday morning and then interviewed us on the Friday evening. Here we saw a group of articulate, confident, self-aware and mature individuals who presented a quite analytical yet wholly positive view of how the the opportunities afforded to them by the school had increased their self-confidence and enhanced their levels of attainment in whatever path they chose to take. The interviewers in the evening were also delightfully impressive and more than willing to ask for clarification if they did not understand one of my obscure mutlisyllabic references on innovation or if they felt they need to ask a probing supplementary question. What a credit you were to your school and if this is the kind of student that Islay High School turns out then I hope to send my girls there one day.
There were also interesting contributions to the conference that seemed out of kilter with the general consensus of opinion of the delegates but is it not the case that this debate is one that still needs to be argued? I'm sure that the tipping point is on its way and that the idea that interaction with online technologies offers so much more than just 'staring at a computer screen' will become stronger and will eventually become the norm. Education 2020 and the learners of Islay High School have given me even greater confidence in what I am doing in order to help contribute to the continued evolution of young learners' experiences in school. I am delighted to be in a position to do so.
Thanks to all at Islay High School (and the various distelleries) for a great time on your beautiful island.
I am currenrtly involved in the Games in Schools community of practice that is being managed by European Schoolnet. The idea behind this is to share the practice, expertise, experience and thoughts about games based learning in schools across Europe. The community is steadily growing and is proving to be quite enlightening in relation to what's happening in schools from Scotland to Denmark.
A colleague from Aberdeenshire, Jonathan Cordiner, who is heavily involved in all things ICT in schools up in that fine part of Scotland has been working with Wii Fit. I had doubts about how this might be used in schools due to only one board being able to be hooked up to the Wii but look at what Jonathan has organised...the Wii Fit pentathlon!
Find more videos like this on Games in schools
I'm off to meet with Jonathan tomorrow to find out just how he managed this project and what the impact on the children was...and maybe I'll have a go at the ski jumping game. I find that the use of jazz hands helps me keep my balance. ;-)
Have a close look at this picture. It looks like a young boy about 6 years old who appears to be playing a computer game using the sixaxis controller for the PS3. Take a closer look and maybe, like me, you'll begin to think that something's not quite right here...
First of all, look at his face: does that look like the face that children make when they are lost in a game? His bored and indifferent look suggests that maybe the computer game is not switched on at the wall!
Also, look at his posture. Again it shouts out that there is a clear lack of engagement and disinterest in what he is playing.
What on esrth is going with this young man I ask? Does he really have a PS3 that works?!!! I don't think so and neither do I think do Sony! Well this picture was taken from a short video clip that is currently being used in a new campaign by the Department of Health via their Change4Life initiative.
Take a look at the short clip from which this photo was taken and try not to feel the presence of the director at the side asking the young lad to look unhappy and unhealthy.
I have recent experience of this attempt to reinforce uninformed and unhelpful stereotypes of game players when I accompanied a BBC crew to a school in Scotland to investigate our use of Dr Kawashima's Brain Training in schools. The editorial take was such that they wanted to show the transition form 'old school' to 'new school' by taking a shot of the kids using pencil and paper and looking 'glum' as they did this. Happy faces would then return when the DS came out! Needless to say we intervened to ask this not to happen because it's not the message that we want to give nor is it the ethos that we aim to nurture. It does look like we still have to fully address the easy negative image that has been associated with computer games. I bet the production team all went home to play with their Wii that's in the living room though ;-)
A tip for Director's who want to construct an appropriately negative image of children and games in future. Get real! Children do not look like that when they are challenged, excited and engaged by the complex environments that games can offer them. Maybe eventually the message will get through...
Just in case you don't subscribe to the Consolarium's blog (the blog that allows me to share my day job work investigating classroom practice with games based learning) here are links to two new blogposts:
BBC Newsround comes to Fraserburgh South Park PS
A summary of the BBC's visit to a P.7 class who have been doing work with Dr Kawashima's Brain Training. Some great stuff on display with a link to a video of the the children talking about their experiences in learning with the game.
More Nintendogs and a Podcast!
I met a probationer teacher who was using Nintendogs with her P.2 class. An account of how she has used this game to help develop learning in Art & Design as well as podcast about my visit to Fraserburgh South Park PS is available here.
Enjoy.
My profesional career has seen me devote my time, thoughts, ideas and energy into making the classroom experience for schoolchildren as worthwhile, dynamic and memorable an experience as possible. I like to think that I have a growth mind-set and that I will continue to evolve as a professional so that I can always look at new ideas and approaches with a critical eye but where I am always prepared to take informed risks. As Ken Robinson states, "If you're not prepared to be wrong then you'll never come up with anything original!"
Now up until now the work that I have done with teachers across schools in Scotland in the field of games based learning has received a pretty good press. In fact, that fact is mentioned by me whenever I deliver presentations. It seems though that I'll have to make a slight amendment to my presentations now after an article in today's Scotsman.
In Cash-strapped schools urged to spend on games consoles a rather disappointing attack is made on an offer recently made by LTS to local authorities to be able to buy Nintendo DSs for their schools at a discounted price, much less than what is quoted in the article. This, as I understand was a one-off offer to meet demand from schools that have had their interest in this educational resource raised mainly by the work of the Consoalrium but also because of some evidence based research that was carried out by LTS and the University of Dundee. This first research article is about to be featured in the British Journal of Education in the next month and if you are interested the reference is:
Miller, D.J. & Robertson, D.P. (in press) Using a games console in the
primary classroom: Effects of ‘Brain Training’ programme on
computation and self-esteem. British Journal of Educational Technology
Dr David Miller and I are curently working on the paper that details the finding of our extended research study that was partnered by HMIe in the summer term of last year. This work has led to requests to share our innovative work with audiences throughout the school community in Scotland, England (BECTa, Futurelab & Stephen Heppell's Be Very Afraid), and further afield-Singapore, Germany, Denmark, Australia, USA. I have also just finished, today, writing the UK case study for a forthcoming paper for European Schoolnet with a request to share our work in Strasbourg in May.
The Scotsman article mentions research by Professor Alain Lieury but fails to go into detail about research done in Scotland. Now I recently put my thoughts about Profesor Lieury's work down in print on the Games based Learning discussion forum but here's what I had to say about that:
I, on behalf of LTS, carried out the first small scale research initiative in Scotland. This is really what made people sit up and take notice of this application of a commercially available game. If you haven't seen the case study then have a look:
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/ictineducation/gamesbasedlearning/sharingpractice/braintraining/introduction.asp
As a result of this study and the many questions that we felt were raised by it, LTS funded an extended study http://ltsblogs.org.uk/consolarium/2008/09/25/dr-kawashima-extended-trial-summary-results/last year that saw the same methodology compared with only a control group this time. This was done in 32 schools across Scotland. The results we found were very similar to our initial study. The first study has been peer reviewed and accepted for academic publication and the second one hopefully will too.
I read the headlines about the Rennes study and was at first a little bit apprehensive about what their findings meant for the work that I have led. As a result I have taken my time to reflect on things...
There are questions that I'd like answered before I make a definitive comment about the Rennes research but as there is little available to read (but you'll get it in a forthcoming book 
) so I don't feel that I can do that. What I can do though is ask some questions:
I do think that they have missed the point here. Come to Scotland, see the children work with Dr Kawashima, listen to them talking about how they are better at maths, challenge them to the x20 test and watch their faces give you total respect when you do it in 10 seconds 
Also come and talk to our teachers who continually talk of improved performance in mental maths, self-esteem gains, social dynamic enhancements, improved time-keeping, metacognitive activity and much much more. Also, teachers don't worry about the tech here, they can focus on supporting the learning. There is so much good that has come out of this initial idea that I devised whilst playing this game nearly two years that I find it hard to take in a piece of work that appears to be so detached from the real world of classroom practice that I like to think that I inhabit.
Finally, with a little help from Dr Kawashima I believe we have made it a valued aspiration for our schoolchildren to be red hot at mental maths. Can you really tell me that pencil and paper does that? I look forward to reading a fuller account of what was carried out in Rennes but I have faith and confidence in what LTS, the University of Dundee and Scottish teachers and children did. It worked an absolute treat.
I was also not convinced that Ken Cunningham's, the general secretary of School Leaders Scotland and Frank Gerstenberg's, the former head of George Watson's College, apparent scepticism was really about the value of the games and what we argue it can bring to the classroom. It was more about school budgets in particular. No it took Nick Seaton, the chairman of the Campaign for Real Education to really get the traditional mobs 16 hole Dr Marten boots on when he said: "It's absolutely crazy and a poor use of taxpayers' money for schools to be spending on things like Nintendos when there isn't sufficient money to pay good teachers and buy school books." Now I know that we are in a difficult climate at the moment and that money must be spent wisely but I do believe that schools who have chosen to spend some valued cash on this offer are doing right here...at least this ICT spend has some evidence to base the spend on! This appears to me to be a clear case of when the going gets tought the tough get traditional. Come on, who in their right mind thinks that pencil and paper, alone, is going to do it for the very many school kids who are not and will not connect with a school experience that does not move with the times, evolve and position itself in the cultural framework from in which it's client group comes from?
Have I got it so horribly wrong. Have I imagined the raise in attainment that our data has shown? Am I strong-arming the very, very, very many teachers across Scotland that I am working with to come on board with this? Am I not seeing happy, challenged and interested faces on school children in the classes that I work in with some of the most thoughtful and objectively critical teachers that I have met? I can assure that the answer to all these questions is no.
Maybe it is the turn of games based learning to have its bad press day but I will debate the merits of gbl with anyone. It works, it's right and this backward and traditional view is one that, in my opinion, will fail our schoolchildren...or do we never want them to come up with anything original?
Just I was getting in to my Korg DS-10 for the Nintendo DS in order to support a possible trial in schools I find out that it's to be discontinued. Sheesh! What can a man interested in games based learning do when he see something a little bit special albeit it seems with minimal mass market appeal (look at Electroplankton), and then it gets pulled. There is an issue here in terms of people working to support schools and make recommendations for software to use when there is the distinct chance that what you find of great use may not be available after a certain date. What use is that?
I fear that wonderful titles such as Endless Ocean may also go this way. It seems such a pity when it is clearly a superb teaching and learning resource. What, if anything, can be done to ensure that schools can still access these resources?
Well, for those of you who missed it here's what you could have done with it. Ryuchi Sakamoto eat your heart out!
I was spending some time today finalising some of my new projects at the Consolarium for this year when I decided to have a final look at recent and forthcoming releases for all major games consoles. Lots of great stuff coming up but one title that really caught my imagination is the game of the film of the book by Neil Gaiman called Coraline. Now, For those of you into your graphic novels then you'll recognise Gaiman's name from Sandman. I've also read another of his books called Neverwhere which was bizarre and surreal but eminently readable so Coraline is now on my list for purchase this Saturday.
Anyway, although the release date is January 2009 it seems that it just can't be got yet! No sign of it at all on any of the major retailers sites. AS soon as it comes out a copy will be in my hands because I think that this has potential. Have a look and check out the black button eyes in the 'other people'...
In terms of bridging that gap between games and quality narrative I feel that this title might have something real to offer. It might be the case that the game and the book could be studied in tandem? Is this an approach that might work and even bring a new dimension into understanding and relating to the characters and plot? There is also the aesthetic of the stop-motion nature of the movie and the beautiful design which is most similar to The Nightmare before Christmas. Just think what something like I Can Animate by Kudlian could offer learnrs here: making their very own Coraline-esque short movie stop-motion animations. So much to offer here I think that this could be a new must try for schools.
The clips available so far online really look stunning and the short snippets, as well as the game trailer video clip, that I've seen have really made me want to stray into and getv lost in the narrative and mystery of Coraline's 'other world'. This short clip is quite disconcerting, particulalry when you're the last one downstairs and it makes me think that ther suspense that this book/game presents might just give it that edge for it work within an S1/S2 scenario! Will be more sure once I've read the book.
I think there is real scope for suspending learners disbelief with this resource and for taking them to this 'other world' when in class..where their creativity can be inspired by both the story/writing and the aesthetic of the movie adaptation. I'm sure the game will also help encourage and excite those involved. Looking forward to getting my eyes and hands on it.
Please have a look at this post on my work blog about the project that I have been supporting in a school in the Orkney Islands. They have been using Professor Layton for the DS. Enjoy...
It's that time of year again when we get a chance to see the range of wonderful (and not so wonderful) educational resources on show at BETT. This years's event is as huge as ever but with the noteable exceptions of the BBC and Apple it appears. Drat, I always like to use their electric guitars with Garageband!
Anyway, I'm here with Kim Aplin (the teacher who set the standard for using Guitar Hero in school) my new colleague. She is the Consolarium's new Development Officer and we have been busy milling about the exhibition to see what their is that we could use in out work at the Consolarium.
First shout must go out to the team at 2Simple Software. We had the pleasure of meeting up with our ex-LTS colleague Alan Yeoman who now works as an educational consultant with 2Simple. In his usual ebullient , enthusiastic and educationally focused manner he took us on a tour of 2 Do It Yourself. This lovely little application has the potential to introduce the concept of game design to very young children. Simple menus, simple ideas, simple interface but in depth and quality learning will, I believe, come out of pupil interaction with this app. We watched as he very quickly and very easily created a few games that I'm sure P.2 child and above could cope with. They could very easily create their own games that their peers could play. This type of low technology skill threshold software is what can work in class in my opinion. Teachers would get success with this quite quickly and they could then use this to engage their children in rich and purposeful learning with ICT where they are the creator and not just the consumer of digital media.
I suggest you take a look at this excellent addition to the range of resources that can be used to help deliver the design aspect og games based learning.
It's funny the way things can happen and the circumstances in which you can met people. I'm currently in Australia as a result of one of those funny happenings that occured at BETT in London earlier this year. I delivered a seminar about the work that I have been doing in schools and at the seminar was a chap called Phil Callil from the Victorian ICT Teachers Association (VITTA). He introduced himself to me, said he was very interested in what I was doing and asked if I'd like to come out to deliver a keynote at the VITTA conference later that year. The proposed invite did duly arrive and eleven months later I found myself on a plane heading to Australia for the first time in my life...
I remember the late 1970s and the initial sounds of keyboard bands. Before Depeche Mode and the Human League I remember my brother playing Warm Leatherette and TVOD by The Normal. Great stuff but one day he came home with a 12" single of a German band called Kraftwerk and I was attracted to the somewhat harsh/angular sounds that were really quite infectious. They became the huge band that we all now know with Trans Europe Express being my particular favourite.
Now you can have a go at recreating your own Kraftwerk song as this chap has done by using the Korg DS-10 Synthesizer for the DS.:
Apparently it's quite a complex interface but I wonder how secondary music departments might be disposed to trying this out?
Here it is in action...
...and here's a fill list of the detailed features:
The sound output from a DS is really quite something so I look forward to hearing what can be created with this. I'm not doing the robotic movements though.
I have just felt my blood run cold with despair and then turn red hot with anger as I read the BBC post about a newly released report from Barnardos called Breaking the Cycle. The actual report did not lighten my mood in the slightest nor did the promotional video that will be released on 24th November. This video is severe. Be prepared for its hard hitting and ugly message but be even more prepared for the shock of finding out that every sentence said by the men in the video clip were actual responses to a recent YouGov poll about how young people are perceived by adults.
As I read this report it made me think about the bleak imagery and frightening vision of feral frightening children in 'Come to Daddy' by Aphex Twin:
Ugly yes but look at some of the really disturbing responses to this poll:
The ignorant flippancy of this last comment has really left me speechless. I was speaking to my wife last night on Skype and we got to talking about our two wee girls that we've recently adopted. We were laughing at some of the things they had said and done, pleased at how they were coping with me not being there at the moment but also marveling at how they had settled in to their new life and at how they were to put it …blossoming. Their arrival in to our house has been one of the best things that could ever have happened to us and we are so privileged to have these two characters. I am guarded about my girls but I mention them because our experience is so caught up with this. Our understanding of their needs, informed by Social Work partners, has helped us deal with issues, avoid conflicts, lay down boundaries - all within an informed framework that has let us understand our girls and to help them move forward in a positive fashion so that they can, and will, achieve their potential. My wee one hardly ‘gets in to trouble’ now. Where would we, and our girls, have been without this professional help?
My ethos in education and life I suppose was very much informed and influenced by my upbringing and then work as a teacher in Whitfield, Dundee- a so called poor area where schemies lived. (God! This monkey on my back is really itching today!!!) We must always have the highest aspirations of young people and we should never give up on them. Don't want to sound like the lyric to an anodine Whitney Houston song but some of the challenging children that I have worked with have been talented, able, smart, engaging but it needed me as the professional person in their lives to help create the context/environment to open those qualities up and to allow them to flourish. Isn't that the job of a teacher too?
We can’t allow this to escalate any further folks. Some of us might live outwith peripheral housing schemes, some of us might get our children to the school of our choice but what about the children in these peripheral housing schemes and in the schools that are not the chosen ones? We MUST keep arguing for, and ensure, that all our young people are valued, challenged and that the highest expectation what they can do and where they can go is the minimum they experience when they are in the education system. We’re failing them if we don't and if that's the case then get somebody in who can do it.
Vermin, animals, feral? No, children and young people deserve to be valued and supported by an informed set of professional services, hopefully sound families but also by a more empathetic and understanding wider society. I hope this video and the resulting campaign makes some people sit up and take a look at themselves.
Thanks to Graham Brown-Martin at Handheld Learning for posting this video that was made by children at Robin Hood Primary School in Birminham. Well worth a look and maybe something to share with decision makers? See what you think: