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Look Cara...my phone can publish to the web

See! You might want to try something similar on your Bebo page.

Hoppipola: looking at things from a different angle

I was trading YouTube clips the other day with my friend from school John Whyte (programmer extraordinaire with Rockstar Studios)   and I fired through this clip of the video for Hoppipola by Sigur Ros. The first time I saw this video I could not believe how it made the hairs stick up on the back of my neck. Packed with pathos and humour it inverts our normal view of life to some degree and looks at age and behaviour from a somewhat leftfield.

I love things like that: a little different, creative, not the norm but most interesting! Hoppipola should be the anthem for the Consolarium.

Games design: get involved with Spaceship!

I had the pleasure of speaking to John Kirriemuir recently about the work that I have been doing with games based learning in Scottish schools. John was writing a piece for the Guardian's Technology site and it appeared yesterday.

I think John caught the ethos of what it is we believe in and what it is we are trying to do when we put games in the class. I also liked the way he mentioned that the people who question what we are doing are asking for hard 'evidence' that our approaches work before they might even consider it. This as he points out, doesn't seem to have happened in the past when thousands and thousand of pounds have been splashed out on interactive whiteboards, interactive voting systems, VLEs and all manner of other ICT products, Nevertheless, it's great that we are getting this evidence from our work and that this is helping to validate and celebrate the rich learning experiences that the teachers and pupils that we are working with are undoubtedly having.

As I scanned the page where the link to the article was I saw and interesting post from Alex Krotoski. A new games design project called Spaceship! has just been launched and its aim is to get people involved at the very earliest design stage...even before a line of code has been written. This could prove to be a very interesting project and it is one that I will most certainly be keeping an eye in terms of how such a methodology could be applied in schools to encourage and facilitate collaborative working in such a project.

Handheld Learning 2008

It was with great interest that I read the programme for this year's Handheld Learning conference. It's being held in The Brewery in London from Oct 13th -15th.   I've attended this event for the past two years and have found this to be a particularly lively and worthwhile conference to travel all the way from Scotland to. Last year I even managed to get myself on the programme!

One of the main sponsors this year is Nintendo. Yes, Nintendo are sponsoring a conference that's all about mobile learning. Some of you who have followed or found out about what I've been doing in Scottish schools with games consoles, including the DS and the Wii, and will no doubt appreciate the wealth of learning opportunities that are inherent in many of the games that can be played on theses devices but to see this feature so prominently at and education conference is for me a massive step in the right direction.

I believe that these devices have so much potential due to the fact that there is a low technology skills threshold when users get their hands on them. The DS for example is a device that teachers of all ages and dispositions to technology can get success with in a very short period of time. Teachers are learners just like pupils in class. They need attainable success targets and when this success is achieved confidence grows and inhibition to use the technology dissipates. This then allows the teacher to use the cultural cache of the games device, as well as the dynamic and challenging learning environments within the games, to create rich tasks and contexts for learning. I tell you, it works.

Now, if you sign up early to this conference then you will receive a FREE Nintendo DS to use during the conference AND you'll get to take it home with you when it finishes. I'd get signed up asap if I were you!

I'm also pleased to say that LTS have agreed to support this years event and we'll be taking a number of speakers down to London to share much of the exciting and progressive work that we have been doing in our schools with our friends and colleagues in London.. More of this to follow...

Well the dates for HHL 08 are in my diary now and this event is one that I am looking forward to. I also look forward to challenging the delegates to  all manner of games on my DS.

Fancy a PS3 laptop? Get your bid in.

If you can't wait to get home to play Call of Duty 4 GTA IV on your PS3 then fear not fare gamer player. Just imagine getting your hands on the PS3 laptop and unleashing this beast on the table top of the train back to your home town. It's a one off so get your bids in. I wonder if my budget could extend to this ;-P

So you think you're fast at x20?

I'm up in Aberdeenshire at the moment kicking off my Nintendo Dr Kawashima project. It's been great to see the enthusiasm from the children and the teachers for the project and a fuller blogpost about this will appear on the Consolarium's blog very soon.

I thought I was great when demonstrating my prowess at the x20 game within Brain Training during the initial input with the children until I was told about this YouTube clip of someone only taking 8 seconds to complete the x20 test. So you think you're fast...think again and look at this chap in action:

Right, let's see how fast we can get! I'm going to practice and practice and get under 10 seconds, wait and see.

Guitar Hero for the DS

Bored on the train, can't wait to get home to nail Surrender by Cheap Trick on Guitar Hero? Then do not fret rock fans...Guitar hero is now available for the DS. Look:

Not quite sure that it has same the allure of actually holding the guitar and looking the part as you strike your rock and roll bravado poses. Also, I think the spandex outfit, face paints and six inch high heels are a little over the top with the DS in your hand. Nevertheless this is a game that I must have! Town centre tomorrow methinks.

Consolarium to storm the music charts ;-)

My very good friend and colleague from the University of Dundee, Bob Doig, has taken it upon himself to jettison me in to the world of dance music! Poking a little fun at my appearance on the BBC he has sampled my 'choice phrases' and mixed them into a dance track. (link below my picture on the site)

He's done quite a decent job may I say and I think that there's a touch of the Prodigy about what he's done....

Bob's real musical passion is Scottish folk and his band are well worth a listen. Have a look at 'Aff the Cuff's' website. Who knows Bob, maybe we can collaborate on the classic and much loved singalong song Dolphin Boy and share that with an unsuspecting public!

Consolarium blogpost: Nintendogs in P.2

New blogpost on LTS' Consolarium site. All about the fantastic learning project that we have been doing in two schools in Aberdeenshire using Nintendogs for the DS.

Dr Kawashima: a good resource used by good teachers

I've had a bit of time to think about the reaction to my appearance on the media last week where I was discussing the extended Dr Kawashima intervention that I am carrying out in four local authorities throughout Scotland after the Easter Break. An intervention funded by Learning and Teaching Scotland through their Consolarium initiative.

Supportive texts received immediately after my appearance included:

"Press the red button to go interactive? I did this and selected the translate from Dundonian option." Stuart Lennie

"Megastar! Stay on and audition for the part of Nancy with Graham Norton!" Con Morris

Thanks guys!

In case you missed it here is a clip posted by Ewan McIntosh (copyright of the BBC) of one of the discussions that I had on BBC Breakfast:

Michele Ledda from the Manifesto Group said on the programme that computer games were "harmless enough and useful". However, he did not think they had a place in the class and that there was a crisis of authority because people like me are suggesting that new technologies such as games do have a valid and important role to play in teaching and learning. He also made light of continued attempts to investigate a variety of ways in which we can help maximise learners full potential. His reference to fish oil, which apparently is good for the brain, and then his bizarre reference to snake oil did not I feel aid his argument. One must remember that if you get snake oil on your DS then it will invalidate the warranty!

Before the chat with Michele Ledda there was another chat with a gentleman called David  Perks who is physics teacher in London.

David seemed to be suggesting that we were saying that school was boring and that this was part of the problem. I can't ever remember saying that in any context whatsoever and I was perplexed as to why he would say this when he really did not appear to know very much at all about the work that we have been doing. I think we both agreed that, as I said, good teachers will use good resources. The only difference is that it appears that I am prepared to explore non-conventional ways of engaging the already engaged but more importantly those learners whose potential is not in any way realised because the existing model does not work for them. Have a look at David Muir's post about this discussion.

I then appeared on Radio 5 Live with Nicky Campbell and Sheila Foggerty. My 'opponent' this time was a lady from the Campaign for Real Education. Have a listen and ©BBC.

Download ConsolariumonBBC5live.mp3

I thought that 'Real Education' was the business that I am in until I heard what this lady was proposing and I then realised that I probably wouldn't be allowed in. It seems we need to go back to 'old-fashioned ways' of teaching and not to confuse matters with nonsense such as games. Her idea was to run Saturday classes where flash cards could be used to help children learn. Dearie dearie me, as I said at the time 'The past is like a foreign country, people do things differently there." (Opening line from the Go-Between by L.P Hartley...a fantastic book with Julie Christie in the film!!!) We can't afford to live in the past and we must look to the present and the future to ensure that pupil's experiences are relevant, effective, challenging and above all worth coming to school for.

However, the comment that I feel disappointed me the most came in the BBC Scotland investigation that Ken MacDonald did. I thought it was generally an excellent piece; well-balanced, well-researched and thoughtful except I feel for the comment made by Professor James Logie, a neuroscientist from Edinburgh University.  He stated that what concerns him is that we see this as a 'panacea to cure all ills'. Again, I ask...where and when have I or any of my colleagues who are looking at the role of new technologies in teaching and learning ever made such a statement. It is all about appropriateness of the resource and how teachers use them effectively. At the end of every presentation that I make about my work I say that we are not suggesting that this is a panacea for everything but that it is yet another way that teachers may package the curriculum, if they feel that it is appropriate for the learners in their class. Again, I state that good teachers use good resources!!!

Overall the feedback has been excellent in terms of the interest in the project but also in terms of the enquiries from many other schools about what we are doing and how we plan to do it. It seems that other people want to try a similar thing...

I don't wish to appear as if I can't take criticism, that certainly is not the case as debate is what helps people grow. I just despair at an attitude that is still out there that we should continue with how we currently do things and that if anyone comes along with an idea that maybe comes from a leftfield, that has shown some interesting results and has resonated with teachers and pupils then the kneejerk reaction from many people is to knock it.

I'm really looking forward to carrying out my extended Kawashima intervention and to see what the results show. Who knows? If they do indicate real impact then we really will have something to debate but if it doesn't then it shouldn't stop us from exploring new ideas...should it?

Let's see what happens.