Consolarium at the Scottish Learning Festival

The Scottish Learning Festival looks like it will be yet another success this year. The keynotes look particularly engaging and the seminars that showcase and share innovative practice throughout Scotland will go some way to helping to inform and influence practice in many other classrooms.

Games based learning has a very healthy presence this year with a stream and promotional brochure all of its own! Consolarium presentations are as follows:

• The Consolarium: Learning and Teaching Scotland’s Advocate for Computer Games and Learning: Yours truly discusses the life and progress of the Consolarium and what we have done this year in trying to take games based learning forward in Scotland.
• Crazy Talking the Way to Enhanced Literacy Skills: Joe Shaw and Margret from Stirling Council discuss how the Crazy Talk application became a hugely motivating factor in getting children to engage with writing.
• Star Qualities: Using the Sony Playstation Games Guitar Hero and Singstar as the Context for a Cross-curricular Project in the Upper Primary: Anna Rossvoll from Aberdeenshire will discuss how a P.7 teacher used Guitar Hero to create the most engaging context for learning for her children.
• Making Progress in Maths with Nintendo’s Doctor Kawashima: Again, yours truly presents a case study that looked at using the Nintendo DS in the classroom with Dr Kawashima's Brain Training.
• Cha Cha Cha – a Phonic Blend or a Latin American Dance? Using a Dance Mat to Develop Phonic Awareness in the Early Years in West Lothian: Laura Compton and Margo Kerr from West Lothian Council will be talking about the authority experience of using the Primary Phonics dance mats programme with Pre-school and Primary children.
• We also have Peter Liddle and Janette Thomson on the LTS stand and they will be talking about their experience of using computer games design applications in their classrooms.

Other games based learning presentations at SLF '07 are:

• Using Computer Game Design to Foster Successful Learners: Judy Robertson from Herriot-Watt University will talk about how games design contexts can create rich learning experiences for learners.
• The Sports Store Game: Delivering Curriculum through Games: Joe Wilson from SQA will be showcasing a new game that will allow players/learners to model business skills via a sports store.

Some very interesting stuff there that I'm sure you will find of great interest. Me, I hope to attend them all so maybe see you there...I'll be wearing a suit!

Comments

[Rich]

Guitar Hero seminar was class... can I get away with saying it rocked?!

See you in Boness!