OllieBray.com

Microsoft Featured Teachers

The Microsoft Innovative Teachers Network front page has been up-dated and Dan Roberts from Saltash.net and I are being featured in two short case studies. Dan’s case study refers to his fantastic Recharge the Battery project and my feature is on using the xBox and Guitar Hero in class.

You can view the case studies in the Microsoft UK Innovative Teacher Forum. You will need to join if your not a member (but its free).

As well as being a previous world wide Microsoft Innovative Teacher Finalist Dan also recently picked up an award by becoming the South West region’s Teaching Award winner in the Next Generation Learning Category.

Well done Dan – I look forward to seeing you at the end of August!

You can follow Dan’s new blog here

Nintendo Unveils Nintendo DS Classroom

It was only a matter of time – and I honestly thought it would be Sony who would be first off the mark. According to a recent press release (you will need to run it through a translator!) Nintendo and Sharp System Products have announced the Nintendo DS Classroom, a new educational system targeting elementary, junior high and high school students.

‘Nintendo and Sharp System Products announced today Nintendo DS Classroom, a new educational system targeting elementary, junior high and high school students.

Known as "Nintendo DS Kyoushitsu" in its native Japanese, the new system pairs up the DS with a PC. Teachers make use of software on the PC to interact via Wi-Fi with students through their individual DS, DS Lite or DSi units that have been equipped with a Nintendo DS Classroom cartridge. The system allows a single PC to interact with up to 50 DS units. Everything is handled locally, so no internet connection is required.

Nintendo detailed a few sample uses. The system can be used for interactive tests, where student responses are reflected in real time on the teacher's computer. Teachers can also send students multiple sample problem sets, with the software automatically checking answers. Teachers can conduct surveys of students, with responses tabulated and charted in real time on the teacher's computer.

Outside of multiple choice, the stylus can be put to use for free response questions. Images of student responses are sent back to the teacher's computer.

Nintendo says that it developed the Nintendo DS Classroom program as part of its continued efforts to expand the DS beyond just a game device. The company notes that the pairing of PC and DS differentiates the new system from previous school-oriented educational software.

Sharp System Products is developing educational content using the Nintendo-developed system, and will handle sales, set-up and support. A press release from the two firms noted that Sharp has experience in student educational systems,

Outside of the pre-made content, teachers will be able to create their own educational materials using a simple spreadsheet interface.’

Thanks to Doug Dickinson for flagging this up.

Guitar Hero at the Scottish Learning Festival 2009

Calling all Scottish Schools that have been using Guitar Hero this year. Derek Robertson is once again organising the Scottish Learning Festival Guitar Hero Challenge. This year we will be using the World Tour Version of the Game which means we will be looking for bands of four to enter the competition that is a drummer, guitarist, bassist and vocalist.

In the competition you can choose from the following songs:

• Eye of the Tiger by Survivor
• Some Might Say by Oasis
• Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi
• Are you Gonna’ go my Way? by Lenny Kravitz

If you didn’t already know in the World Tour verson of the game you  can open all the songs by going in to the Cheats option and keying in the following combination Blue, Blue, Red, Green(2), Blue(2), Yellow.

Derek has also established a Guitar Hero Glow Group for schools to share the associated curricular work that can go on around a game such as a Guitar Hero but if your school is not yet in Glow don’t worry you can still participate by sending your high scores to consolarium@ltscotland.org.uk and we’ll ensure that they are added to the leaderboard.

Score must be validated by a teacher and the closing date for submissions to the competition is Friday 11th September with the successful contestants being notified by Monday 14th September. Travel costs will be covered by LTS. This event will take place at the SLF’09 on Wednesday 23 September, 4:00pm.

Schools can enter as many bands as they like and I know that there is Guitar Hero action going on in East Lothian, Aberdeenshire, South Ayrshire, Shetland, Highland, Stirling and many more authorities – so lets make sure we have lots of entries and a really fund contention!

E3 Computer Game Developments: what does this mean for education? (5 of 5) - New games for learning

This is the last of five posts about The Electronics Entertainment Expo (or E3) videogames tradeshow that took place between 2nd-4th June 2009 in the LA Convention Centre, USA.

The E3 also reviled a number of new games titles that I think have got some great educational potential. Particularly if you consider using them as contextual hubs for learning. Here are some of the title that I expect you will see in classrooms around Scotland in the next 12 months.

DJ Hero – an extension to the Guitar hero Franchise. I can see the boys loving this (although I’m not sure about the teachers!).

 

Lego rock Band - LEGO Rock Band will feature famous artists rendered as LEGO characters! With lots of bright colours, great music and no booing when you get things wrong. Released Q4 2009

 

Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games: Following the huge success of the summer's Beijing tie-in, Mario & Sonic are coming back to try their hands (and paws!) at skiing, snowboarding, bobsleigh and more! New characters included Metal Sonic and Donkey Kong, and the Wii Balance Board will be usable for certain games. Should be huge for Christmas, releasing 16th October 2009.

 

Wii Sports Resort - Table Tennis, Frisbee, basketball, archery, canoeing, golf, water skiing and more await in Wii Sports Resort, which will use the MotionPlus for truly lifelike interaction. Released 24th July 2009.

 

Style Savy for the DS Invites girls (and boys) to become a fashion gurus and design clothes to take onto the catwalk! Released Q4 2009.

E3 Computer Game Developments: what does this mean for education? (4 of 5): Sony PSP GO

 

This is the forth of five posts about The Electronics Entertainment Expo (or E3) videogames tradeshow that took place between 2nd-4th June 2009 in the LA Convention Centre, USA.

Sony didn’t just revile its proposals for a new controller at E3. It also reviled the next generation of the PSP. The PSP GO will be available in the UK on October 1^st 2009. 

Key features of the PSP go are:

• No UMD Slot – games and media will be stored on the system itself, just like an iPod. Its 50% smaller and 40% lighter than the original PSP.
• The D-Pad and buttons slide out from underneath the screen!
• Built in WiFi, Bluetooth and flash memory slot.
• You will be able to watch videos on your PSP through the  PlayStation Network.

What does this mean for education?

Some people thought the old original PSP was a bit dated and the new version will certainly give it a facelift which is likely to make it more appealing for children.

Also, with the removal of the UMD slot and the emphasise on either downloadable games or games accessed via the devices browser hopefully this may bring the cost of games down?

One big disappointment is that it looks like the PSP GO doesn’t have a camera built in. lets just hope you will be able to connect 30 of them to a PS3 to make an alternative interactive voting system.

 

E3 Computer Game Developments: what does this mean for education? (3 of 5) Nintendo Developments

 This is the third of five posts about The Electronics Entertainment Expo (or E3) videogames tradeshow that took place between 2nd-4th June 2009 in the LA Convention Centre, USA.

Nintendo made a few significant announcements at E3. I didn’t think any of them were big changes like Project Natal and Sony’s new Motion Controller. But Nintendo don’t seem at all phased about this and why would they? The success of the Wii, the DS and the new DSi has been huge.

A lot of Nintendos announcements seems to centre around the Motion plus which launches in the UK tomorrow. The Wii MotionPlus is a revolutionary new device that attaches to the end of your Wii Remote for enhanced motion control. In short, it supercharges Wii Remote’s sensor capabilities. Nintendo claim that with MotionPlus, the slightest movement is accurately represented on screen down to the millisecond giving you a more realistic and enjoyable gaming experience

New games like Wii Sports Resort, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis will all make use of the Motion plus controller.

Finally Nintendo also offered a glimpse of their future (or at least a glimpse they were willing to share) in the form of the Wii Valality Sensor this is a thumb grip that picks up on your pulse and will eventually be incorporated into games that will help you relax and exercise.

 

What does this mean for education?

The Nintendo Wii has education written all over it evey child that I have seen using a Nintendo Wii in class has been 100% engaged and the Wii provides a range of fun educationally appropriate games for schools.

The new announcements at E3 will (at least for the time being) put the Wii ahead of the other consoles in terms of exergameing and games like Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and Pro Tennis have the potential to link computer games to improved performance in sport. Also, games like Wii Sports and now Wii Sports resort has great potential to be used creatively in the classroom. Just think about how much maths is involved in throwing a freebie – speed, angle, wind direction and distance thrown. I already know of some very creative teachers who are capitalising on numeracy provided by games and are bringing that into their maths lessons and classrooms.

E3 Computer Game Developments: what does this mean for education? (2 of 5) - Sony joins the controller wars!

This is the second of five posts about The Electronics Entertainment Expo (or E3) videogames tradeshow that took place between 2nd-4th June 2009 in the LA Convention Centre, USA.

After the buzz of project Natal at the pre-show. I don’t think anyone was expecting Sony to live demo with their own revolutionary controller for the PS3 the very next day. But they did.

Sony's version of a motion-sensing controller lands somewhere between the gesture-based, infa-red pointer of the Wii and Microsoft's motion-capturing Natal hardware.

It works via two controllers, both of which can track 1:1 movement - a little like holding two Wii Remotes in your hand, both with the MotionPlus attached. Like Natal, however, it also uses a camera - in this case, the PlayStation Eye, which together with the controllers can fully track your movements and translate them precisely to action on-screen.

Have a look at this YouTube Video below to see what they presented at the E3 – it looks impressive:

 

What does this mean for education?

Well gain, its difficult to tell as this type of revolutionary controller will certainly create a new generation of game. But wouldn’t it be great is children could actually design their own object or items and then have them appear in the game that they were playing.

E3 Computer Game Developments: what does this mean for education? (1 of 5) - Microsoft Project Natal

The Electronics Entertainment Expo (or E3) claims to be the biggest videogames tradeshow in the entire world! This year's E3 took place between 2nd-4th June in the LA Convention Centre, USA.

There were lots of exciting announcements at the conference that I’ve been reading about from various news sources and I’ll try my best to give a quick summary over the next five posts.

There was no doubt about it at this years E3 Microsoft made a huge impact by unveiling Project Natal. Project natal is fully motion-captured gaming where your body is the controller!

I’ve got no idea how it works but Microsoft claim that Project Natal supports:

• Facial recognition software (that signs you in automatically)
• Menus that can be scrolled with a hand-swipe
• Films that can be started via voice activation
• Playing games that become a matter of simply moving your body to make your avatar move on-screen in exactly the same way.

Natal will come bundled with Xbox 360 consoles somewhere in the not-so-distant future.

A video of the Project Natal concept is show below (You Tube Video). Its very impressive.

What does this mean for education?

Clearly Project Natal could have some significant links for education and if it works as well as the concept video it will breed a whole new set of games and develop the way that we interact and play games.

If the software supports multiple players (like it appears to) Natal will certainly open new doors for collaborative and team working. The racing car demo is a good example of that. As well as collaboration, the motivation provided by natal is likely to to be very engaging for children. Imagine if they designed their own skateboards and then got to scate them around a course (a bit like the example above).

The big question remains – will it work and when will we be able to give it a go?

Scottish Learning Festival 2009: registration now open

Registration is now live for this years Scottish Learning Festival (SLF). The SLF is organised by Learning and Teaching Scotland and is a great CPD and professional learning opportunity for teachers from Scotland and further afield.

This years key themes are Curriculum for Excellence and GLOW.

Keynote presentations will be from:

• Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, Fiona Hyslop MSP, Scottish Government

• Prof. Ferre Laevers, Director of the Research Centre for Experiential Education, University of

  Leuven

• Prof. Carol Dweck, Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology, Stanford University

• Frank Dick OBE, former British Athletics Federation Director of Coaching.

I’m doing two presentations this year:

1. Computer Games Based Learning in Secondary Schools - 23 September 2009, Room B1C at 13.00h

2. Accelerated Leadership: How do we Develop Creative and Motivated Leaders? – 23^rd September, Room C2E at 16.30h

If your interested you can sign up to one of these seminars or any of the other 168 that are on offer over on the Scottish Learning Festival Website.

Teachmeet also returns to the SLF for the 4^th Year – more details on Teachmeet over on the teachmeet wiki

MGS Guitar Hero Project gets write up in Scotsman

A nice write up in today’s Scotsman about our Musselburgh Cluster Guitar hero project. You can read the full article here: http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Award-is-music-to-ears.5120017.jp