OllieBray.com

Handheld Learning Conference – October 2009

In October 2008 I was lucky enough to attend and present at the Handheld Learning (HHL08) Conference in London. My presentation was on Computer Games Based Learning in Secondary Schools.

The presentation seemed to be well received and I have since repeated an up-dated version of the presentation at the NAACE 2009 Strategic Conference. If this is something your interested in I will also be presenting on the same topic at the 2009 Scottish Learning Festival (SLF) and at BETT 2010.

Anyway, this years Handheld Learning Conference is fast approaching and the programme of speakers seems to get more an and more interesting by the day. I’ll be contributing to the Spotlight Scotland Session (supported by Learning and Teaching Scotland) on the Wednesday and I will also be delivering a session on Social Media in schools strand on the Tuesday afternoon.

Here is a brief outline of my two sessions:

Leading the change: social media in schools.

Tuesday 6th October at approximately 15.00h

"Social media is rapidly changing the way that we communicate, shop, live, do business and learn - but many schools still haven’t really harnessed the power of social media to improved their learning environments.

This seminar will examine examples of how social media have been used in classrooms and by school leaders to make their institutes become more productive, open and engaging for their learners? It will suggest tools that can be used by education professionals to help publicise their schools, increase audience for student achievement, contribute to staff professional development and make significant efficiency savings.

In addition the presentation will attempt to define exactly what we mean by social media. After all, until we understand exactly what social media in education is how will we ever promote wide scale, sustainable adoption supported by appropriate strategy?"



Web Tools for Teachers: how Scottish schools are making the most of free web based resources to communicate, collaborate and learn.

Wednesday 7th October at approximately 12.30h

"This presentation will showcase some of the exciting work that has been going on in a number of Scottish Schools who have been making the most of free web based resources.

During the 30-minute session you will be shown examples of innovative practice from a variety of curriculum areas in both the primary and secondary setting. Examples will include on-line comic books, animation, collaborative documents, 3D modeling, web-based games and the creative use of web 2.0 technologies.

Importantly, any of the resources mentioned will be able to be replicated in your own school or education authority."


More information about this years Handheld Learning event can be found here.

Twitter Learn: Learn French from Twitter (140 characters at a time!)

 

I met up with my award winning friend Mark Pentleton last week for a quick catch up – I actually hadn’t seen Mark since Handheld Learning 2008 when we were both presenting in the Spotlight Scotland Section.

Anyway, Mark is the brains behind the Radio Lingua Network that I think has completely revolutionized language learning via the use of audio and video podcasts. Mark and his small team have now produced podcasts in over 20 languages that form a range of language courses to allow people to learn at anytime and in any place.

Importantly, the lessons provide structure, depth and progression. Much of the material is also free to download and there is also a subscription service.

You can always find Podcasts like Coffee Break French and Coffee Break Spanish near or at the top of the iTunes Education Podcast Store (in a number of countries!).

During out meeting Mark started telling me about one of his summer projects called Twitter Learn. Basically, during the summer holidays you could sign up to Twitter learn in French, Italian and Spanish.

Each day you receive a number of short (140 character) tweets going over the lesson and phrases for the day.

Also each day there is a short (140 second) podcast to accompany the tweets that get sent out. The tweets link to the podcast but you can also subscribe by RSS via iTunes.

I just thought this was a great idea and can’t believe I missed the launch of it while I was away in the summer. I just love this idea of drip-feeding learning is short bite size chucks that in re-enforced by a variety of media.

This type of learning has huge potential for schools. The use of twitter sending short messages to a mobile device makes the learning highly personal and instant for children. The audio content then provides the ability to dip in and out of the learning and offers reinforcement and practice.

Really looking forward to watching this service evolve with time. Well done Mark!

Handheld Learning 2008 (5 of 5): Spotlight Scotland

 

I want to finish me series of post off about this years Handheld Learning Festival by talking about some of the great work going on in Scotland at the moment. I think Scotland is currently world leaders in using Games Based Learning to enhance Teaching and Learning. This was re-enforced to me on the Monday night of Handheld Learning when my good friend Derek Robertson won the Handheld Learning 2008 Special Achievement Award.

On the Wednesday morning of Handheld Learning 2008 the Scottish Contingent presented on some of the work that we have been doing North of the border.

Here’s a brief summary of what we were all talking about:

Nintendogs in P.2, Anna Rossvoll, Aberdeenshire Council

Anna is an inspiring presenter a driving force of Games based learning in Aberdeenshire. Her latest project has been supporting the use of the Nintendo DS Game Nintendogs in a P2 Class. The game became the context for learning and all of the children’s learning for a six week period was based around the game.

 

The Winning Game, Jim Scott, Perth High School

In 2003 England won the Rugby World Cup. The then manager attributed some of his team’s success to the ‘winning mentality’ that was instilled in his players through the ‘winning theory’ espoused by their motivational coach, Yehuda Shinar. This theory has been developed and applied to underpin the design criteria of a new computer game that aims to help the player/learner develop the skills and self-awareness to help them focus on self-improvement and success - be it during sport or learning.

Much of the underlying themes within the Winning Theory had natural links to the rationale of Assessment is for Learning.

Perth High School worked with  TPLD, the game designers, and the Scottish Institute for Sport Foundation to help modify the games design and to assist in determining how it can be applied and made sense of in the Secondary school. Jim’s presentation focused on how the game was integrated into the life of the school and how the pupils developed a mentor programme to help develop a culture of self-improvement and success via the learning that occurred in the game.

 

Learning Anywhere Anytime, John Low, West Lothian

John’s presentation explored the vision, successes and challenges faced by West Lothian Education in implementing an appropriate local area network infrastructure to support the demands of a modern curriculum and pedagogy.

Unlike some other big national initiative the West Lothians approach has been to put the infrastructure in place for children to use their own handheld devices in schools throughout West Lothian.  

Podcasting, Mark Pentleton, Radio Lingua

Mark runs his own Podcasting Company, Radio Lingua. During his round table session he shared with the audience a real insight into his experiences - both positive and negative - of podcasting in education. He also discussed techniques, equipment, and strategies involved in podcasting from a basic to professional level.

Marks Podcasts are constantly at the top of the iTunes education podcast download charts and have been downloaded by 30 million listeners from over the globe. Radio Lingua is also up for an award – vote for Mark here!

 

A year on... what makes a handheld learning project sustainable? Ian Stuart and Andy Wallis, Islay High School

I’m a huge fan of the work going on is Islay, I think they have got their current curriculum so right. I’m not sure why we what to change it with A Curriculum for Excellence. To support the changes that Islay has made to the curriculum the school has developed the use Ultra Mobile PC’s (UMPC) for curricular delivery in every area of the school.

And, how do they make it sustainable? Simple, after the initial investment the money they now save on photocopying each year is enough to keep the stock of UMPC’s refresed!

Lots more information on this project over on Ian Stuarts website: http://www.islayian.blogspot.com.

 

Endless Ocean, Margaret Cassidy, Stirling Council

I didn’t see Margret’s presentation – I wish I had. But it concentrated on how primary pupils have engaged with Endless Ocean for the Wii, and how the teacher has used this as a motivation and context for learning for literacy, maths, citizenship and science within the class.

 

The Sony PSP in the primary classroom, Tess Watson, East Lothian Council

I know a lot about this project as it was carried out at one of my associated primary schools in Musselburgh. Learners in the P7 class used the PSP to play dynamic games, access the web wirelessly, take photos and video-conference. 

The main use of the device was to complete a unit of work on World War Two. For more information on this project see: http://edubuzz.org/blogs/campiep67/

I think the PSP has got huge Potential in Education and I am a big fan of the work that ConnectED are doing to promote the use of the PSP in the classroom.

 

Finally, Games based learning in the secondary school, by me

The notes from my presentation are here

 

The Consolarium

The Consolarium is the Learning and Teaching Scotland Centre for Games Based Learning and Research, headed up by Derek Robertson. For more information on Games Based Learning visit the Consolarium website.

Handheld Learning 2008 (4 of 5) – Live Video Streaming from your Mobile Phone

On the last Day of Handheld Learning 2008 I met the enthusiastic Rodger Carroll from the Chishom Institute, Australia. He was talking about live video streaming using mobile phones.

At the technical college that he was working at they were getting apprentice joiners (carpenters) to video each other with their mobile phones. This would be streamed live back to a website – where their work was peer assessed or assessed by their tutor. Rodger was also keen to point out that discipline had improved considerably in the class since they had been using the phones as a way to assess work.

As mobile and data usage plans come down in price I think this might be an interesting idea to try with schools. It also links into some of the other ideas that I have with modernising Geography fieldwork.

I’ve not had a go at live streaming yet – basically because you can’t video record on the iPhone without hacking it. I have however downloaded the Kyte Application which means I can broadcast photographs, polls and links directly to my Kyte Channel which is free to set up. I’m hope that when the iPhone video recorder official App is eventually released I will be able to stream live video to the same channel.

I’ve embedded my Kyte Channel below – this has lots of potential to provide alive feed of pupils work directly to a school website.

In my research into Live mobile streaming. I’ve also come across these other websites, that you can stream live video from:

1. Kyte.com -Kyte can be used from webcams or mobile devices, and allows you to brand your channel as well as monetize it.
2. Livecast.com - lets you broadcast your life from a wide-range of mobile phones from carriers all over the world, as well as using your own computer.
3. Qik.com - Qik is available on multiple mobile platforms, including the iPhone, with more planned to come. Stream live from your phone to their site, allowing you to broadcast from anywhere.

I would be interested to know if any one else reading this has experimented with live mobile streaming in education? Or can recommend any other services?

Handheld Learning 2008 (3 of 5) – Virtual Worlds

I think Virtual Worlds in education will be the next big thing, in the same way that Web 2.0 was a few years ago. We are already seeing signs of this in Scotland with initiatives like Virtual Work Experience.

This is why I was very keen to visit the Tuesday afternoon session on Virtual Worlds and Social networks at Handheld Learning 2008. I learnt a huge amount from this session and I will try to summarise the most practical things below:

  Disney Education – The Disney presentation has seen a bit of poor press elsewhere on the blogosphere. But for Anna and I, we could see a huge amount of potential in some of the sites that they have available and some of the sites that they will be launching in the next few years. For example, we felt that their Disney Fairies site (that we would re-name Disney Woodland People!) could be used as great and magical context for learning in the lower primary school.

Iain Huges (IBM) – Talked about lots of interesting things, but for us we were buzzing about using the latest resource from IBM on a ‘Mirror World’ of the Forbidden City in China. Again for me it is all about a context for learning. For example, children could research and then take members of their class around virtual tour s of the Forbidden City. Or they could take screen shots of the virtual world and describe them in the real world or compare them to photographs in real life.

Dave Taylor – showed some really interesting examples of how virtual worlds could be used in education. In particular he referred to SciLands and Second Health

The SciLands is a mini-continent and user community in the virtual world platform Second Life devoted exclusively to science and technology. There are over 20 science and technology related organisations in the SciLands, including NASA, NOAA, Imperial College London and Loughborough University.

Second Health is also features in SciLands is a place were doctors and other medical professional undergo training in a virtual environment. I have embedded a YouTube clip of Second Health below. The secenario is based around an emergency and specialist care unit where, ‘Mr Brown suffers a heart attack and is taken by ambulance to a specialist heart hospital where skilled doctors perform a simple procedure to unblock his artery’.

Ron Edwards (Ambient Performance) – Ron gave a great real demonstration of Second Life in action and also talked about some of the work he and his company have been doing to engage disaffected children. He also mentioned the creation of ‘mirror worlds’ (re-creations of places that already exist) and the use of virtual worlds for training and work experience. Ron also gave an impressive demonstration of augmented reality.  

I’m interested in virtual worlds for a few reasons:

1. First of all I want to build a virtual ‘mirror’ school (I’ve written about this before but with no real response). I would use this school to help aid the transition process. Children could visit the virtual school before they visited the ‘real’ school. They could explore and ask virtual ‘pre-recorded’ characters questions about the school.
2. My second interest is building a virtual school where lesson and tutorials might actually take place. I think his would be appealing for some students and could also potentially serve as a virtual archive of work, lessons and presentations.
3. Thirdly, I would like to build a virtual place so that students could display their ‘real’ work ‘virtually’. I think that this would improve the audience that we currently give work that pupils produce.
4. I also want to find out more about augmented reality and how I might be able to use this in the classroom.
5. Finally, I want to explore how virtual worlds could be used to create cross-curricular links between subjects like Art, CDT and Geography. Here’s a good You Tube Example below.

Handheld Learning 2008 (2of 5) – Pecha Kucha and Gabcast (an Interesting Podcasting Solution)

On the Monday of Handheld Learning I caught the second half of the "Pecha Kucha for 21st Century Educators". Pecha Kucha is similar to Teachmeet in that there are rules that you have to follow if you want to present.

The rules for Pecha Kucha are, ‘Anybody can present but you're allowed 20 images that you show for 20 seconds each giving you a total of 6 minutes and 40 seconds before the next presenter is up.’ More information about the origins of Pecha Kucha are here.

During the sessions I saw a number of interesting things including two great slots from Tony Vincent on Twitter and the iPhone. I’ve been subscribing to Tony’s Learning in Hand website for over a year now and I always like what I read. I was also really pleased to see that Tony has similar ideas to me on the use and potential of the iPhone/iPod Touch in Education.

For me however, the real highlight was seeing James Clay (of e-learning stuff fame) talk about Podcasting. At first I throught James was going to talk about a load of stuff that I had heard before. But then right at the end of his presentation he mentioned a website called Gabcast.com.

I had never heard of Gabcast before (although I’m sure it won’t be new to some people). Basically, once you have set up a Gabcast Account you get a unique telephone and pin number that you can telephone.

When you ring this number you can record directly from your mobile phone to the Gabcast website as an .mp3 file. The service for doing this is free although you have to pay for the phone call (London Number). You can download the .mp3 file from the website and edit it with Garageband or Audacity or you can embed it into your blog or website for people to listen to.

This could be a great way for getting people started with Podcasting and also a great way for students to broadcast information directly back from the field.

If you have used Gabcast before, I would be interested to find out how you have used it or similar services in your classroom.

I’ve created a quick example below:

Gabcast! Ollie Bray's Test Podcast Channel #1

Handheld Learning 2008 (1 of 5): The New Google Phone

 

I was a bit disappointed on the Tuesday morning of Handheld Learningthat there was nobody from T-Mobileat the industry announcements to introduce the G-Phone(the new Google Phone). I also felt a little embarrassed for them as they had a slot on the morning pre-conference rota and they were the only people from industry not to make it?

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Anyway – later in the conference I did manage to have a quick play with the new Google Phoneand I was quite impressed with what I saw – although I won’t be rushing out to get one straight away. The G-Phone runs Google’s Open Source Android Platform.

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From my quick mess around with it I thought it was quite similar to the iPhone in terms of functionality and also has some of the same drawback, for example they both don’t have a flash player, but they can both play You Tube Clips (on both phones there play outside the browser).

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James ClayCaptured an interesting video of his first impression of the G-Phone here, which is definitely worth a look.

 

The G-Phone will be ion the UK shops from the first of November 2008. I wonder if the guys at T-mobilewould like to lend me one to play with?

Handheld Learning 2008: Games Based Learning in Secondary Schools

I took part in the Spotlight Scotland Session at the Handheld Learning 2008 Conference in London earlier in the week. I had been asked to talk about Games Based Learning in Secondary Schools and some of the great work that we have going on in Musselburgh Grammar School and East Lothian.

I have embedded the slides from my presentation (using slideshare) below. As with my normal presentations I like to use a lot of slides with not a lot of content on each!

Making Games Based Learning Work in Secondary Schools

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: ltscotalnd olliebray)

The links that I referred to in my presentation are as follows:

• Wordle – Create fantastic Word Clouds to brighten up your lessons!
• Promethean Active Expression – A world class Interactive Voting System.

Some examples of web based games that can be used for home learning:

• Classic Sim City – Useful for teaching about towns, cities and settlement.
• Ordnance Survey Map Games – Good for homework.
• Fantasy Famer – Manage a farm for a year
• Stop Disasters Simulator – Can you protect the world against floods, volcanoes, earthquakes and other nasty stuff?
• Sim Sweat Shop – What is it really like working in a sweat shop in a less economically developed country?
• An idea for setting web based games for homework activities

 

Games Based Learning to help Transition between Primary to Secondary Education:

• The Musselburgh Grammar School Guitar Hero Transition Project – Background Information and Timeline
• MGS Guitar Hero Transition Project – Part Two: The Virtual Battle of the Bands
• Guitar Hero Showcase: I love it when a plan comes together!
• Musselburgh Guitar Hero Project Features in the Times Educational Supplement
• Cluster Project that plays to all talents.
• SLF 2008: Enriched Assessment for Enriched Enquiry

 

Partnership with Parents:

• Internet Safety and Responsible Use: How to set family settings on games consoles

 

The Use of the Nintendo DS:

Titles we use:

• Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain?
• Big Brain Academy
• Hotel Dusk – A Graphic Novel

 

Titles we are currently evaluating:

• Maths Training
• My Word Coach

 

The Use of the Nintendo Wii

Titles we use:

• Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (currently being used in SfL)
• Endless Ocean (Context for Learning)
• Wii Sports
• Dancing Stage
• My French Coach

Titles we are currently evaluating:

• My Word Coach

ConnectEd have made a fantastic storage solution for the PSP – hopefully they will also soon have one on the market for the Nintendo DS.

 

Other Graphic Novel Links:

• Classical Comics
• Manga Shakespeare

The use of the Play Station:

We are currently using Buzz the Schools Quiz and are looking forward to evaluation Buzz the Hollywood Quiz as soon as we get a copy? I am sure that there will also be Education Version of Buzz for the PS3 coming out at some point?

Games Design

We have a site licence for Mission Maker and will be exploring the possibilities for using this game to develop literacy and International links over the next 12 months.

Other Links:

• Learning and Teaching Scotland Consolarium
• Learning and Teaching Scotland
• Ideas Network Scotland: Innovation and Development in Education
• Zig Zag Dance Mats

Off to Handheld Learning 2008

I’m going to be at the Handheld Learning Conference in London between Monday – Wednesday (13^th – 15^th October 2008). If you are at the conference and want to meet up exchange ideas or just for a coffee and/or pint email or twitter me.

I'm also speaking on the Wednesday if your interested.

iPhone in Education (1 of 5): MindMaker

There are lots of great iPhone and iPod Touch Apps available in the Apple iTunes Application Store. Some of the Apps are free and some of them cost a small amount to download. This post is about a tool called MindMaker, which allows you to bring Mind Maps to the iPhone.

About Mind Maker

MindMaker currently it retails at £2.99 which is one of the most expensive applications that I have bought. However, the reason that I invested in it is that I have always really valued mind maps to help structure my own learning. I also think that it has great potential for use in the classroom.

Here’s how it works after you have download it from the Apps Store:

1) Click on the app button:

2) The next screen shows all your current mind maps, click on the ‘+’ button to make a new mind map:

3) on the black page, ‘double tap’ on the rectangle:

4) The text editor appears and you can now add the title for your mind map. When you have entered your title, press the blue done button:

5) Next press the ‘+’ button at the bottom of the screen. A new box will appear and you can add the next part of your mind map, by ‘double tapping’ on it.

6) You can drag your mind map boxes around by ‘tapping’ on the box and then ‘dragging’ the box to somewhere else on the screen. The ‘pinch’ feature also works to allow you to zoom in and out of your mind map.

7) With a little practice you can create interesting mind maps. The map below shows some of the things that I will be talking about later in the week.

Criticisms of Mind Maker: Don’t get me wrong, I think this is an excellent app, because this is one of the ways that I learn. At the moment you can’t export MindMaker Files back to your Mac / PC. However according to the MindMaker Website this is feature is coming in the next version. Also it would be mice if the accelerometer worked with this app. Sometimes it is be nice to view your mind maps in landscape as well as a portrait view.

For more information about MindMaker have a look at this screencast.