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.
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