games and learning and why schools don't need closed minds
DESCRIPTION
Presentation delivered by me to PGDE(P) students at the University of Dundee in May 09. Video clips not available here I'm afraid.TRANSCRIPT
TITLE
PRESENTER EVENTDEREK ROBERTSON UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE MAY’09
GAMES BASED LEARNINGAND WHY SCHOOLS DON’T NEED CLOSED MINDS
observing
hypothesising
testingevaluatingpersevering
SUCCESS
Do you believe he is really
playing a PS3 game?
RISK AN EARLY DEATH,
JUST DO NOTHING.
Dr Tanya Byron. (Source: Byron Review, p15)
The Byron Review refers to “the educational, social
and entertainment benefits that the internet and video
games technologies clearly offer.”
The games industry “fulfills and plays an important role in our
society, and a very constructive role in the lives of many young people, as well as middle-aged
people like myself.”
Shaun Woodward, Government minister. (Source: Gamesindustry.biz)
“A Nintendo DS system to improve your child's education. What a load of nonsense, just shows you how destitute in ideas some of those so called educationalists have become.”
“What a load of tripe - so the kids leave school not being able to read and write but they can use a playstation? - which moron thought that one up.”
How does such a pessimistic
outlook help take learners forward?
Shouldn’t their learning
experience be an optimistic one?
SCHOOL DOMAIN
GAMES DOMAIN
Semiotic Domains
It’s now a cool aspiration to be good at mental
maths...
What did the parents think?
Scotland’s got game• Consolarium project began in August
2006
• Initially 7 early adopter authorities
• Now working with or about to work with almost 30 of those
• Hundreds of teachers and thousands of pupils involved
• Games consoles in many schools (2300 DS recently purchased)
• Working with many TEIs
• Permeates Curriculum for Excellence
• No longer seen as a maverick idea
JustwantedtodropyouanemailtosayhowmotivatedourchildrenarewiththeDSLiteswhichhavebeenborrowedfromtheICTteam.Currently,P4,aVERYchallengingclasstosaytheleast,areusingthemsuccessfullyeachday.Theyarehighlymotivatedandfocusedandaregettingonwiththeirtaskswhenasked‐thisisanoveltywiththisclass.TheirCTisalsousingthemforwritingstepbystepinstructions‐HowtoswitchonyourDSLite?Thereisonelittleboyinparticularwhojustcannotfocusformorethan5secondsandhelovesdoinghismentalMathsontheDS‐agreatexampleofactivelearning!
PROJECT
DATE SCHOOLSWINTER ’08 TO PRESENT ACROSS SCOTLAND
I’VE GOT £4200 IN THE BANKGLEEFUL LEARNING WITH NINTENDOGS IN P.2
Mad Dogby Saitaro Kuroda
PROJECT
DATE CLIENT2007 TO PRESENT LEARNING AND TEACHING SCOTLAND
GUITAR HERO IN THE CLASSA DAFT IDEA? YOU BET, BUT IT WORKS!
Creating a ‘collaborative story’* Guitar Hero became the contextual hub for learning in P.7
* Children lost themselves in the world of rock and roll
* Relevant and meaningful learning programme established
* Class virtual band drove learning in various curricular areas
* Enthusiasm and commitment to learning was palpable
* A rich learning experience packed with quality
Used as a Primary to Secondary
transition project
PROJECT
PRESENTER AUTHORITYDEREK P ROBERTSON ABERDEENSHIRE & STIRLING
ENDLESS OCEAN....ENDLESS LEARNING WITH SANDBOX GAMES
Bringing writing to life
PROJECT
DATE CLIENT2009 ONWARDS PORT OF MENTEITH AND NATIONALLY
MOSHI MONSTER MANIAVIRTUAL PETS ENCOURAGE REAL LEARNING
Moshi Monsters can be used to create contexts
for writing
Moshi Monsters can be used to let creativity flow via
animation...
...and writing and animation...
Moshi Monsters can help children engage with the design process
PROJECT
DATE AUTHORITYSUMMER TERM 2009 VARIOUS AUTHORITY PARTNERS
NARRATIVE IN GAMESOPPORTUNITIES FOR CREATIVE ENGAGEMENT
Impo
rtan
ce
Time
Technology v’s Narrative
Narrative
TechnologyGam
es
Mov
ies
& T
V©Ted Hung, www.tedhung.com
An area for development
• Very little depth, demand or challenge in the underlying narrative
• Characters in games up until now have been rather superficial and one-dimensional
• Lack of emotional diversity
• Currently: Fear, Surprise, Anger, Anticipation Fight-or-Flight Response
• Future: Love, Sadness, Jealousy, Optimism,
Where are we with games as texts?
Thanks to Ted Hung for inspiration here www.tedhung.com
Phoenix Wright DSCharacter sketching
THE SHADOW“WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEARTS OF
MEN? THE SHADOW KNOWS...
Writing for a digital audience
• S.2/3 Pupils to play Hotel Dusk Room 215 for homework
• Will develop their Noir detective and their storyline
• Story to be drafted, recorded and dramatised for audio and video podcast
• As with old serials their stories will be delivered over a a period of 6 weeks, building their digital audience
• Using Garageband and ipod touches to create and test their work
• Promoting inter-disciplinary working
• Introduce pupils to the wider genre of Noir literature
What do we plan to do?
Professor Layton and theCurious Village
PROJECT
DATE ONGOING LEARNING AND TEACHING SCOTLAND
BUILDING THE COMMUNITYGLOW & THE SCOTTISH LEARNING FESTIVAL
Joined up thinking?• SLF’08: Guitar Hero Competition
• SLF’08: Sonic and Mario at the Olympics Competition
• SLF’08: Dr Kawashima Competition
• SLF’09: Guitar Hero World Tour Competition
• SLF’09: Dragon’s Den Competition
• Glow Groups
• The Winning Game
TITLE
PRESENTER AUDIENCEDEREK ROBERTSON NATIONAL RESOURCE
CANVASEXPLORING LEARNING IN VIRTUAL WORLDS
Teachers embracing games GAMES DEVICES HAVE A LOW TECHNOLOGY
SKILLS THRESHOLD
TEACHERS GET SUCCESS WITH GAMES TECHNOLOGY, THIS ENHANCES SELF-CONFIDENCE
TEACHERS CAN FOCUS ON TEACHING AND LEARNING AND NOT WORRY ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY
THEY SEE THE POSITIVE IMPACT ON CHILDREN
Good teachers use good
resources to engage learners
Children have you for a year.
Take them places...
email: [email protected]: www.ltscotland.org.uk/consolariumblog: www.ltsblogs.org.uk/consolariumown blog:www.hotmilkydrink.typepad.comtwitter: derekrobertson
Thank you