A drive north, to the Aberdeenshire Council GLOW team offices at Inverurie Aademy last Monday was spectacular – clear skies, sunshine and remarkable scenery: ocean, rocky cliffs, hills, fields, forests and plains. Another beautiful part of a truly beautiful country!

We travelled north to meet up with Anna Rossvoll and Jonathon Cordiner and were treated to a couple of hours of insightful and passionate discussions around the use of COTS games in classrooms. The ideas and applications within Aberdeenshire were inspiring. We heard first hand from enthusiastic practitioners about the successes, the possiilities and the limitations of the many fantastic projects that Anna and Jonathon were involved with.

From the famous Nintendogs Project, and Crazy Talk, to Myst, to Guitar Hero, to Kororinpa, to Endless Oceans and wii Fit; these two GLOW mentors have done it all!

In trying to find a common thread through all of these different projects, and what made them so popular with students and teachers alike I think ……..

The games all provided a context for the learning that was taking place.

The GLOW mentors provided ideas  – which were put into the hands of teachers to see what the individual teacher could come up with and put into their classrooms.

Control of the project was in the hands of the teacher and class – authentic and real-life tasks usually provided an end point or satisfying conclusion to each project.

Playfulness in the form of active, hands on challenges, activities and tasks, which were child centered, kept enthusiasm and engagement high. 

Anna, Gail & Jonathon @ lunch!

After 2 years of on-line friendship, it was great to meet up with Margaret and her husband Jack over the weekend. It was an interesting experience to finally meet someone you “know” a bit about, for the “first” time.

There was lots of comparing blogging and ICT implementation between Australia and Scotland, explaining how things are done in the two countries, and sharing frustrations regarding filtering, time and top-down expectations.

As well as lots of talking there was ample eating (including my first taste of haggis, neeps and tatties – yum,yum) and celebratory champagne to wash it all down.

Add many photos, a trip to the Falkirk Wheel and promises of meeting up again during the week, and the wonderful afternoon came to an end.

Thanks Margaret and Jack for your hospitality, kindness and welcome to Scotland.

In under a week I am off to Scotland and England as a result of receiving a 2008 Premier’s English Scholarship. The Premier’s Teaching Scholarships are an initiative of the NSW Government where teachers have the opportunity to undertake further professional development that will benefit them, and most importantly their students. Teachers selected to receive a scholarship can undertake international study tours and visit some of the world’s best schools and centres of education to expand their knowledge and understanding.

 My scholarship area is developing a “games literacy” framework to facilitate writing development through creative use of computer games in the writing classroom K to 12.

 The Annual Speak Up Survey conducted in the USA at the end of 2007 revealed the following information.  Students indicated:

• 64% K to 12 play games approximately 8 to 10 hours per week.
• over 50% would like to see educational gaming included in the school curriculum.

Teachers revealed:

• over 50% would like to learn more about integrating computer games into the curriculum
• 46% of those would like to see some form of professional development in the use of games.
• Only 11% were currently using games in instruction.

 From this survey two pieces of information are significant:

1.         Students want computer games to become part of their school curriculum.

2.         Teachers acknowledge computer games need to be integrated into the school curriculum and they need professional development to help make this happen

At my school (Belmore South Public School) computer games are used from Kindergarten onwards. We have found computer games combined with quality teaching practices provide an effective scaffold for working and playing with the language of narrative. Around 95% of our students come from Non English Speaking and socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, these students do not need to have control over the entire narrative, they can focus on the language, vocabulary, and sentence structures of different episodes within the game and begin to manipulate, experiment and reflect upon their use of language. The result is students’ language skills have developed as has their desire and ability to effectively communicate their thoughts and feelings.

Digital technologies have impacted on the types of texts our students are interacting with on a daily basis. Our students engage with computer and console games, the internet, instant messaging, texting, and social networking sites. It has been said that our students “power down” when they enter the classroom because of the disparity between what is taught, and how it is taught, inside and outside the school.

The use of computer games in the classroom has a positive effect on the students because of the cultural relevance they provide. Computer games are meaningful and experiential. Students are a part of the game, they have control of the game and a say in what happens. They are motivated and challenged by the computer game and by the story that is an integral part of the game.  The opportunity is here to embrace this positiveness and use computer games to support and enhance literacy learning and provide all the elements of quality teaching,

“When we teach creatively with emergent tools in mind, we stand a better chance of engaging reluctant students by giving what we teach real meaning. Each day is an invitation to examine, play, invent, reinvent, and join in the conversation. “Sarah Kajder (2008) ASCD: Educational Leadership: Reaching the Reluctant Learner

 Image: ‘Northern Australia‘
www.flickr.com/photos/13066221@N03/2229751363

Teamwork

Communication

Problem solving

Negotiation

Hypothesising

Predicting

Testing

Listening

Sharing

Validating

and that is just in setting up the PS2 on the iWB!

This morning my students worked together to set up our new PS2 in the computer room – we had to make sure that it would work on the iWB successfully before it goes to the Kinder/Stage 1 classroom. The kids worked together beautifully (noisily, excitedly but as a team) and it was interesting to sit back and watch how they organised themselves, thought out what had to be done, and relayed information and tips to each other.

Then they got to “familiarize” themselves with the eye-toy (for purely academic reasons – they are going to buddy up with the little kids and use the eye-toy with them) and the activities and games that are a part of the package. Even though just three students were actually photographed on the screen, everyone else simply had to help run, jump, and move their arms around wildly to catch fish!

After a good 15 minutes of hilarious huffing and puffing there were calls for this to be part of our Fridays Sports activities, and a comment that “I’ve never got a stitch from playing a computer game before!” The kids came up with the skills they had used in this impromptu PE lesson:

Stretching

Bending

Twisting

Pivoting

Swinging

Balancing

Running (on the spot)

Jumping

Landing

The PS2 is a very new purchase that we made after visiting Learning Teaching Scotland’s Consolarium in Dundee earlier this month. Derek Robertson, who is Chief -Game -Player at the Consolarium, presented a thoroughly logical, exciting and inspiring case for using game consoles ( such as Ps2, DS Lites, Wii) in the Primary classroom. So here we are at the very beginning of our play with Console Games, and gosh is it fun!

PS We pick up our Wii and PS2 Dance Mat on Friday!

I am a Primary School teacher from Sydney, Australia. I have been teaching for over twenty years and am really excited about the possibilities that Web 2.0 offers students, classrooms and teachers. There’s no way that I would describe myself as a techno teacher – but I do want to move with technology to explore learning, education and teaching with my students.