Gaming & Learning

Dave Warlick has written some interesting posts about his personal learning network and he elaborates also on the technologies and tools he uses along the way. This is an exerpt from one such post:

“Somewhere between 22 and 59 virtual attendees, the chat conversation became more of a focus point for me, as lurkers were commenting less about where they were from (PA, TX, SC, Perth, Shanghai) and more about the topics of Steve’s presentation, each shining a slightly different light on the idea, each giving me a different way of looking at it. A sudden small and fragile network was becoming a temporary branch of my Personal Learning Network.”

Author: Dave Warlick, 2cent Worth Blog, 9th April 2008

Full article available >here.

The notion of techies huddled in isolation in front of monitors has given way to the concept of sharing data and/or ideas across the office or across the ocean. Students, professionals, or like-minded hobbyists can now be linked on line by more than mere discussion boards or chat rooms. Wikis now give a venue for virtually anyone to collaborate on line.

How can I utilize them for students?

The idea of a collaborative creation space for students has limitless possibilities. Students can create a biology on-line textbook. In Literature Circles (Harvey Daniels) students can culminate the process with a set of “Cliff Notes” on the book studied. Students can collaborate with a school across town or across the country to create any kind of a project. For ideas, visit Wikispaces’ “Examples of Educational Wikis”, which is itself a Wiki and as such can be amended by users.

Author: Jon Orech, TechLearning, 1st April 2008

Full article available here.

A 22 year old gives advice to teachers and parents on teens and young adults. Interesting post on how teachers can use onlines resources effectively to engage this generation with learning:

“Can schools keep up with their net-generation, text-savvy students? A lecture and a white board pale in comparison to online videos, cell phone games, interactive virtual worlds and 3-d animation. Already, schools have been incorporating more high-tech technology such as smart boards and projectors in the classroom. My old high school uses ipods to test and record listening comprehension. This is great–and really expensive.

I plan on writing a few blog posts on this topic, but I first wanted to review a few free resources teachers (and parents) can use in the classroom or for homework to keep kids interested in learning. Most of all, by employing new technology you will be speaking in this generation’s language, appeal to what already interests them and therefore make school really relevant to their lives.”

Author: Vanessa Ven Petten, vanessavanpetten.com, 16th March 2008

Full article available here.

Also great interview with Vanessa available from OpenEducation.net here.

Very interesting article on virtual labs and their uses in science classes with limited lab equipment:

“Thanks to rapid development in information technology, all real life situations can be simulated on your very computer screen, loaded with programs such as Java, Flash, Real media etc. With increasing number of e-learning companies and academic websites offering virtual laboratories, it is easier today than ever before, for a science teacher to use virtual lab. He simply needs to download the virtual experiment from the World Wide Web or buy it as part of an e-learning package from product manufacturers. Virtual labs can help the teacher and the taught, to a significant extent. Let us visit a few virtual classrooms.”

Author: P.R. Guruprasad, TechLearning, 1st April 2008

Full article available here.

Scientific research shows that to stay fit and at the top of our game, our brains need exercise just like our bodies.

Happy Neuron online brain games are scientifically-developed to stimulate your brain in a challenging and fun way, keeping your mind fit at any age.

Happy Neuron CEO and cognitive psychologist, Dr. Michel Noir, designed these games to specifically target the five major cognitive functions of memory, attention, language, executive functions and visual/spatial. Increasing scientific evidence shows that actively participating in appropriately designed brain fitness workouts can help defer the onset of diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Based on personal progress, Happy Neuron ensures individuals are making the most of their mind workouts. A personalized “virtual coach” prepares personal brain workouts based on player usage and performance. In addition to comparisons to the top 25 percent of players, users will see how they are performing in relation to the average score of their peers. The unique coach feature gauges mental achievement levels and progression based on other players of the same gender, age and education level. Each player is given insight into areas of cognitive strength and weakness and personal progress is charted for each function.

HAPPY NEURON Targets

· Memory - working memory (15 sec.), short-term memory (up to 60 sec.) and long-term memory

· Attention - hones the ability to concentrate and focus on critical information

· Language - exercises speed, strength and comprehension of verbal and written expression

· Executive Functions - strengthens the highly complex functions of logic, strategy, planning, problem solving and deductive reasoning

· Visual and Spatial –processing information in a 3-D world and interpreting visual information

HAPPY NEURON Features

· Offers 32 different online games and more than 1500 hours of game play – including unlimited access to one free game in each cognitive category

· Easy access – players can log in from any computer with internet access

· A “Virtual Coach” to track progress and compare results to other players of similar gender, age and education levels. Games are then recommended to improve an individuals’ area of weakness.

Happy Neuron games are available now at www.happy-neuron.com

Virtual Conference Explores New Frontiers in Language Learning

Barcelona Spain, 20 March 2008 - - SLanguages 2008 is a 24-hour multilingual conference to celebrate and investigate the use of 3D virtual worlds for language education. The event will be held in Second Life on 23-24 May 2008…

SLanguages 2008 is a 24 hour multilingual conference to celebrate and investigate the use of 3D virtual worlds for language education. The conference will be held within Second Life allowing the participants to exchange ideas and share experiences simultaneously around the world. The online conference is free to attend and includes talks, workshops, discussions and posters on language education using virtual worlds such as Second Life. The events will cover methodologies, teaching tools and experiences.

Second Life is a 3D virtual world that has attracted over 12 million residents worldwide and has become a mainstream phenomenon for education, business and entertainment. Throughout 2007 Second Life has become an important tool for language learning with many universities using the 3D world for language tuition, including Michigan State University and the University of Southampton. “Interest in using Second Life for education has increased exponentially over the last year” says Second Life educational consultant Gavin Dudeney, author of The Internet and the Language Classroom, Longman 2007.

The event is an opportunity for those new to virtual language teaching to learn about the opportunities virtual worlds offer. The conference also allows experienced language educators to share experiences and ideas. “3D virtual worlds such as Second Life offer a unique form of immersive learning not found elsewhere. The SLanguages 2008 conference is the perfect opportunity to see the recent developments in this area and to meet those involved in truly innovative educational projects” says Graham Stanley, who has established the British Council’s ‘Learn English Second Life for Teens’.

SLanguages 2008 will be hosted within Second Life on the tropical “EduNation” islands owned by The Consultants-E. The conference starts 10am (PST) Friday 23 May and ends 10am (PST) Saturday 24 May. The seminars will continue to also reach a much wider audience through archives of the event on the www.slanguages.net website.

To register for the conference or for further information, please contact Gavin Dudeney of The Consultants-E or visit the website www.slanguages.net.

About The Consultants-E:

The Consultants-E is an educational consultancy company specialising in online education, offering tailored consultancy in technology for education. Their consultants assist companies and educational institutions to integrate innovative technologies into their teaching practices. The company also offers courses in e-learning tools such as Second Life, wikis, podcasts and Moodle. The Consultants-E own and run three private islands in Second Life that foster education and training.

Contact:

Gavin Dudeney
The Consultants-E
c/ Cerámica 54
08035 Barcelona
Spain

gavin.dudeney@theconsultants-e.com
www.theconsultants-e.com

Dudeney Ge (Avatar in Second Life)

[Authorised press release from The Consultants-E]

“Computers are no substitute for the real thing” says Phil Beadle in an article in education Guardian today. http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,2269745,00.html

He goes on to rubbish BETT, the “nerds” at BECTA and presumably Futurelab and seems to suggest that the solution to all this “techie” stuff is to give everyone an HB pencil!

Author: Bob Harrison, Flux Blog, 1st April 2008
Full article available here. Great video worth a look. Created by students by of ACU showing how iPhones and related technologies are used in student life and pedagogy.

Almost half of children online use social network sites

More than a quarter of eight to 11-year-olds who are online in the UK have a profile on a social network, research shows.

Most sites, such as Bebo, MySpace and Facebook, set a minimum age of between 13 and 14 to create a profile but none actively enforce the age limit.

Ofcom’s survey of 5,000 adults and 3,000 children found 49% of those aged between eight and 17 have a profile.

Ofcom says parents need to keep an eye on what their children do online.

Wide usage

The Ofcom report looks into the impact of social networks on people’s lives in the UK as part of a wider media literacy campaign and surveyed 5,000 adults and more than 3,000 children.

Author: Darren Waters, BBC News, Technology, 2nd April 2008

Full article available here.

11 - Light Versions (Split personality!)
Twitter is so popular because it is so Light! I mean, 140 characters, can work on cell phones (mostly ones here in the US, though.) However, as we look to link with people (and classrooms) in countries with little or no broadband access, we need to have easy ways for our (social) networking pages to connect to and from cell phones of all kinds.

Access in Africa
This first hit me during a recent discussion with Beth Kanter on Wow2. She is recently back from Cambodia where she was teaching 18-24 year old students about blogging. We need alternatives to make our content more concise, easy to read and the ability to pull residents of bandwidth-limited areas into our conversations.

Lemonade
Additionally, as I was listening to last week’s Digital Planet podcast from the BBC, I heard about the open cell phone standard entitled Lemonade which will make email access more readily available on even non-smart phones. So, why can’t we do the same thing with networking sites?

Author: Vicki Davis, TechLearning, 7th December 2007

Full article available here.

The Futurelab Research Day was hard work, and all the better for it. The sessions shared experiences of projects, discussion papers and research reviews, and posed difficult questions to an audience more than prepared to offer their perspectives from a wide range of different communities. The day was thought-provoking, and I went away with ideas, not only about the topics addressed, but also about what we might need to do to prepare ourselves adequately for the tasks of planning for the future of education. I was reminded of Ted Wragg’s call for ‘intelligent action’.

Author: Avril Loveless, Flux Blog, 30th March 2008

Full article available here.