TeachMeet North East London 08 Event

FutureLab has posted up another Education & Technology event:

“19 May 2008
Redbridge Teachers Centre, Ilford

TeachMeet NorthEast London is a chance for education stakeholders to share effective, exciting and innovative uses technology in schools in an informal environment. If you come for the evening, then you can either present, or just listen to inspiring presentations on ICT in schools. People attending previous TeachMeets before have found them to be inspirational and a great form of CPD.”

According to the TeachMeet site you can also join the event via Flashmeeting and there is a Facebook page too.

Talk is cheap – FutureLab Power League

Free educational tool launched to support debate on any topic

Futurelab has launched Power League, a free online resource for schools which supports pupils of all ages to explore, debate and discuss any topic in a fun and easy way. Power League, available at www.powerleague.org.uk, enables the user to rank and display group opinions on any issue across the entire curriculum.

Author: FutureLab, 9th April 2008

Full article available here.

PLNs – Personal Learning Networks

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.

Wikis Make Learning Wicked Fun

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.

Digital Inclusion at Futurelab Research Day

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.

Canadian university faces off with digital generation

A Canadian university has instilled a culture of fear by threatening to expel a student for cheating because he set up an online study group on Facebook, critics said this week. Toronto’s Ryerson University threatened to expel first-year computer engineering student Chris Avenir last week, arguing that his study group on the Facebook networking site might encourage cheating.

Ryerson decided to lift the expulsion threat on Tuesday, but Avenir will get zero credits for the course work discussed on the Facebook forum last autumn, and the university has put a disciplinary notice on his record.

Canadian media analyst Jesse Hirsh said Ryerson’s actions send the wrong message to students, most of whom spend a lot of their time on the Internet.

Author: Reuters, cnet news.com, 20th March 2008

Full article available here.

How To Spark Remote Learning

“Second Life,” the online world that brings players together from across the globe to socialize, shop and even fly, is developing a second career as a hot spot for learning English as a second language (ESL).

It’s a classic innovation–a novel way to use a tool created for an entirely different purpose, namely to have a good time. That’s still the reason why most players come to “Second Life,” but English-language instructors who spend time with students there say they’re combining fun and learning–and getting excellent results.

Author: Bonnie Ruberg, Forbes Innovations, 19th March 2008

Full article available here.

Game sends teenagers drink alert

The game shows all the dangers that go along with binge drinking

A computer game based on the dangers of drinking has been developed by pupils from two Renfrewshire schools. It is estimated more than a third of 15-year-olds binge drink every week and the game aims to tackle alcohol abuse.

In it the player has to find and help a friend who has been drinking and whose condition is constantly deteriorating.

S1 students at Paisley Grammar School and St Andrew’s Academy designed the concept, features and sound effects for the ThinknDrinkn game.

The project was developed with the help the University of the West of Scotland’s School of Computing.

What we tried to do was create a realistic scenario in a city-scape Andrew Dickie Teacher

It will also go on Glow, the national schools intranet, to be used by schools all over Scotland and can be used on mobile phones.

Author: BBC News, Scotland, 17th March 2008

Full article available here.

See also ThinknDrinkn post.

ThinknDrinkn – game-based education with school children

ThinknDrinkn

ThinknDrinkn is a game created by S1 pupils at two local Paisley schools to raise awareness of many of the issues around alcohol consumption. The game was created in collaboration with UWS (my institution) and a local games company, KodeTank. It was launched just the other day, and got some coverage on the BBC.

There is also a more detailed gameplay video on TeacherTube.

Author: Daniel Livingstone, Learning Games Blog, 19th March 2008

Full article available here.

See also BBC News post on the game.

UK unis, colleges & academics in Second Life

The latest Eduserv Foundation funded study into UK universities,
colleges and academics developing “stuff” in Second Life, and using
this for teaching and learning, is underway. Fuller details are
blogged here:

http://www.silversprite.com/?p=460

As we visit these developments, we’ll be taking screen dumps and
adding them to this picture set in Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/silversprite/sets/72157603982005324/

If you’re in UK Higher or Further Education and you’ve developed
something in Second Life then get in touch:

john@silversprite.com

It’s an opportunity to promote what you’ve done, and also for like-
minded academics to find you.

If you are aware of other developments in UK universities and colleges
– be they at the institution, department, group or lone academic level
– then we’d appreciate word of them too; thanks.

Author: John Kirriemuir, Silversprite Helsinki, 4th March 2008