Games based learning day one

What a great lecture! We have been looking at games based learning and it is very exciting. It has been shown that games based learning not only stimulate our pupils, but they also provide a learning opportunity. Karl Royle (2009) states in his blog that "The observed and anecdotally claimed skills developed by computer gaming engagement go beyond the more commonly stated attributes such as hand to eye coordination to include: spatial navigation; resource management; team working and communication; literacy development; and a range of problem solving skills and metacognition through reflective practice. They also promote the learning potential of individuals in that they are: non discriminatory (if you have access an access point you can play); allow players/users to gain kudos and status within the game regardless of external constructions of identity (a ‘bad’ speller at school could be a champion player of FIFA 09); and are personalised at the point of use, (where everyone’s game is different whilst remaining similar) and can lead to deep and broad learning chain experiences." I really like the point that he makes about games being non discriminatory. This helps children to realise that they can join in no matter what and if they have access to the game there is nothing that says that they are not allowed to join in. It is important that children know that they will not be denied access for a silly reason. Schools need learning that is deep, motivational and authentic and games based learning supplies just this.



We have been looking at Guitar Hero, Nintento DS's, CyberBike and WiiMusic. There has not been enough time to look at them all but i have had a chance to play Guitar Hero and the Cyberbike. Was not too keen on the Cyberbike as it was quite difficult to use, but this may have been due to the fact it was brand new and had never been used before. I found that the cycling mechanism was stiff and that it was very jerky to use. This will probably ease out with more use. Also my feel kept slipping off the pedals and for me this was frustrating as i could not keep up a steady rhythm. Any suggestions on how to make this less of a problem? This may be utilised within a classroom to help with physical exercise and also new games may be created that can support this technology to adapt the bike into perhaps problem solving activities that require the participant to exert physical effort.



My favourite out of the two games i looked at today was Guitar Hero.



I thought this would be really good to use for a context as it would provide stimulation and could open up many cross curricular links, such as design technology (designing and creating their own musical instrument), modern languages (creating a tour of another country e.g. Germany or France), mathematics (sourcing prices for hotels during a tour in different countries), music (creating and playing material for the band). The list of possible activities to do with Guitar Hero is endless. I think that this would be more suitable for middle or upper stages as it requires hand eye coordination. For the early stages I wouldn't use this as it can prove difficult for these young children to do both the key pressing and stumming at the same time, and the follow up activites could be simplified but best results would be achieved by children further up in the school. Guitar Hero can be used as both a context and a skill but it is mainly a context. (possible extensions outlined earlier). When setting this context up it would have to be done as a whole class because small groups would distact the rest of the class and this context is good for collaboration. Guitar Hero would link into CfE because it promotes challenge and enjoyment and encourages our pupils to become successful learners through promoting a motivating and relevant stimulus.

Editing digital movies

On mondays lecture with Collette Grigor we were coverting the audio from the films on our iphones and then using Windows Movie Maker to edit the footage. There were several problems with converting the audio files and I was not shown how to do this and feel that I would be able to do this with a class. Since there was many problems with this process, I would not feel confident using this with a class as I feel that I do not have the sufficient knowledge to even know where to begin using it. I feel that since I do not know how to do this, the pupils within a class would have even more trouble as it was not an easy task. If i had been shown how to use this, then maybe I would be able to use this within a class.
We then went on to edit our movies on Windows Movie Maker. This was equally challenging as we were still not given the proper instruction. I am not sure if this would be valuable in a classroom as I would not know where to begin with it.

Digital Movie Making - Wikispaces

In this input we were creating a wikispace related to our digital movies. As we were having a problem with converting our audio files from the iphones, we started creating our wikispaces pages. We were given the link to the website and told that we had to create a page that related to our digital movie. Since our video was on first aid we created a page which gave information and advice on the topics featured on our video. Each memeber of the group was to create their own page and be responsible for creating and editing the content. Since i had been responsible for creating the section on bleeding, i was to create a page on our wikispace about this. Our wikispace was called basic-first-aid and covered astma, bleeding, burns, calling 999 and the recovery position. We tried to make our wikispace quite attractive by adding pictures and I am still looking to put a video on the correct way to apply a bandage. I feel that this page is education and all the work that we have put in is very educational and is a good help for anyone who needs first aid advice.
I feel that this would be of benefit to children within the primary classroom as it is a collaborative task that can also be used as a means of assessment. Since individaul people are responsible for their own page, it means that it can show how much people are contributing to the work that is done. The end product can be presented to a world wide audience and this means that parents have access to what their children have been doing within the class and can see the end product. I feel that this would be a very good tool to use within the classroom and I know the children would enjoy presenting their collaborative topic work this way.

Monday week 4 - creativity day.

Today during or lecture I have been looking at project: i can read. This project looks at the ways in which ipods can improve student literacy. It takes the ipod and uses it in a way which stimulates our generation of digital natives who are used to using more interactive and accessing information instantly. Since looking at studies that have shown that if children cannot read fluently by a certain stage within their education they are never really able to catch up, project i can read have created activities which target fluency, sight word vocabulary and comprehension. I find the fact that children can record themselves reading and when playing it back to themselves, rate themselves a great idea as they get a taste of what it is like when they read. This lets them see what factors of their reading they need to improve on.
The sight reading projects that are available are great because they let the children practice and improve their sight reading through activities that can increase in challenge. Sight reading is something that some children struggle with and this would be a great way to motivate the children to improve their learning using technology that they associate with fun.
I feel that this has great potential within the primary classroom as it has great intrinsic motivation purposes. I feel that this would be able to be used all throughout the primary school, especially in the early stages and in the upper stages for those who are stuggling with their literacy. I defintalety see the potential of this idea as it provides a fun outlet to get chidren into reading and trying to improve the technical aspects of it. As some children are steering away from books altogether in their home lives, this would be a great idea to recapture their interest in reading. I would love to test of this within a classroom and i am quite excited about the impact it could have within the primary classoom.

Have just been looking at storybird and i personally don't like it. I don't like the fact that all the pictures that i would like to start a storybird with do not have linking pictures and cannot get a story to flow this way. I feel that this aspect makes it of little point within the primary classroom. If anyone has any suggestions that will improve storybird for me please let me know.



At the very beginning of the lecture we were introduced to voice band for the iphone. It has a simple interface which would be easy for all children to use. It would not for use with nursery or early years, more suitable for upper stages, due to the knowledge needed to put the whole thing together. You do not need to know chords or be able to play the instruments and it seems very easy to use. This would be of benefit to all children as you do not need to know technical aspects of music or be able to read music. The app allows you to add in lead guitar, bass guitar and drums as well as vocals. When playing drums you can vary the way in which they are played by varying the volume of your voice to allow you to play the high hat, snare, etc. Children in primary 6 or 7 would love to use this particular app as it would appeal to their creative sides and could be used within a context related to creating a band in the classroom. This could lead on to the group creating their own band, constructing models of instruments. It is a great jumping off point for many ideas and potential lessons. Really like this app as it gives creativity to the children and makes some music lessons more interactive and has a product at the end which can be shared with an audience (parents and world wide audience).