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Latest Forum Topics - read more... |
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[Entertainment consoles]
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Parents donate £1000 to buy more Nintendogs for the school
by drobertson
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May 13, 2008, 11:00:05 PM
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[Phones and PDAs]
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Palm OS on the iPhone?
by Graham
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May 13, 2008, 09:18:19 PM
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[Phones and PDAs]
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Software for PDAs
by Graham
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May 13, 2008, 09:12:09 PM
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[News & Events]
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Vodafone to provide mobile web for free
by Graham
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May 13, 2008, 03:37:56 PM
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[Recruitment]
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PhD studentship available
by cssdw
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May 12, 2008, 01:47:02 PM
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Written by Graham Brown-Martin
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Sunday, 23 March 2008 |
Evaluating game-based learning.
With the Byron Review, that looks into the influence of videogames on children - led by child psychologist Dr Tanya Byron, about to be published it seemed apt that we should kick off our hero innovator series with Derek Robertson of the Consolarium, Learning & Teaching Scotland.
By kind invitation I headed North to Aberdeen to visit two primary schools and a teachers training session. Having followed Derek’s work and ideas for the past 2 years I had expected to be impressed but what I experienced, and hope I’ve gone some way to capturing, was something bordering on an epiphany.
Derek and the Consolarium initiative are studying whether learning could be dramatically enhanced by using the kind of technologies and experiences that are already a part of many young learners lives. The Consolarium is manufacturer independent, receiving no industry sponsorship and purchases all the devices and software used themselves. Derek informs me that he believes this is a critical factor in the work that the Consolarium is engaged given that platforms typically wax and wane in their popularity. The only guidance is what learners are already using and the relevance of the software. Technology platforms used include Nintendo DS and Wii, Sony PSP and PlayStation, Xbox as well as mobile phones.
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Written by Graham Brown-Martin
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Saturday, 01 March 2008 |
 A thirteen year old from Peckham taught me a new word this week. We’d been looking at some new devices from gaming tech to the new breed of ultra low cost laptops when he said of one particular model, “that’s not a laptop, it’s a craptop”. Perhaps a little harsh but it did get me thinking about young people’s relationship with technology.
My 7 year old, a keen iBook owner, an iPhone want-to-have and Nintendo Wii demon, is quite taken with the RM miniBook / Asus EEE PC wanting one in pink to go with her DS. She’s not especially unusual in her collection or interest in gadgets, many of her friends from the same inner city primary are hooked. Unfortunately none of these devices can be taken and used in school so any learning with them is performed outside hours with little motivation to share it at school.
The argument about technology being embedded in the lives of learners has been rehearsed many times in these forums and at our conferences. So let’s not dwell on whether we want to call these learners “digital natives” less the fogies that are clinging on to their respeck get offended. Let’s accept the principle that these guys wear their tech like clothes. By this I mean they take it for granted and use it/abuse it, often in ways that previous generations haven’t considered. Also like clothes their gadgetry and use of tech are used as identifiers of trend, fashion and tribe.
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Written by Graham Brown-Martin
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Monday, 21 January 2008 |
 A few years back disgruntled by some dental work that left me with the prospect of looking like the dashing yet rough-edged, Mark E Smith, I suggested to my dentist that I would change practitioner. I therefore requested my dental records assuming that it was I who, as the subject, was the owner of the aforementioned documentation. Until that point it had struck me as obvious that the ability to easily transfer my data from one practitioner to another would afford benefits for me in terms of choice of future practitioners and make any future transitions seamless. But, as I discovered, I was wrong. It doesn’t work that way. Whilst I was paying for the diagnosis and clinical judgement I wasn’t paying for the clinical records. I’m sure if we’d got into negotiation I could have paid for some copies but instead we settled on a new set of veneers.
It’s a similar situation with our medical records, all of which seem a little tricky to get a look at, although we’re told they are currently a bit more transferable than those concerning your molars. If, like me, you run a business you may have shareholders who believe that you are worth more alive than toes-up (better that way around). So this leads to things like “key man” insurance policies where you get prodded around and various documents get passed between the state and private sector. About you.
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Written by Graham Brown-Martin
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Friday, 21 December 2007 |
 At the beginning of 2007 the UK Minister for Schools, Jim Knight, announced an ambitiously named group, “The Home Access Task Force”. With backers including Intel, RM and Dell, its stated objective was to identify solutions that would enable home access for more than 1 million young people in the UK who do not currently have access to the Internet, and therefore knowledge at their finger tips, at home. Or so it would seem.
Call me a curmudgeon but it was somewhat ironic that the choice of venue for this announcement was the BETT show, an event where the combined investment of all the participating companies, attendees, etc could probably fund the provision of every one of those learners with a device and connectivity. Or even a couple of new schools. One wag (the founder of a large and successful technology provider) suggested that his company would be better standing outside handing teachers £50 notes. But then where would we be without the annual pilgrimage to Olympia following the holiday season? Where would we find out what was coming next and how we should invest the public purse?
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