Handheld Learning - learning with mobile and ubiquitous technologies

I know that this is an older topic but do ITV not realise that this type of activity is happening in the UK in an ever increasing capacity? Would this merit interest from them or was this just a cooky story about those crazy Japansese fellows?

Excellent video. I posted it on my blog too and linked to the school site as well. Well done to everyone involved with this...it's really quite effective and the message comes through loud and clear.

Congratulations on this award for the excellent work that has been and is happening in Wolverhampton.

I'm interested in your comment about the contrast between the HHL and the BECTa awards. What do you see as the contrast between your work and that of the work in Scotland that was recognised with this year's Special Achievement award at HHL?

I've been using it at home with my 5 and 6 year old girls who are learning to read and write. They love sending messages to each other, even if they are not spelt correctly. A good way of encouraging emergent writing via technology with young learners? I think so...

I firmly believe that education is not a mechanism but a social process that has at its heart a power relationship that, although well-intentioned, is unable or maybe is not prepared to really look inside itself in order to make the necessary changes that are required to maximise the potential of our children. What on earth does this have to do with this thread you may ask? Well, what I read in relation to the £300 million spend suggests more of the same in relation to the technologies that we are putting in to the hands of our children. Is there clear evidence to say that this will be money well spent in terns of bang for buck?

Our work in Scotland is heavily influenced by the need to reflect on the cultural value of resources and the experiences and expertise that children can bring to school as a result of what they do outside school. We have been using commercially available games devices in Scottish schools for over two years now and we are continually met with teachers and pupils who cannot stop talking about the learning that has been happening in classrooms and the transformational (yes I do mean to use this word) attitudes to self and to learning by very many children involved with our projects. This for me has a real message for social justice for our children. Too many of our children fail in schools and don't achieve because the general model doesn't fit them. These children are able, they want to learn, they want to feel valued but sometimes what they get in school doesn't do this for them... Some of the work that we do attempts to merge the domain of school and all its hidden messages of status, power and place with the domain of the learner. A heavy influence has been on the domain of the computer game and we have attempted to merge these domains so that we could meet all learners on their own territory. As I said, we have had great success with this and are getting disaffected kids  engaging with learning willingly as a result of some our work.

I am not saying for one minute that every child should be given a DS or PSP, or that every school should have Wiis, Xboxes and PS3s (not yet anyway ;-)) but surely this group must be looking at what schools are doing with these dynamic and sometimes brilliant resources and what that means for any strategy designed to have REAL impact on engaging the 21st Century learner. Are we prepared to get out of our comfort zone? Can we move out of an adult mind-set or do we have the confidence to embrace non-traditional ICTs and put them in the heart of learning and the hands of our brilliant youngsters?

I hope that this group can at least get their hands on some of the commercially available games that have been in use, reflect on the theoretical perspective for their use in class and even find out how schools are using them and what the impact on learning is.

As it stands I believe the DS is a killer learning device. The Human Computer Interaction is tremendous and allows event the youngest learners to be 'at one' with it. The touch screen and stylus almost join the learner and the learning. I know that it was not seen as an educational device but the work that we have been doing in Scotland with it using games such as Dr Kawashima, Phoenix Wright, Nintendogs, Drawn to Life, Big Brain Academy, Hotel Dusk, Maths Training and hopefully Professor Layton has shown how this device can create a climate of engagement, ownership, relevance and excitement about learning. As a result of the good work that the DS (and other games consoles) can do in terms of enthusing learners about the work we can really get learners in the door and take them places with their learning. I think that other 'traditional ICTs' can really come in to their own then but I firmly believe that devices such as the DS need to start being viewed as a real learning tool.
The promise of an upgraded DS with enhanced wireless connectivity plus a camera and mp3 capability sounds particularly tasty. Adding more functionality to the DS without compromising what it already does is a challenge but will I'm sure further cement it as a learning platform/console of choice. I think that we always need to innovate and question exactly how ICTs can impact on learning and in my opinion looking at games consoles that have cultural relevance and that resonate with our target client group, ie children. After all it's all about learning is not and about ensuring that school is a place that learners want to come to and learning is something that learners want to engage with. Inhabiting learners domains by the informed and innovative use of devices such as the DS can only help in this regard in my opinion. I look forward to the next iteration of this device and exploring how it can continue to have a positive  impact on teaching and learning...

Please find a summary report of my extended Dr Kawashima trial in Scotland via this link.
http://ltsblogs.org.uk/consolarium/2008/09/25/dr-kawashima-extended-trial-summary-results/

Colleagues might be interested in this article regarding the project that we did with Nintendogs in P.2 classes in Scotland.

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/slf/index.asp


Anna Rosvoll will be talking about this at HHL'08 and so will I. A great game with huge educational potential. If your kid has Nintendogs ask to buy a dog and get started, before long you'll see what this game can do...

I was EIF '08 recently and went along to the Ninterndo stand that was packed with children and their parents. I asked the Nintendo employee a question about Nintendogs, " How do I get to the park?" and she didn't know. However, I had a crowd of young kids immediately come over to show me how to make the most of walks with my dog and also how to become much more successful at the game than I currently was. I was left with a refreshing take on how learners can be active participants in the learning process and with a renewed vigour for getting my Nintendog Alice up to Championship standard!

Will put something up as soon as possible after we present our findings at SLF '08. Thanks Mark.

David,
I think it's wrong to attempt compare SUMS with some of the titles that I have been using and in particular Dr Kawashima. They are in my opinion entirely different animals. What is at the heart of the Dr Kawashima intervention is that it is helping to make learners more numerate. Bottom line. Yes there have been added benefits that I could elaborate on but the impact on numeracy is hugely statistically significant. Forgive me but is this not desirable? Now it won't teach a number of other maths topics/concepts but at least we may have a whole host of children now more willing to engage with maths at a higher level because of their increased competence in basic numeracy which can make for a healthier disposition to maths. It's all about small successful steps for learners and creating a culture of achievement. If SUMS can do this then great. More for teachers to choose from. But we have shown that Dr K does the business.

Sorry to have contributed to the drift on this thread.

Which is the fast food and which is the proper meal David? In the two years that I have been working in the field of games based learning I and a whole host of Scottish teachers have been dining on a table laden with the fruits and finest wines that good teaching and learning can hope to lay before a class of hungry learners. So much so that some of the work that we have been doing with Nintendo's, Sony's and Microsoft's consoles should be awarded the equivalent of a Michelin Star!!!

To me, Dr Kawashima is no mere trifle as a learning tool. I have just been looking at the stats for the extended study that I carried out and they are outstanding. A much larger sample was used this time and still there has been a statistically significant impact on improvements in mental maths calculation and speed of processing. Not only that children AND teachers want to use it. Pupils like it, they are challenged by it, it engenders competition, a focus on self-improvement, an I can be the best I can be attitude. Also, the low skills technology threshold is such that teachers no longer need to worry about the tech so this means that they can focus on the teaching. I'm surprised at how some voices have attempted to spoil the custard here (sorry to prolong the metaphor) by suggesting that this is not a real learning tool....come on, have a taste! ;-)

I have just been at a major event this afternoon in the Scottish educational landscape and here I was hearing about local authorities buying more DS consoles so that they could try out for themselves the initiatives that we have led. You need to ask yourself why is their such a desire for this 'fast food' that appears to increase the weight of nothing but children's brains and their level of knowledge and skills.

Let's not forget that it's really all about the learners in schools here. For too long they have tolerated some real dross in the edutainment field that the dominant domain of the school has decreed is educational. They tolerate this then get into all manner of games environments when they go home. What we have tried to do in Scotland is understand what it is about these games that make them so appealing to young learners? What makes them persevere so, how can they perform so well in incredibly complex environments in a game yet fail so miserably in school. We have then rethought some aspects of the technologies that we use to connect with learners and get them achieving. This is what we want, good teachers, using good resources to help learners achieve. We have used Dr Kawashima, Phoenix Wright, Guitar hero, Eye Toy, Viva Pinata, Nintendogs, Hot Brain, Hotel Dusk, My Spanish Coach, Big Brain Academy and many many other commercially available games because they are damn good. They resonate with learners and make them want to engage with learning. This to me as a teacher is gold.

"...to those of us involved" ( does that include me and the teachers that I work with?) I believe that we have helped change the discourse about games in learning. Games based learning is now no longer seen as a maverick idea carried out by a few enthusiasts it really has grown into something that teachers want to know more about. This is particularly true in Scotland but I am continually hearing about new initiatives happening in England and further afield.

We are only interested in maximising children's potential and helping make school a place where they want to come and where they feel they have a place to grow as a learner. Blurring the lines between life within and outwith school is a major focus for us in this aim and if Dr Kawashima, a Nintendog or Big Little Planet can do it then they'll be used.

Now I'm off to serve up a proper meal in Cooking Mama. Don't get me started on the learning potential here......

Please have a look at this post that details how I plan to share the results of the extended Dr Kawashima trail that I carried out in the summer term in 32 schools in Scotland.

http://hotmilkydrink.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/08/can-dr-kawashima-impact-on-maths-lts-extended-study-suggests-it-can.html

We had 16 classes with DS and 16 without. Pre and post tests were carried out and these results are at the final stage of SPSS analysis. At this stage it looks as though what we found in our small scale intervention last year is easily being replicated in this extended study. Sorry to put this up as a teaser but my excitement at soon sharing this with everyone is quite unbearable  . Our small scale intervention couldn't really allow us to make great claims about what we  found but this intervention with its substantial sample coupled with the fact that schools were identified via a stratified randomized control  procedure makes this a bit different. Hope to see you there at SLF2008 in September.

Consolarium Game Zone Challenge at SLF 08
The Scottish Learning Festival that takes place in Glasgow on the 24th & 25th September has quite a lot of games based learning work in the programme. This link will give you details of what's going on:

http://ltsblogs.org.uk/consolarium/2008/08/15/games-based-learning-at-slf-08/

We have also taken the chance to build in a game zone challenge this year. We have began two competitions that are structured around Glow, our national schools intranet. We are using:

Sonic and Mario at the Olympics
http://ltsblogs.org.uk/consolarium/2008/08/15/scottish-schools-guitar-hero-challenge-at-slf-08/

Guitar Hero
http://ltsblogs.org.uk/consolarium/2008/08/15/turn-it-up-to-eleven-at-slf-08-with-the-guitar-hero-challenge/

We also aim to have a Dr Kawashima (how fast can you do your sums) challenge for teachers as well as a Rockband 'pass the mic' type finale!

Please do try and get there and if you have tried anything like this at a national education conference then please do let me know how you got on.

Hi Eylan,
I have met quite a few people who have great ideas for developing 'homebrew' apps for the DS. I would suggest a different name because in my experience home brew is something that you don't really go back to, my father-in-law's wine for example ;-) and this I think is the case for some of what I have seen. I have been using DS and other consoles in Scottish schools for two years now and the whole point is that there are some superb games available that we can bring in to class, retro fitting them to help drive affective and cognitive growth. Not only that, the device has real cultural cache with children and games such as Dr Kawashima (couldn't disagree with you more on that one) are proving to be very successful in helping develop children's mental maths. We need to be very careful that we don't always enslave new technologies to traditional methods. Take Nintendogs for instance. We put this in a P.2 class (kids aged 6) and this drove a whole curriculum of investigation and collaboration all because of a wee dog that children shared the responsibility for. The learning was incredible and so much so that  parents who were particularly cynical at the beginning could not believe the impact that this had on their child's learning.

Yes let's look at how we can take things forward with home brew but let's look at what's already good that is available. Many of these games have incredible potential to engage all learners and not just those who might be switched on a by a clever physics engine. Hopefully we can meet up at HHL08 and I can introduce to my Nintendog Alice and show you how we've been using games like this and others for the DS and the other platforms.
Derek