But, what you probably hear less of, and perhaps the teachers out in these forums will concur, is the rumbling in the staffrooms and corridors about the idea of using this technology more. In many ways it is a problem across the education sector. The best teachers inspire each other more than they do their peers in their schools! Viz the problem with Maths teaching and ASTs.
NOW - don't interpret these observations as me being negative about handheldlearning - cos you know I am a fan. BUT, my role for my clients is to help those working with teachers and children create and prepare resources to be accessible a wider community of users than those exemplars that inspire and drive us all forward.
So - barriers do not need to be taken down to the lowest common denominator, but rather we need a differentiated approach.
Hi Eylan
I'm not entirely sure I understand this line of reasoning. I think the point with consumer electronic devices and, in this case, games is that they are more inclusive and more widely accessible than any other technology. As we know more people on this planet now have a mobile phone than don't and we are rapidly reaching global saturation. Likewise gaming and entertainment devices with their own economies of scale are leaving the PC industry in the dust despite their valiant attempts to be more inclusive, e.g. EEE PC, OLPC, etc.
I'm also not sure what you mean by "lowest common denominator" in this context. Surely you don't mean the games that are costing upwards of $5 Million to produce and many that now feature near photo-realistic realtime rendering with compelling gameplay (You need to check out Little Big Planet for Sony PS3!). These games along with films, internet and other media aimed at young people benefit from budgets and production values that, regrettably, education or edutainment materials can only dream of. Yet it is these games and other media that set the benchmark for expectation.
Good teachers and not just the elite can draw rich learning from these games as has been demonstrated by many teachers in Scotland and now in many cases in England and other parts of the world.
The sad truth is that, generally, even good teachers and education professionals who can engage a classroom don't make the kind of software/games that young people want to play which is why "serious games" has never taken off in any meaningful way. To me serious games feel analogous to a "serious party" where something that is intrinsically entertaining has been disassembled by academics to see how it ticks then reassembled but without the magic sauce thus resulting a really boring party.
I don't think we can beat around the bush on this one any longer!
As for the legal issues and the problems with Nintendos licences being ripped off - I discussed this with a voice deep in the UK games industry (identity withheld) and there is a lot more that the publishers/developers can do to pressure Nintendo to shift to a more open set-up - to allow mash-ups etc,...
I can't imagine who you were speaking to and it's not for me to say what Nintendo may or may not do but I also can't imagine what pressure a developer or publisher can put on Nintendo.
"We won't put our software on the No.1 selling handheld gaming device unless Nintendo open up their platform?"
I doubt that would have the Mario brothers quaking in their boots. That's just not how the gaming console business works. It's not like the PC industry where operating system providers are gagging for developers to support their platform. It's counter-intuitive, as a developer or publisher you are often seeking permission to get your titles on to a platform.
It was interesting to hear what he had to say about opportunities that were being taken with the opening up of the iPhone - and I think we can assume that this is another area ripe for discussion in October - not least because there should be some new apps that we will all be talking about using in schools.
Yes, Apple have once again rewritten the rule book and re-energised the handheld computing space. I hope that Apple will use the opportunity of HHL 08 to expand on the opportunities made available by their relatively open environment. The SDK is a breeze and the distribution system effective.
The future is bright - we'd better all be wearing shades!
Oh yes!
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