This week has seen my colleague from the University of Dundee, Dr David Miller, carrying out the post-tests in participating schools in Dundee with me making my way to Stornoway to carry out those in the Western Isles. The life of a Development Officer for LTS is not an easy one I may add what with a 4:30am wake up on Monday morning so that I could get to Edinburgh Airport in time for my flight! Even so, to get the opportunity to visit parts of Scotland such as the Western Isles is really a bonus. If you haven’t had a chance to come here then take the first opportunity you can…it’s Scotland with a completely different flavour to that of the central belt and it’s great to see, smell and feel.

My host and contact up here, Hamish Budge and I combined to mix up the dates of my visit and so my arrival at the airport was not expected. Eventual phone contact led to Hamish saying, “Don’t worry we’ll fix it,” followed 10 minutes later by a trail of dust left behin by Hamish’s Citroen Berlingo LPG as it streaked into the airport carpark.

All the schools managed to accommodate our rearranged visits to carry out the post-tests and many thanks to all at Laxdale, Stornoway, Tong and Back Primary Schools for their help with the project.

Today we visited Sgoil nan Loch which sits just outside Stornoway. Andrew Reeves (HT) gave me a tour of the school and I must say what an exemplar school it was. A new building with plenty of light, excellent resources, a fantastic situation with wonderful views and superb displays throughout the school. Most certainly a place of learning. See some of the photos on the Rock You slide show.

Thanks once again to all in the Western Isles for their help with this project but also for the warm welcome that is always made to visitors such as myself. Tapadh leibh!

Time flies when you’re playing Brain Training in the classroom it seems. The extended research study into the use of Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training that I am doing with Dr David Miller from the University of Dundee is coming to an end. I can hardly believe that it’s been ten weeks since this began and that we are already at the post-test data collection stage.

Last week we went up to Aberdeesnhire to carry out the post tests and were ably assisted in this by the ICT Staff Tutor team that comprises of Anna Rossvoll, Alison Butcher and Caroline Denning. The same tests were given out within the same framework although this time the beautiful weather made the travel betwen the schools hugely enjoyable. What a beautiful part of the country Aberdeenshire is.

We still have Dundee, the Western Isles and East Ayrshire to visit over the next two weeks and then we’re in to the data analysis. At this stage it seems that the experience has been an enjoyable one for the children and that they do feel that the game has helped them with their mental maths. My feelings were that the schools that were using the Nintendo DS machines were very much quicker with the number test this time around but as yet I don’t know about their accuracy.  There’s quite a lot of marking to be done now.

Thanks to all in Aberdeenshire for their support with this leg of the LTS Dr Kawashima research project.

Watch the CBBC Newsround report from an Aberdeen school showcasing how its using games-based learing across the curriculum to encourage game designers in the future.

Recently it was announced that LTS’ very own Laurie O’Donnell was given the great honour of being named as one of the Global Six by the George Lucas Foundation. Laurie was recognised for his work in leading developments with technology in Scottish Education. The people at the Foundation were particularly take with the vision that was and has become Glow. Congratulations to Laurie for this, such recognition helps to affirm that you are  most certainly on the right lines!

Through Laurie’s links with  Edutopia we had the pleasure of welcoming Milton Chen and Steve Arnold to Scotland last week. This was so that these gentleman could find out a little bit more about the work that LTS is doing in helping to lead developments with technology in Scottish schools. Andrew Brown from LTS took care of the programme for the Thursday and I had to organise the Friday programme.

After meeting Milton and Steve at the train station I was given time to share with them the work that we have been doing at the Consolarium. They were really taken with what I told them about and were particularly interested in our Dr Kawashima, Guitar Hero and Nintendog projects. In order to try and bring what we do to life for them we organised a visit to Clepington PS in Dundee to see a P.6 class who have been using Sonic and Mario at the Olympics for the Wii as the contextual hub for a cross-curricular project.

The children had recently held an open afternoon for parents so that they could show them the work that they had been doing with the game. I asked the children what their parents had thought of this idea of using a Wii in class and they said:

“…my mum and dad thought it was nonsense and that we were just playing games. That was until they saw what we had been doing and they couldn’t believe it. They were really impressed.”

“…parents think that games rot your brain but they don’t, they help you think and get smarter. My parents thought the project was magnificent…even great!”

“…my mum was dead surprised that I was doing all this writing. I don’t normally like writing but I didn’t mind it in this project.”

Milton and Steve spent time talking to the children at all the learning stations that were set up and they were impressed with the level of motivation and enthusiasm that was clearly in evidence but also impressed with the confident and articulate way they engaged with their American visitors.

A quick visit to Charleston PS to see one of the classes involved with the extended DS project was planned for the afternoon. A warn welcome was given by Chris Smith, Depute Head, and the P.6 class. We asked the children how they were all getting on with the DS and then watched them take their Brain Age check. It looks as though they are getting to grips with the game and making progress already!

Thanks to both schools who made themselves available to us that day and for giving such a warm welcome to our visitors. I know they had a very enjoyable and interesting day.

The Consolarium now has a presence in Glow, our national schools intranet. If you are a teacher in Scotland and you have access to Glow then please feel free to join our national group. Just select this link, login and when the page appears click the ‘request access’ button

We are looking forward to building a vibrant games based learning community via Glow and as such we need your involvement. Looking forward to hearing from and working with you.

The past two weeks have been rather hectic, with the promise of more of the same next week. I’m writing this post from the Western Isles EDC offices in Stornoway having completed another leg of the LTS extended Dr Kawashima project.

Last year we carried out a small-scale intervention using Nintendo DS & Dr Kawashima in a P.5/6 class in Dundee. Thew results proved to be so interesting that we managed to access funds that has allowed us to extend this to 16 schoolsd with Nintendo with 16 control groups. The methodology is very similar to what we did last year with the exception that we only have Nintendo groups and control groups this time around and the fact we are using different measures to the Burnett Self-Scale that we used last year. So now things are well under way…

We had a great start last week in Aberdeenshire schools that are taking part. It was an experience, to say the least, to have some headteachers waiting at the front door for my arrival and then to be welcomed with the excited exclamation, “It’s the Nintedno man!” The pre and post tests went like clockwork, no small thanks to Anna Rossvoll, Alison Butcher and Caroline Denning from the ‘Shire’s ICT team as well as Elizabeth Cole from HMIe.  What a team!

This week has seen me carrying out the needful in the Western Isles with my colleague from the University of Dundee, Dr David Miller doing likewise in the participating Dundee schools. Next week will see us both doing the same in our partner schools in East-Ayrshire.

I’ve always said that teaching is a great career but it’s an added bonus to see the gleeful reactions and to hear the gasps of disbelief when we tell ther children that they are getting to use the DS in class, and that we are giving them one each for the 10 week duration of the project. Good times.

We’ll all be back to visit the schools to carry out the post-tests in 10 weeks time and then for the analysis…

At SETT ‘06 I saw an application called Crazy Talk at one of the stands. Totally bowled over by this application I bought 25 licences for the Consolarium so that I could share them with my early adopter partners. The reason that I liked it was that it made bringing digital characters to life so easy, particularly in regard to the fact that I had been attempting to teach my students at University of Dundee to use Flash to animate computer goodies and baddies! This application lowered the technology threshold so much that it allowed anyone to achieve great success with the animation process which could then enable/allow the teacher to focus on what the learner had written…

I managed to get some great stuff going on, particularly in Stirling Council where they used it to great effect with a collaborative writing project that was showcased at a seminar at SLF 07.

Whilst at Elrick PS to se the Nintendogs project in P.2 I was asked to pop in to the P.7 class to see their Crazy Talk work. What they have been doing was again incredible in terms of pupil engagemewnt and enriching the learning experience. A visit to Aberdeen Art Gallery was organised and during this visit the children were going to focus on portraits. This focus would look at the style of the painting but also at the social history behind the subject matter/person. The main character they were finding out was an artist called Edward Burne-Jones.

The children had found out so much about so much about him and they were able to tell me all about how he studied under William Morris and that there was a supposed relationship with Queen Victoria. I learned quite a lot about this chap from the children.

It was clear that this application had again encouraged these learners to find out about their subject matter and then write it up so that they could bring their characters to life.

Have a look at the P.6/7 class blog where the children have published their animated Crazy Talk portraits.

What was the name of the first dog in space? You don’t know…well the children in a P.2 class in Aberdeenshire do and they were able to tell me all about him. (Answer at the end of this blogpost!)

A previous blogpost talked of the Nintendogs project that we  initiated in two P.2 classes up in Aberdeenshire. I managed to arrange a visit there in order to capture (video, audio and image)  all the practice that we could for case study presentation. Unsure of what we were going to find, we made our way up to that beautiful part of Scotland full of hope and anticipation that the practice that we would see would be something special.

To say that is what we found would have to be one of the biggest understatements ever. I can’t wait for the case study to be shared with everyone because the learning that we captured, saw, experienced, in both these classes, was incredible.

First of all we went to Elrick P.S. and found ourselves in a class that was bursting with life and learning. The class teacher had used the context of Nintendogs to create a rich mix of cross-curricular activities that had the concept of dogs at its very heart. The main thrust of the game is to look after your puppy and to ensure that it is healthy, happy and well exercised. You can also train your dog and take it to dog competitions, kind of like a virtual Crufts, and win money that you can then spend in the virtual shop on toys, clothes, brushes etc for your dog. What learning has been happening in the class:

• Children making stop motion animations of dogs playing together
• Children role playing in the class Veterinary Surgery. You can imagine the writing and talking activities inherent in such a context: appointments, role playing as a vet, dealing with money etc…
• Exuberant approach to writing stories about the life of their Nintendogs and how they were getting on in the virtual competitions. Children with gleeful and proud faces desperate to show the ‘new adults in the room’ their writing and paintings.
• P.7 children helping P.2 children type up blogposts and scanning in their drawings so that the children’s learning could be shared beyond the classroom. Mum, dads and grannies and other people offering formative and encouraging comment on what they were reading. A great way of developing structures that allow children to become the co-constructors of knowledge.
  • Elrick PS Top Dogs blog
  • Banchory PS Doggytails blog
    
• Who says that children won’t read or become interested in books because they spend too much time playing games? The topic bookshelf was packed full of books about dogs and it was apparently hugely popular.
• A vibrant wall display about Hairy Maclary. Writing and paintings associated with this text
• An informative wall display about Crufts. This became a topic of great interest to the children because of the competitions that you take your dog into in the game. The teacher had made stickers for 1st, 2nd & 3rd places in the virtual competitions and these were worn with pride by the children in the class.
• Some of the children already had Nintendogs and so were pretty skilled in understanding the menus and the narrative of the game. They became the Top Dogs in the class (a name chosen by the children) and with this title came the responsibility to be a peer tutor, someone who could help develop players new to the game so that they too could reach the level of top dog. Tremendous self-esteem being developed here but also an approach that creates an ethos that sees the learner as an active agent in the learning process in the class. Superb idea!!!
• A dog walking service has been initiated, not Nintendogs but real dogs. Parents involved and safety issues all taken into consideration. Children have learned to understand dogs a bit better and some children who were frightened are much less fearful and now more confident around dogs.
• The local dog warden paid a visit to the school and helped the children understand the six rules of keeping and being around dogs. These rules were all acted out to us by the children with gleeful abandon.
  

At the heart of all this was a very good and creative teacher who has approached this project in an imaginative yet thoughtful and structured way. For me a first class exemplification of how to use a good resource to help develop good learning.

We then went to Banchory P.S. where we saw another class of children doing a range of very similar activities. Again here we had an imaginative teacher focusing on the learning that could be developed through the context of this game.

What I couldn’t help notice in some of the talk that was happening was the children’s very impressive ability to recognise place value in to the hundreds and thousands of pounds. Remember, these children are 6/7 yet they were reading out how much money they had accrued in the game with apparent ease. One young lad took great in delight in reading out his bank balance which was£4228.22!!!

We also managed to interview some parents about their attitudes to the idea of games in the class and this turned out to be a great session. We really could not have scripted their responses any better in terms of convincing those who may still be sceptical. Comments made included:

“I wasn’t too happy when I heard about a computer game being used in the class at first. But it’s been great…my son talks about school and what he has learned now.”

” My son has had his confidence boosted because he needs a bit of extra help with his work but because he’s very good at the game he is now in the position of helping others for a change.”

“I’ve heard on the news about other schools in Scotland using computer games and I now think it’s the way to go. I mean, the children are really excited about school and my child tells me all about her day at school now where before she really didn’t.”

We also had Graham Brown-Martin from Handheld Learning as a guest visitor on the day and I think it’s fair to say that he was rather impressed by what was on view in both schools. A full case study of this initiative will appear on the Consolarium’s website in due course but in the meantime some clips can be viewed on Handheld Learning TV.

1. Parents talking about the project
   
2. Learner voice
3. Headteacher comments on the project
4. How to engage teachers
5. The children animate their dog
6. Derek Robertson talks about the project
7. The game as the contextual hub for learning

This for me was an exceptional day. It’s great to be passionate about learning and to use this passion to argue the case for games based learning in the classroom but when you see teachers actually making the learning come to life and such rich, dynamic and varied ways then it only reaffirms what we are trying to do.

Very well done to all associated with this excellent project.

By the way, the first dog in space was Laika.

The Consolarium received an invite from Morag Giblin at the University of West of Scotland, Ayr Campus to come and kick ot the B.Ed4 Contemporary Isses in Education module. We were asked if we could deliver three sessions that would involve a presentation exploring the rationale and practice of using games in the class and also a brief touch on other ‘new technologies’.

Having recently worked in teacher education I was heartened to see that these prospective teachers were  very much willing to debate the issues and to consider a number of the points that I made about the importance of relevant and challenging contexts for learning. Here are some photos of the day:

The main points I asked the students to consider and reflect on were:

•  What impact, if any, is technology having on today’s young learner?
•  What does this mean for their pedagogy?
•  How can they continue to grow and adapt to the changes in technology in terms of its impact on their teaching?
• What place can ‘commercial off the shelf games’ have in the classroom?
• Are they willing to  take informed risks?
• How can they embed educational theory in the rationale and methodology of how they plan to teach?
  
• How can they help take their colleagues in school forward in terms of the application of new technologies?

I finished by stressing to the students that the children in their class have them as their teacher for the whole school year and that it was incumbent upon them to ensure that they offered the best experience possible for these learners. The importance can never be stressed enough.

An excellent day with a group of enthusiastic and open-minded students who also did pretty well at Guitar hero, Trampolining with Sonic and Mario and Brain Training!

In order to nurture and grow games based learning developments in classrooms throughout Scotland it’s important that we are able to take the Consolarium ‘On Tour’ so to speak so that teachers and education managers who maybe can’t get to Dundee can engage with the debates about games in the classroom and best of all get the opportunity to try some of the games so that they can begin to give some thoiught to how certain games may impact on teaching and learning in their particular context.

Last week I attended a CPD event in Inveraray (Argyll & Bute) for Headteachers od small schools. What a beautiful drive it was up there, an unexpected perk! I met with a group of teachers who were very open to the effective and innovative use of ICT. Lots of interest created and enthusiasm for what we ‘might be able to do in class’ was great to see. It was also hearteneing to work with a group of teachers who were able to see past the technology in order to focus on the learning.

It was my first professional visit to Argyll & Bute and one that was very enjoyable and that will, I’m sure, lead to the development of some great initiatives.