Consolarium

Some time ago I had the pleasure of welcoming Dr Sam Fawkner and Dr Ailsa Niven to the Consolarium. They are both lecturers/researchers from Heriot Watt University and they were keen to find out more about ‘exergaming‘ software. We spent an afternoon working out on the DDR dance mat attached to the PS2 and engaging with he PS2 Eye-Toy and playing Wii Sports. As a result of our discussions it transpired that we both shared an interest in using wireless dance mats as a motivational tool and appropriate context for adolescent girls, who may be tuned off by ‘traditional PE’. Our intention to embark on a joint project was somewhat inhibited due to the cost of the resource that we aimed to use. This resource enables up to 32 class sets of industry standard dance mats to wirelessly connect to a Linux PC that logs, in real time, each player/dancer’s performance … but the cost was always out of our reach.

Today I attended a meeting at Heriot Watt University where a working group met to support and offer advice at an early stage to a PhD student Called Joan Henretty. Joan intends to explore the range of exergaming applications that are currently available (and what will be coming) in order to see how appropriate and relevant exergaming resources can impact in a positive fashion the attitudes of adolescent girls’ towards exercise. Representatives from Sportscotland, Scottish Health Promoting Schools Unit and East Lothian Active Schools were also in attendance.

The Consolarium’s remit was always to encourage, nurture and promote games  based learning in Scottish schools but it also aims to forge links with industry and academic partners to explore and make sense of the practice that happens in schools. Today’s meeting proved to be very fruitful and the work that will develop through this group and via Joan’s work will no doubt help us identify how schools can resource and manage exergaming in classrooms but with an underpinning evidence base that will help inform our practice….