Consolarium

Apologies to all at Stirling Council for the lateness of this post regarding your presentation at SLF ‘07 but I have been waiting to see if I could source some photographs of your session. As yet I haven’t but I’m still looking!

One of the very early adopters of games based initiatives with the Consolarium was Stirling Council. The team came to visit the centre in early 2007 and as a result of the day we had a number of possible projects were discussed. One particular application caught the eye of the team that day and they felt that it had the capacity to really engage reluctant writers so that they would want to write. The application in question is called Crazy Talk and it really has great potential as a learning tool. Their presentation was yet again bursting with life, character and good practice. Margaret Cassidy and Joe Shaw from the Quality Development Team gave the presentation with help of some children from a local school that had been using the software.

The children talked about how they had used Crazy Talk in different topics of study. One such topic was a collaborative investigation of the story and history of the ill-fated Titanic. The kids created their own drawings of people that were on the Titanic and then they brought them to life in Crazy Talk. Have a look at one of these characters created by the kids:

A fiull case study of what has happened with this application and how it has impacted on the teaching and learning will appear on the Consolarium’s sharing practice very soon.

In the meantime have a look at how you use Crazy Talk:

A number of other local authorities are using this application so we look forward to finding out more about how it is making an impact in those schools too.

..so says Stephen Heppell in his Back and Forth article in the Guardian (18/09/07). Stephen came up to visit Dundee a few months back and I took him to see the children that I had worked with on my Nintendo DS Dr. Kawashima project. He was very interested in what had happened in the project and he summarised it this way:

“It will be no surprise to readers that performances got better in some key areas of the curriculum, but new orders of merit also emerged as unexpected performances showed new and unrecognised potential. Being brainy became cool, too, and it has been quite a while since schools students regarded anything related to school technology as cool.”

Full details of the project can be found at the Kawashima Case study within the Consolarium’s sharing practice area.

We delivered a seminar presentation about this project at the Scottish Learning Festival. There was great interest about what happened and added value in terms of the DHT from the school that I worked with talking about how he and the school feels that there has been a longer term affect on the dynamic of the class as a result of the project.

The more I talk about this project the more I am hearing of other teachers talking about using the Nintendo DS in the class. If so what are you doing with it? Let us know.

One of the many Consolarium projects that are yet to feature in the sharing practice area of our site was showcased today at the Scottish Learning Festival. Entitled, ‘Cha cha cha: phonic blend or Latin American dance?’ it was delivered by Laura Compton and Margo Kerr from West Lothian Council and yet again the delegates who chose to attend this seminar were treated, quite frankly, to a superb presentation.

West Lothian Council was one of the local authorities who were an early adopter in relation to getting involved with out games based initiatives. They visited the Consoalrium earlier this year and a s result a number of projects are currently underway in their schools. However, the one project that has really taken off is the use of Ramba Studios Primary Phonics programme. This programme is designed to be used with pre and early readers in relation to the teaching of synthetic phonics…however the means of integrating with the game is through the medium of dance! Yes, a dance mat is the device that allows the player to play the game.

The team at West Lothian Council was so impressed with this resource that they bought 85 of them, one for each early years establishment in the authority. Today’s presentation was a clear and detailed account of what their experience with the game has been up to now.

I am actually still a wee bit emotional, really I am, as a result of what I saw today because some of the video evidence that was used in the presentation was enough to emphatically show how this game is having an impact in pre-school, primary and special needs contexts. One clip showed some children that were attending a speech therapy class. You have to see this clip because the look on these kids faces as they gained success in the game was priceless. This is what school should be about: dedicated and informed professionals identifying ways in which young learners can achieve success! Fantastic, it really should have been a keynote such was the significance of the shared experience of the teachers in West Lothian that have been using this application.

You won’t have to wait long for this because I am currently working with West Lothian in order to make this case study available.

Anyway, they had set up a demo group within the game by adding delegated names from the list that they had been provided with. These names were then called out randomly by the computer and the audience were so involved that they were more than willing to get involved and have a go. It was actually like the ‘Price is Right’ in terms of the delegates reactions when they got picked.

The depth and detail of what happened and is continuing to happen in West Lothian with the Primary Phonics dance mats will become crystal clear as soon as the case study is available. In the meantime may I suggest that queries about this be directed to Laura Compton and her team. They are a credit to the teaching profession in terms of their attitude, insight and knowledge. This kind of practice can only help to further inform teachers about how new technologies can impact on and enhance the teaching and learning in our classrooms.

Forget the Rolling Stones, who needs Radiohead and as for Metallica…get out of here, because you’ve got to get ready for the new rock gods of the 21st Century: Full Moon. They are just about to release their new CD called Pure Black Magic and a European Tour is about to begin! Get your tickets as soon as you can because this outfit are the real deal…

…well really they’re not. Full Moon are a virtual band created by the children of P.7 in Oldmeldrum PS in Aberdeenshire. The band members are Tasha Hooch, Charlie Andrews, Lavender Dorset, Scrambled Egg Sam and Carmen Jackal. These characters came to life through a fantastic project that happened in a P.7 class in Oldmeldrum PS.

This project arose as a result of Aberdeenshire Council’s engagement with the Consolarium. It involved the use of a game for the Sony PS2 (and Xbox 360) called Guitar Hero II. This game allows you to engage with the world of rock and roll by using a plastic guitar that lets you pretend to be a rock star performing on stage! You’ve got to see, and play, this in order to appreciate what a tremendous game it is.

However, the fact that this is a great game is neither here nor there if it can’t be applied in teaching and learning contexts. Well, Kim Applin (the P.7 teacher), saw potential in this as a cross-curricular tool and she came up with an array of rich tasks that really exemplify how a Curriculum for Excellence can occur in the classroom. A detailed case study of the project can be found via this link so have a look to find out more about what happened.

The reason for this post is to commend the presentation about this project at the Scottish Learning Festival ‘07. Anna Rossvoll (or should that be Anna ‘Rocks’voll by the look of this picture) delivered an inspiring and innovative presentation that beautifully captured the essence of what the teacher called an unbelievably high quality learning experience for the children. This is a presentation that needs to be shared with a wider and larger audience.

She actually brought the PS2 and the Guitar Hero game so that two willing players could have a go in the session. Now, I love this game and have become quite good at rattling up the combos and hitting the high scores but I have an understudy who is fast becoming my main rival for the crown of best guitar hero player in Scottish Education…Margaret Cassidy from Stirling Council.

We had a go at the game and lo and behold, when we paused it , in order not to take up too much of Anna’s time, it just so happened that I was in the lead. better luck next time Margaret! The delegates were on their feet as they were so enthralled in the musical masterclass that they were witnessing but sadly, we had to call it a day. However, we are available for birthdays, retirements and bar mitzvahs.;-)

To finish, what a session this was! Bursting with life, energy, innovation and fun. It goes to show what can be done when teachers are given the opportunity to develop and lead learning contexts that they believe will work with their class. Very well done to pupils, teachers and ICT staff involved in making this happen.