Archive for October, 2010
- October 26th, 2010
Consolarium comes to Norway
- Derek Robertson
- Comments: none Tags: Tags: Consolarium, game based learning, games based learning
: Categories Aberdeenshire, Conferences, Consolarium, game based learning
As a result of presentation about the work of LTS’ Consolarium initiative in Strasbourg last year we were kindly invited to present a keynote talk about the place and value of game based learning in Scottish schools at a teacher technology conference in Bergen.
A few weeks back we received a call from a journalist from the Bergen Times whose interest in what was happening with the Consolarium in Scotland was sparked by his reading of the forthcoming conference’s programme. He told us that he had carried out a bit of research and would really like to see this for himself. A date was duly arranged and his flight to Aberdeen from Bergen allowed us to call on out colleagues in Aberdeenshire to showcase the GBL work that is happening in their schools.
A programme was duly organised and the Norwegian journalist and his photographer spent a day visiting schools who were using a range of computer games in the classroom.
It appears that the game based learning approach that we employ in Scotland is new to Norway and as such it merited a real splash in the Bergen Times Weekend supplement, including a feature on the front cover! It appears that the journalist was somewhat taken aback by the power of what he witnessed in the classrooms he visited and as such he has written a very positive article about GBL in Scotland and what questions Norway can begin to ask itself about how the Consolarium’s ideas, practice and approach might begin to be developed over there.
The article is not online as yet so in the meantime please find attached .pdfs of the article:
Bergen Times Weekend Saturday Supplement main article
Page1: Photograph of kids playing Guitar Hero
There was also a piece following on from the main article that focused on asking schoolchildren from Bergen what they thought about having game based learning in school.
Page 1: Bergen schoolchildren and GBL
Page 2: Bergen schoolchildren and GBL
Finally, there was also a piece in the Sunday edition of the Bergen Times that included comments from prominent Norwegian educationalists about the work of the Consolarium in Scotland.
Bergen Times Sunday edition article
In order for you to make sense of these article we have attempted to use Google Translate so that you can make some sense of the stories featured in the Norwegian press. The translation has worked well although we do think that some meaning has been lost in translation.
There are also some errors in detail in the article that need to be highlighted and corrected:
- The Consolarium is not situated in the University of Dundee but within Learning and Teaching Scotland’s offices in Dundee.
- The figure of £30million was used in reference to the cost of Glow, Scotland’s national intranet, not the cost of the Consolarium!
- We are not saying that books, movies and newspapers are no longer of use in school. That is definitely not our message. Games can be used to complement and enhance the media that is on offer to help learners progress.
It appears that the input that we gave at the conference has been well received and has at least started a discussion about the place of game based learning in Norwegian schools. The Bergen Times article has certainly helped!
More- October 20th, 2010
Unity 3 Game Development
- charlielove
- Comments: none Tags: Tags: Android, cfe, cross-curricular, game design, games design, Glow, iOS, Unity
: Categories Consolarium, Glow, Nintendo, cross-curricular, games design
Unity 3 is a cross platform development environment (PC or Mac) which provides users with a set of tools to create games for PC, Mac, Wii, iOS devices (such as iPodTouch, iPhone and iPad) and Google’s Android Mobile operating system. It’s a jack of all trades system and the core software is free for all to download and use. This video shows just a few of the games that have already been created with Unity.
We’ve been spending some time at the Consolarium looking at Unity 3 and we’ve been very impressed with what is possible with the software. The level of support available online from the Unity site and from the developer community (including the great game tutorial videos at 3DBuzz) is excellent and this wealth of quality resources can really support learners as they take their first steps with this software.
Our plans to support game design in the senior phase require quality tools which provide learners with opportunities to produce games similar to the ones they play. Also, game design in the senior phase must build on the CfE experiences and outcomes and our work on game design at level 2/3 with Scratch and Kodu. Given the recent developments in game design qualifications, it is important that we look for and develop resources which support learners undertaking these new courses. Unity provides a versatile platform which can help us achieve all of these things.
With practicalities in mind, Unity will run on a variety of computer systems including those which are getting a bit old. It requires Windows XP Service Pack 2 OR Mac OS “Leopard” 10.5 as a minimum spec and a graphics card with a minimum of 64MBs (which should cover any graphics card made in the last 6/7 years). Other demands on your computer system just depend on how complex your game project becomes.
One of the really great features that we hope to make use of is Unity 3′s ability to create browser based games which play from the web. Have a look at blurst.com to see some of the great web based games created with Unity. Jetpack Brontosaurus is my personal favourite.
Moving forward our plan is to make the best of these resources available in the Consolarium Game Design Glow Group and to develop further resources and support for schools which adopt Unity as a development platform. Already in our Glow group are resources for Scratch, Kodu, Blender and Microsoft XNA Game Development. There are also a number of background resources which deal with the game development process and were filmed at the Denki Studio in Dundee.
More- October 19th, 2010
EA Create: New Game, New Opportunities?
- Brian Clark
- Comments: none Tags: Tags: cfe, Consolarium, cross platform, ea, ea create, educational games, game based learning, game design, mac, pc, pic, ps3, Wii, xbox
: Categories Added Value, Consolarium, Multi-player games, cross-curricular, game based learning, games design, writing
At the Consolarium, we are always eager to look for new games to add to our Game Based Learning projects. In mid November 2010, Electronic Arts will release EA Create.
Create Game Info
In Create, use your creativity and imagination to unlock a world of play!
Create tracks your creativity and rewards you for it. The more you create, the more you unlock rewards and exciting challenges to play, opening a world of fun as you go.
Let your imagination run wild, as you create cool environments with easy-to-use tools, including animating objects, textures, and designs that bring your scene to life!
It’s a limitless experience of creative expression paired with exciting and even wacky challenges that have you thinking on your feet to come up with creative solutions.
EA Create seems to have more than a couple of similarities to Little Big Planet for the PS3, but with one big difference - Create will be available for Wii, Xbox, PS3, Mac and PC. With an internet connection, users on any platform will be able to upload their creations and download any other creation and remix it - regardless of what platform they are using, with the exception of the Wii.
This particular game seems to offer a number of opportunities for Game Based Learning projects and indeed may be a great tool to close the gap between game players, game based learners and game creators. A few reasons we are hopeful for this particular game include:
- The terminolgy used in the game is the same terminolgy used in a number of game design tools - eg brushes, textures etc.
- The cross platform sharing option.
- A tool to create environments to stimulate writing.
- Use to inspire creativity and invention, particularly within science and design and technology. Like Little Big Planet, you can pretty much make anything you want and it wil act like real life objects do. Let me expand on this a little….
I was thinking that schools could use this game to engage with probelm solving and creativity. Then, set groups of pupils a challange to build a crazy contrapation like a Rube Goldberg machine, just like they can do in create - solve a simple problem by creating a complex solution. Have a look at OK Go’s video for their song ‘This To Shall Pass’ to see such a machine in operation.
A project like this could be a great way to build teamwork, cooperation, environment/recycling, not to mention inter disciplinary links. Look out for an update in the new year once we’ve had a chance to get creating ourselves!
More- October 4th, 2010
Early Years Games Based Learning work featured in the TESS
- obray
- Comments: none Tags: : Categories Consolarium, game based learning
Some great publicity for Learning and Teaching Scotland and the Consolarium in the Scottish Times Educational Supplement on the 1st October 2010.
Gillian Macdonald provides a great write up of Derek Robertson’s Games Based Learning in the Early Years presentation from the 2010 Scottish Learning Festival.
The article covers some of the work that we have been doing with the Sony Eye Pet for the PS3, Nintendogs for the Nintendo DS and some of the work that we will be starting shortly with The Land of Me.
You can read the full article on the TES website if you missed the paper copy.
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