September 6th, 2011

Land of Me at Port Ellen PS: Encouraging Outdoor Adventure 5/5

Derek Robertson

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags: Tags: game based learning, Land of Me, outdoor learning
 : Categories Argyll & Bute, Dundee City, West Lothian

A few months back I featured the work of Bernadette Donald from Dundee who was involved in the Land of Me pilot project. She was inspired by the idea that a digital game such as Land of Me was designed to encourage enquiry and learning away from the digital screen, possibly more than actually from it. The context of creating an intrepid explorer mindset, inspired by Eric, Buddy Boo and Willow, in young learners is something that appears to have appealed to many teachers who have been involved with this pilot - including the team at Port Ellen PS.

Outdoor Explorer Logbooks

In order to exploit the children’s heightened levels of curiosity and willingness to explore the outdoor environment and in order to yet again involve parents in the children’s learning the class teacher devised an idea that involved the creation of an outdoor adventurer pack. This pack included:

• A pair of binoculars
• A magnifying glass
• Some bug collection boxes
• An Outdoor Adventurer Logbook

There were four of these packs available to the children to take home so that they could go out into their own environment and explore! The logbooks were packed full of photographs, drawings, stories and information about Islay and the various creatures that can be seen there. One boy even reported seeing an eagle on the roof of the Laphroaig Distillery! A whole host of artefacts were discovered and brought in by the ‘Little Explorers’ and the display table found itself festooned with antlers, shells, broken bird’s egg cases and even an empty wasps’ nest!

As with the earlier post about making outdoor dens in the forest from the school in Dundee the teachers at Port Ellen PS talked glowingly about the impact that this experience and what the overarching context was doing for the children involved. In particular the teachers commented on:

• how much more aware and knowledgeable about their own environment the children were becoming
• the fact that there was purpose and a focus for family time at the weekend was well received by many of the parents
• the fact that children were hugely keen to get hold of the adventurer pack so that they could explore outside, note what they see and then report back to their classmates.

Thank you

Now that we have come to the end of this pilot we would like to take the opportunity to thank the people at Land of Me for supporting our pilot projects and to all the staff, children and parents from Dundee, West Lothian and Argyll & Bute for making so much of what we have done such a positive experience.

August 15th, 2011

The Land of Me at Port Ellen PS: Parental Involvement 4/5

Derek Robertson

Comments: none Tags: Tags: cfe, curriculum for excellence, game based learning, Land of Me, parental involvement
 : Categories Argyll & Bute, Curriculum for Excellence, Parents, writing

When I first chatted with Janice McRae about her plans for using The Land of Me one of the first things she made reference to was her desire to encourage parental involvement in the project. Having a strong belief that parents should be as good a partner as possible in helping children learn she was very keen to create ways in which this could happen. A letter of information was sent out to all parents asking for help with building some of the class scenes as well as telling them about the opportunity to come and in to the classroom to support some learning activities.. This desire is very much in concert with that of Scottish Government’s views on parental involvement:

Parents who take on a supportive role in their child’s learning make a difference in improving achievement and behaviour. The active involvement of parents in the life of the school can help promote a learning community in which pupils can engage positively with school staff and their peers.

I was keen to get an overview from some parents about what their perception of this project had been and what impact, if any, they felt that it had had on their children. One mother I spoke to talked of her delight at being asked in to the classroom to help in the first place but also of her sense of amazement at the spread and range of
curricular activity that was happening. She also commented on the information letter that went home from the school being something that immediately captivated her attention and at her delight of how the project helped make relevant learning about her daughters own community and environment.

On the day that I visited the class a writing activity had been planned that involved parents coming in to help the children with a story about the characters in The Land of Me. There were quite a number of parents in the room that day and the atmosphere was focused and industrious. Following on from the stories that can be read when the player/learner visits Granny Olive in The Land of Me the guidance given to the children and the teacher was
that their story would be in three parts, would contain one of the main characters from The Land of Me and that it would have either a happy, sad or funny ending. The parents acted as scribes where appropriate and worked with their child to encourage the telling, drawing and writing of their own Land of Me story.

I also took time to interview some of the parents that took part in this writing session. The parents were hugely impressed with the open and visual nature of the learning environment and they were delighted to be playing such an active part in their children’s learning in school as well as out of school.

Parent Interview 1

Some of the points of made by this parent about this experience included:

“This approach to learning is completely different, it really leaves it open to their imagination.”

“The reading, the writing and the arithmetic is all in here..the kids are making it all themselves.”

“It’s been great getting in here and seeing them working…the classroom is so vibrant and busy!”

Parent Interview 2

Some of the points of made by this parent about this experience included:

“This is fantastic, lovely…I like that we’re involved in it all.”

“It’s fantastic because they can get so involved in it. It’s not like just picking up a book and putting it away-they are part of it every day.”

“My husband and I coming to help has been significant for us…we know what she is talking about when she comes home because we have been involved.”

Port Ellen PS clearly view the parents of their children as a valuable resource and as allies in helping to take children forward. It was clear from my discussions with the parents that such willing encouragement for them to be part of the life of learning really made them feel god about being a partner in their child’s development. What I saw in my time there is testament to this approach-happy children and happy parents working together with thoughtful and committed teachers in a vibrant and inquisitive learning space.

August 11th, 2011

The Land of Me at Port Ellen PS: Gleeful children lost in the learning space 3/5

Derek Robertson

Comments: none Tags: Tags: curriculum for excellence, game based learning, games based learning, GBL, learning spaces
 : Categories Argyll & Bute

There has been much discussion over the past few years about the nature of learning spaces and how these should be designed in order to effect the best conditions for learning. This was something that I reflected on during and after my visit to P.1/2 at Port Ellen PS having seen a traditional rectangular classroom being transformed in to a magical place where adventure and learning happened.

Working with parents the class teacher at Port Ellen PS designed and made a number of areas that matched those in the The Land of Me. Each area had many references to the characters and themes running through the chapters in the software but also to a range of other contexts for learning and development. What was clearly evident though in my visit was the way in which the children had completely immersed themselves in the learning space that was their traditionally shaped classroom - and in so doing they had lost themselves in learning.

Dancing with otters at the riverside
I spoke with one young pupil about the area that had been set up as the riverbank. I was introduced to Dodo the Scottish Otter who I was told liked to dance. Dodo had a number of dance moves that the children had been
learning and putting together in sequences and they had been making their own too. I also saw that the children had been learning all about creatures that might live in or near the riverside and that they had been outside adventuring and learning about creatures that lived on their island. I will go in to further detail about curricular activity and CfE references in a later post but at this stage the gleeful look on this learners face in this accompanying video says a lot about how learning can be positively influenced by such a motivating and exciting learning space in which one can learn!

Reading in the cave
Classrooms sometimes have very comfortable spaces that are designated for reading. Spaces where children can relax on comfortable cushions or a nice carpet and take time to read. The take on this reading space during this project was structured around Granny Olive’s cave. This is the storytelling place in The Land of Me and it is a
calm and peaceful place where stories are brought to life by a very old giant tortoise. This video shows a young learner being interrupted by me when he was quietly reading The Stick Man. Listen to what he says and then watch how he engages with his book as I move away with the camera. Yet again, we see a thoughtful learning space situated in a meaningful context that appears to be having a positive impact on encouraging good learning; in this case independently-chosen reading time.

Classrooms, particularly those in Primary schools, are often transformed to mirror or ‘become’ the context in which learning is situated at particular times. When they are done well they can impact in a positive fashion on teaching and learning. As we can see from the work at Port Ellen PS the effort can be very worthwhile indeed.

August 10th, 2011

The Land of Me at Port Ellen PS: A visit from the King of The Land of Me 2/5

Derek Robertson

Comments: none Tags: Tags: cfe, Consolarium, game based learning, games based learning, The Land of Me
 : Categories Argyll & Bute, Early Years

The team at the Consolarium first saw The Land of Me when it was being presented at a game based learning conference in London. We were quite enchanted by the resource and felt that it could be something that, if used appropriately, could work well to support and enhance learning with younger children. We managed to meet up with James Huggins who is the CEO of Made in Me, the company that make the software and let them know that we would be interested in running pilots when the resource was ready to go…

Discussions continued with James and his team and eventually we managed to get things on the move. However, this was not where things stopped in terms of partnership with Made in Me. Very keen to see for himself how things had been going on in Scotland he asked if he could accompany us on out visit to Port Ellen PS to see for himself how his resource was being used in a teaching and learning context.

Once Janice McRae heard that James Huggins was coming to visit she began to think how she could best exploit this event to have further impact on the chidren’s learning…and in so doing she came up with an idea!

The King of the Land of Me comes to Port Ellen PS.

Janice’s idea was to ask James Huggins to act as the KIng of The Land of Me when he came to visit. That meant that the children could write letters to the King telling him what they know about his fabled land. James was in agreement and soon enough a batch of hand-written letters found their way to the King of The Land of Me’s postbox. James took time to to respond to all the children’s letters and duly sent them back with a promise that he would come to see them in the classroom.

This was the catalyst for great excitement and following on from the Royal Wedding this year plans were put in to place to ensure that things would be ready for the Royal visit.

On arrival at the school James was asked to wear a crown and a cloak so that his persona as the King of The Land of Me could be as true as possible for the excited children. He readily went along with this and was somewhat at ease in his Royal role! As he entered the class he was given a guard of honour by the children who were acting as animals from his Kingdom. A red carpet then led to his classroom throne where he was then met by his loyal and admiring subjects.

I spoke with James later that day about what he had seen and what he thought of the way that his resource was being used. His first reaction was to say that he was ‘speechless’ and that “we could not have created a better example of why it is we made The Land of Me or how we’d like it to influence learning!”

You can hear our conversation below:

The craft of the teaching and the way in which contexts can be created to help learners suspend their disbelief is clearly in evidence here. Yet again we see how young learners can respond in such a positive fashion to this methodology and how the thoughtful and imaginative teacher can create the environment in which rich learning can happen and thrive.

August 10th, 2011

Land of Me at Port Ellen PS: Planning for good learning 1/5

Derek Robertson

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags: Tags: game based learning, games based learning, GBL, The Land of Me
 : Categories Argyll & Bute, Parents, cross-curricular

This year we worked with the people at The Land of Me to pilot their software in schools in Dundee, West Lothian and Argyll & Bute. We have already seen some great work in the use of this software to support and enhance learning in Pre-5 and P.1 & P2 classes in Dundee and West Lothian and were also made aware of work ongoing in some of the Argyll and Bute schools via a class blog and a Made in Me’s Facebook page.

Janice McRae from Port Ellen PS on Islay was one of the teachers who came along to the Land of Me introductory session in Inveraray earlier in the year. As a result of her experience on the day and following on from subsequent discussions with colleagues and her own thinking about the needs of her learners she has put together the most inspiring learning experience set in The Land of Me, one that has encouraged parental involvement in so many ways and that has created a space in which her pupils can suspend their disbelief and embark on a learning adventure!

“We had three weeks of learning before we even looked at the software!”

I managed to get out to visit Janice and her class just before the summer break to see just what had been happening. You can listen to my chat with her about how she planned to use the Land of Me and how things progress from then on…

Planning for learning

What was interesting about how Janice McRae planned to use the Land of Me resource was that in the first instance she did not share it with her children for three whole weeks. During this time so much was done in terms of asking questions and initiating discussions in order to create the context for enquiry and curiosity that could then be further developed when the resource was introduced. Some of the questions that were discussed included: Who lives in the Land of Me?; What is a map?; How would we get to the Land of Me? As a result of these discussions some of the children suggested that they make the Land of Me in the classroom!

“Let’s turn the classroom into The Land of Me!”

The Land of Me is made up of a number of chapters that are set in different geographical scenarios. We meet the main characters Buddy Boo, Eric and Willow in the desert, on clifftops, by the riverside, in the arctic and other places too. With the help of her partner and many of the parents Janice went about transforming the classroom into The Land of Me with all the scenes represented in the software physically incorporated into the classroom. Parents helped make camels for the desert, brought in trees for Bramble Wood, built the cave where Granny Olive reads her stories and even made wooden cutouts of the main characters from the story.

With things in place both contextually and physically it was now time to go on a learning adventure…

March 17th, 2011

Land of Me initiative kicks off in Argyll & Bute

Derek Robertson

Comments: 4 Comments » Tags: Tags: game based learning, game design, GBL, thelandofme
 : Categories Argyll & Bute, Early Years

The Consolarium team is currently working with three local authority partners in Scotland to explore the application of The Land of Me in the Early Years setting. Having already started things off a couple of months back with Dundee City and West Lothian Councils we finally managed to kick things off today when we met Maggie Irving (check out her own site that has some great help for CfE) and the teachers involved in this stage of the initiative from Argyll and Bute. It was great to see that the teachers had been funded to take the day out of school in order to come to this initial event.

Maggie Irving had planned for everyone to have a ‘fluid’ day in order for us to tease out and explore just how we might begin to plan for the use of The Land of Me. The consensus of opinion was that the last thing we wanted to create was a set of pre-planned activities that would be used by everyone and so there was a general discussion of how each of the six chapters could be used.

It is fair to say that Maggie Irving was particulalry taken with the The Land of Me so I took the opportunity to record our discussion about just why it was she thought it was so appealing. You can hear our discussion here:

(Transcript to follow)

The main points about the resource that Maggie raises are:

• The Land of Me is more than a piece of software, it is a digital experience for young learners
• there is so much potential for children to develop their learning and creativity away from the 2D computer screen
• the material is perfect to explore the many of the literacy outcomes in CfE
• it offers many opportunties for teachers to ask key questions when working with children

The teachers involved over the course of the day were delight to work with and they seemed to be of the opinion that the resource and the learning opportunities that could be exploited from it was something that they could use to great effect in their settings. Maggie was really pleased with her colleagues response to the day saying, “If this is the response from teaching staff then it will be fabulous to see what the kids do with it!”

In order to suport this initiative we introduced the teachers to the Land of Me area within Glow and this gave us a perfect opportunity to share the forums within Glow with them. CPDConsolarium was also shared with the teachers and we have asked that this becomes integral to how they manage their progress when using The Land of Me in their settings.

Future follow up posts about progress will be published over the next few months.

February 21st, 2011

Sony’s Eyepet enchants learners and enhances learning

Derek Robertson

Comments: 1 Comment Tags: Tags: cfe, educational games, eyepet, game based learning, games based learning, gametolearn, GBL, ps3
 : Categories Argyll & Bute, Early Years, Sony PSP

The Eyepet for the Sony PS3 is a resource that the Consolarium team believe has great potential in schools. The promise of an augmented reality Nintendogs type character on the big screen that could be interacted with by groups of children was something that we felt would prove to be a magical experience for young learners. When we first hatched and played with our Eyepet at the Consolarium we experienced for ourselves the power of this technology and we immediately began discussing just what this could bring to teaching and learning. We were enchanted with this beautiful yet vulnerable little creature and after much hand waving in mid-air our Eyepet came to trust us and looking after it became part of our day.

We put Eyepets in a number of schools across Scotland to see how teachers might begin to integrate the resource into their teaching. Cathkin Community Nursery in South Lanarkshire made superb use of their Eyepet and its application in the learning experiences of their learners was commented on favourably by HMIE. We have also spoken with many other teachers who have had similarly positive experiences however we have also had some teachers who have felt that the resource is not for them or for their children because it is too difficult to use. There is a knack to controlling the Eyepet with the card that is supplied (feeding the Eyepet and throwing biscuits for it is really quite tricky when you first start) so maybe this is a training issue for the Consolarium team. The advent of the Move controller for the PS3 has made this aspect of using the Eyepet a lot easier though. This being said there are many teachers in schools that we are working with who are making great progress with the resource as it is.

On a recent visit to Islay I visited Port Charlotte PS where I was introduced to P2-3 teacher Catherine MacMillan. Catherine is one of the teachers in Argyll & Bute who is working with the Eyepet this term. I was introduced to her class, some of whom were working away in the corner about to hatch their first Eyepet. Here they are going through the initial stages of the hatching process:

After the Eyepet had hatched it had to be scanned to see if it was hungry or not. Here we see the children scanning their new Eyepet to see if it requires feeding or not. :

Whenever I have seen the Eyepet used in schools I am always drawn to the look of concentration and involvement on the faces of the children as they play/learn with the resource. Can you see that on the children’s faces here? It also has to be said that the thoughtful and considered application of this engaging resource by teachers really can ‘make learning more creative, challenging and fun.’ This is most certainly the case with Catherine MacMillan because as we talked I quickly saw how she had seen the potential of this resource and just how it could help her deliver learning experiences in Curriculum for Excellence that would offer the challenge, demand and appeal that Port Charlotte PS expects. Her initial foray into making links to other curricular areas was focused on Writing. She saw the perfect opportunity to capitalise on the supportive discussions that were naturally occurring in the children’s groups when they were showing each other what to do with the Eyepet. This instruction giving would be explored further as part of a purposeful and relevant writing activity focusing on instruction writing. One could associate this activity with this Outcome from CfE:

“I am learning to use my notes and other types of writing to help me understand information and ideas, explore problems, generate and develop ideas or create new text.” LIT 1-25a

Have a look at some of the children’s writing:

Here is Catherine talking about how she planned for this activity and how the Eyepet is helping her deliver this aspect of her teaching.

As Catherine and I talked the children played away quite confidently and contentedly and took charge of looking after their new Eyepet. I took the opportunity to continue talking about just what technologies such as games can bring to the classroom. Catherine had clearly given some serious thought to the application and appeal of a resource such as the Eyepet and as we talked she focused on the following aspects as positive reasons to use the Eyepet and also what she had seen for herself in the short time that she had been using the resource:

• Children demonstrate resilience and patience when trying to master the initial challenge of interacting with the Eyepet via the augmented reality controller for the PS3. Determined to succeed because of promise of reward in, and progress with, game.
• The game has proved beneficial in helping to help deevlop the social dynamic in relation to group collaboration and turn taking.
• Although clear focus on Literacy in teacher’s planning a flexible approach to planning alows learning to come from children’s experiences with the Eyepet.
• Thw fundamental importance that Eyepet and games are not rewards and that they must be fully integrated into the life of learning in the classroom.
• The teacher feels that the game has enabled her to cohesivlely and purposefully address a range of experiences and outcomes in CfE.
  

As you can see from the video, the children still carried on working independently as we chatted. So much so that even when the bell rang it took some encouraging to get the children away from their Eyepet and out to play:

We also discussed how, amongst other things, Catherine and her colleagues are using the Eyepet to aid transition from the nursery class to Primary 1. You can hear our discussion (over the children using the hairdryer to dry their Eyepet) here:

Transcript of discussion with Catherine MacMillan

We will be sharing some more experiences of teachers in Scottish classrooms who are using the Eyepet over the coming months. No doubt we will see some more innovative yet grounded practice from many of the teachers currently using the resource. If you are using this resource in your own setting then please do get in touch and share with us what your experience has been.

At the Game To Learn: Take2! Conference in Dundee on Saturday 19 March Brian McLaren, DHT Clackmannan PS (ex Consolarium Development Officer) will be delivering a seminar in which he will talk about his experience of leading the Eyepet initiative for the Consolarium. Come along to hear what Brian has to say.

*Full transcription of videos to come

February 18th, 2011

Rapman, 3D mice and the design & technology curriculum

Derek Robertson

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags: Tags: anarkik3d, cloud9 software, Consolarium, design & tech, haptic mouse, Islay High School, rapid prototyping
 : Categories Argyll & Bute, Design & Tech

Although we are heavily focused on game based learning and games design at the Consolarium our remit also includes exploring other emerging technologies and how these can impact on teaching and learning. To this end we are currently working with schools in Argyll & Bute, Scottish Borders and Edinburgh City to explore how rapid prototyping kit might be able to play a part in the Design & Technology curriculum.

What this kit allows us to do is create 3D objects that can then be ‘printed’ in 3D form via the Rapman. This could allow you to create piece of jewellery for example on the computer, in 3D form, and for this to be printed out in 3D form.

We purchased three sets of kit from Anarkik 3D that would enable us to begin this work. This kit includes the Falcon 3D Mouse, the Rapman 3D printer and the Cloud 9 software. The Rapman 3D printer can be purchased fully assembled or in flat pack. Obviously the costs are less for the flat packed version.

I visited Islay High School in Argyll & Bute recently where I met with Ian Stuart who is looking to integrate this kit in to the Design & Tech experiences of his pupils. The day that I arrived I saw the pupils using the software and the 3D mouse to create a pendant that could be attached to a necklace. The school is still in the very early stages of getting to grips with this kit and over the past few months it is fair to say that it has faced some challenges particularly in relation to the construction of the flat-packed Rapman printer. Their experiences to date were captured in this chat with Ian Stuart.

Transcript of discussion with Ian Stuart

Even though it is clear that the flat packed option of the Rapman 3D printer does mean an investment of time and effort in order to build it I have to say that what I saw at Islay HS suggests that this kit can really play a part in pupils experiences of Product Design and Computer Aided Manufacture. Some of the pupils’ designs were rather impressive and their feedback about using the Falcon 3D mouse was very positive.

We will follow up and report on the experiences of Islay HS with this exciting resource.

March 21st, 2008

Consolarium visits Argyll & Bute

Derek Robertson

Comments: none Tags: Tags: Consolarium
 : Categories Argyll & Bute

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.