Pennsylvania's $250 million dollar "Classrooms for the Future" seems to have a good sense of what it takes to succeed - a good mix of technology, support, training and content resources.
Converge Magazine Article: Classrooms for the Future
Monday, March 26, 2007
Friday, March 16, 2007
Mathletes of the world unite!
On March 14th (World Mathematics day - 3/14 in honor of pi) students from around the world came together in an attempt to break the previous world record for the number of correct questions answered during a one day period. Nearly 39 million questions were answered during the day-long question-answering blitz on VMathLive with a good chunk of those (some 330,000) coming from a handful of students vying for top honors in the individual level competition.
There's something really cool about kids from all over the world coming together to do something - anything really. But coming together to do something educational is all the more amazing.
There's something really cool about kids from all over the world coming together to do something - anything really. But coming together to do something educational is all the more amazing.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
The key to happiness...
A BBC mini-series is set to explore the science of happiness...
The old adage holds that money can't buy you love, and apparently it can't buy you happiness either. So what's the secret recipe? A combination of several factors including strong relationships, belief in something larger and goals. Doesn't seem like rocket science ;)
From the BBC: The Science of Happiness
The old adage holds that money can't buy you love, and apparently it can't buy you happiness either. So what's the secret recipe? A combination of several factors including strong relationships, belief in something larger and goals. Doesn't seem like rocket science ;)
From the BBC: The Science of Happiness
More on Games in Ed
SIIA hosted a panel session at FETC and is set to host another at CoSN related to games in education. The proceedings include a great bibliography of recent articles, books and websites related to ed games.
SIIA presentation handout
SIIA presentation handout
Location Based Gaming - Reliving the Revolution
Karen Schrier (MIT Grad, now at Nickelodeon) discussed ways to tap into the potential of location-based gaming for educational purposes. Capitalizing on the ubiquity of cell phone technology among many of today's students, location based gaming can enable engaging new learning opportunites.
From Gamasutra: GDC: Nickelodeon's Schrier Relives The Revolution
From Gamasutra: GDC: Nickelodeon's Schrier Relives The Revolution
...and I can kill you with my mind
One of the coolest things I saw, without doubt, at this year's GDC was a demonstration of some hardware that enabled mind-controlled gameplay. I was skeptical at first until I got a chance to put on one of Neurosky's sensor-enabled headpieces and give it a whirl. It took a minute to get the knack of it but then I was pushing and lifting in-game objects just by looking at them and...concentrating. Way cool!
There were other groups offering demonstrations of similar technologies but I didn't get a chance to try them out as well. The technology still seems a bit tempermental and clunky - (e.g., one not functioning if the sensors came in any contact with a users' hair and looking and the other looking like a futuristic bike helmet) but the fact that it works leaves a lot of promise in the years to come as some of these minor details get worked out.
Here's Gamasutra's article about Emotiv's similar technology/goal of mind-controlled gaming: GDC: Emotiv Promises Mind Controlled Games
There were other groups offering demonstrations of similar technologies but I didn't get a chance to try them out as well. The technology still seems a bit tempermental and clunky - (e.g., one not functioning if the sensors came in any contact with a users' hair and looking and the other looking like a futuristic bike helmet) but the fact that it works leaves a lot of promise in the years to come as some of these minor details get worked out.
Here's Gamasutra's article about Emotiv's similar technology/goal of mind-controlled gaming: GDC: Emotiv Promises Mind Controlled Games
More GDC recaping
Like I mentioned before I opted to skip the keynote crowds - but I have enjoyed reading through the articles posted by reporters and other bloggers. At Wednesday's Keynote, Phil Harrison, a Sony Executive talked about the evolution of gaminng and some of the new things on the way for Sony's gaming systems. He outlined an evolution from stand-alone games/gamesystems (game 1.0), to connected games/gaming systems (game 2.0) to a new world for gaming where social interaction and content creation opportunities rule. Sony's PS3 upcoming interactive world called Home will capitalize on people's desire to be more social and express their creativity and individuality.
From Gamasutra: GDC: Harrison Keynote Reveals Home, LittleBigPlanet
From Gamasutra: GDC: Harrison Keynote Reveals Home, LittleBigPlanet
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
GDC Recap - Part 1
I took oodles of notes at this year's GDC and got to see most of the presentations that I was interested in seeing. It was a good year and, as always there seem to be some really neat things that are happening within the gaming industry. As I find time I'm going to go back through the other notes that I took and get more info entered in, but for now I wanted to comment a little on some of the things that I just read or heard about - starting with the Shigeru Miyamoto keynote.
With lines out the South Hall of the Moscone Convention Center, down the street and around the corner, I figured I'd be just fine catching a recap after the fact. I should note that I did get to see Miyamoto speak at last year's GDC - and that might have also factored in to the decision to avoid the crowds and lines this year. Last year focused a lot on Nintendo's console and handheld gaming platforms as well as game design - but, as expected this year, there was a lot of wii talk going on.
During Miyamoto's presentation - apparently given with visuals that had been loaded into his wii Photo Channel, he hinted at the fact that wii was a system/gaming platform that has broken down some barriers for folks that haven't traditionally played games. By getting down to basic and intuitive game-play via real-world movements they have created a system that gamers and non-gamers alike can enjoy - in commenting on some negative reviews, he noted: "Game reviewers out there need to add a new category when scoring games... how fun it is for people who don't play them." (cited from: Gamasutra) Perhaps we just need a whole new game scoring system for non-gamers... Perhaps the whole definition of of "gamer" will begin to evolve...
With lines out the South Hall of the Moscone Convention Center, down the street and around the corner, I figured I'd be just fine catching a recap after the fact. I should note that I did get to see Miyamoto speak at last year's GDC - and that might have also factored in to the decision to avoid the crowds and lines this year. Last year focused a lot on Nintendo's console and handheld gaming platforms as well as game design - but, as expected this year, there was a lot of wii talk going on.
During Miyamoto's presentation - apparently given with visuals that had been loaded into his wii Photo Channel, he hinted at the fact that wii was a system/gaming platform that has broken down some barriers for folks that haven't traditionally played games. By getting down to basic and intuitive game-play via real-world movements they have created a system that gamers and non-gamers alike can enjoy - in commenting on some negative reviews, he noted: "Game reviewers out there need to add a new category when scoring games... how fun it is for people who don't play them." (cited from: Gamasutra) Perhaps we just need a whole new game scoring system for non-gamers... Perhaps the whole definition of of "gamer" will begin to evolve...
although its been said many times, many ways...
It is always good to hear it again!
Speaking before a Senate Committee, Microsoft's Chairman, Bill Gates stated the following: "Despite the best efforts of many committed educators and administrators, our high schools have simply failed to adapt to this change. As any parent knows, however, our children have not [failed to adapt]--they are fully immersed in digital culture. As a result, while most students enter high school wanting to succeed, too many end up bored, unchallenged, and disengaged from the high school curriculum--"digital natives" caught up in an industrial-age learning model." Cited from an article in eSchool news: Bill Gates calls for ed-data center
Speaking before a Senate Committee, Microsoft's Chairman, Bill Gates stated the following: "Despite the best efforts of many committed educators and administrators, our high schools have simply failed to adapt to this change. As any parent knows, however, our children have not [failed to adapt]--they are fully immersed in digital culture. As a result, while most students enter high school wanting to succeed, too many end up bored, unchallenged, and disengaged from the high school curriculum--"digital natives" caught up in an industrial-age learning model." Cited from an article in eSchool news: Bill Gates calls for ed-data center
He also makes reference to the Partnership for 21st Century Learning as one step in the right direction in terms of making our schools better-suited to the unique learning and working environments of the 21st Century.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
New Stuff on the Horizon
New technology announcements from Microsoft are a nice tie-in to some of the themes/trends at this year's GDC -
This eSchool News article: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=6934
Discusses recent initatives by research teams at Microsoft to deliver the next great technologies and applications for education. Among those discussed are a programming game for the xbox that allows children to program a robot named Boku, New location-based push and pull advertising strategies (ads that can be delivered to mobile devices of people wandering through an area as well as content that can be called up by sending a photo of a CD or DVD lable), as well as new information organizing/sharing tools.
This eSchool News article: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=6934
Discusses recent initatives by research teams at Microsoft to deliver the next great technologies and applications for education. Among those discussed are a programming game for the xbox that allows children to program a robot named Boku, New location-based push and pull advertising strategies (ads that can be delivered to mobile devices of people wandering through an area as well as content that can be called up by sending a photo of a CD or DVD lable), as well as new information organizing/sharing tools.
Live from the GDC
Okay - so finding a reliable wireless network has been challenging - but finding the free time to actually post updates has been even more challenging. Needless to say there'll be more to come, but here's a brief snapshot of what I've seen so far at this year's Game Developer's Conference:
At the Serious Games Summit which took place on Monday and Tuesday I listened to presentations from Ichiro Otobe and Tadashi Tsushima of Square Enix (from Japan), a group of researchers/designers with a presentation about approaches to game evaluation/assessment, a few sessions on repurposing or tweaking existing games and game engines to support a wider range of educational content/goals. two sessions on the One Laptop Per Child initiative, a Keynote session on Collaborative Intelligence and Collective Gameplay strategies and psychology, an overview of the past, present and possible future for educational gaming, and a presentation on scaffolding techniques within games given by two of my former colleagues from IU.
At the Serious Games Summit which took place on Monday and Tuesday I listened to presentations from Ichiro Otobe and Tadashi Tsushima of Square Enix (from Japan), a group of researchers/designers with a presentation about approaches to game evaluation/assessment, a few sessions on repurposing or tweaking existing games and game engines to support a wider range of educational content/goals. two sessions on the One Laptop Per Child initiative, a Keynote session on Collaborative Intelligence and Collective Gameplay strategies and psychology, an overview of the past, present and possible future for educational gaming, and a presentation on scaffolding techniques within games given by two of my former colleagues from IU.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Keep it simple
So I know RSS means "really simple syndication" and I know essentially what an rss feed does, but here's an article I wanted to be sure to have a link back to for sometime when I have more time to read...because it certainly seems like there's a lot more to learn:
From Tech Learning: How to feed yourself information with an RSS feed
From Tech Learning: How to feed yourself information with an RSS feed
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)