The Finalists
From nearly 200 public nominations our judges selected the following shortlist of finalists. But it's you and the rest of the public - learners, parents & colleagues - who decided who won and received an award at the celebration dinner and party held on Monday 10th January 2011.
Voting has now ended - see who won >
The public have had their say and chosen the winners from the list of finalists below who were announced and received their coveted LWF Crystal Star Award (and other surprise goodies from Nintendo and Promethean) at the party on Monday 10th January.
PRIMARY & PRE-SCHOOL LEARNING
INNOVATORS
Jodie Collins, Specialist ICT Teacher, South Rise Primary School, UK
Tom Barrett, Deputy Headteacher, John Davies Primary School, UK
Jonathan Nalder, Principal Project Officer, Dept of Education & Training, Queensland, Australia
INNOVATIONS
iLearn4Free, USA
Redbridge Games Network, UK
Land of Me, UK
SECONDARY LEARNING
INNOVATORS
Rebecca Smith, Altrincham Grammer School for Girls, UK
Jose Picardo, Nottingham High School, UK
Abdul Chohan, Essa Academy, UK
INNOVATIONS
Channel 4 Education, UK
Recharge The Battery, Saltash.net Community School, UK
Second Sight, ConnectED, UK
FURTHER & HIGHER EDUCATION LEARNING
INNOVATORS
Leigh Wolf, Michigan State University, USA
Michelle Gallen, Talk Irish, UK
David Holloway, Barnet College
INNOVATIONS
Mobile Oxford, Oxford University, UK
Shang-Pool Arcadia, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Mobl21, Emantras, USA
INCLUSION
INNOVATORS
Mary Farmer, The Cedars Primary School, UK
Richard Smartt, CDI Europe, Apps for Good
INNOVATIONS
Worlds of Makrini, Global Novations, USA
Apps for Good, UK & Brazil
Technology in Prisons - G2G Communities, UK
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Awarded to an individual who has, in the opinion of the judges, had the most impact during 2010 on radically improving learning or positively disrupting traditional methodologies through the use of affordable, disruptive technologies. This is not a "lifetime achievement" award but an award given to somebody who has pointed the community to a new possible future for learning.
Each person in this shortlist has had an impact during 2010 so in reality they are all winners but in the spirit of the celebration only one will walk away with the star!
JODIE COLLINS
I introduced the Nintendo DSis to South Rise Primary after seeing them at our local CLC. We used them first of all to enhance mental maths lessons for Year 6 and Year 2 lower ability groups. Using Brain Training and PictoChat we were able to test the mental maths times of children and were also able to quickly assess where childrens’ gaps and misconceptions lay!
Following this success we then introduced the DSis across the curriculum and I ran practice session slots for teachers and students – working with classes from Nursery to Year 6. We used them for everything from vocabulary improvement to photography to make posters for our digital storytelling sessions with Comic Life.
We also have 3 Swinxs Consoles in Foundation Stage which are used with small groups to focus on Speaking and Listening Skills and turn taking. Further up the school I introduced a Nintendo Wii and a projector in the main hall for use in PE lessons and much more! Children and engaged and excited and are getting more and more confident using their ICt skills across the curriculum – games are an embedded tool at South Rise now!
Even more to come!
TOM BARRETT
Tom Barrett is Deputy Head Teacher in John Davies Primary school in Nottinghamshire. He has been blogging about the implementation of technology in his classroom for over three years, and see his role as inspiring and engaging learners with (and without) great educational technology.
Tom’s has been the quiet and effective voice that has taken the great Scottish idea that is Teachmeet and made it an embedded reality in England. Though he will modestly claim to only be one in the team, he has nonetheless been recognised as hugely instrumental in the huge success that it is today. Instigating Teachmeet Takeover at BETT 2010 was just one of the many ways he has helped establish it as the key ‘brand’ in continuing professional development for teachers this year.
Tom also ran his own mini campaign for almost 3 years to bring the Google Teacher Academy (GTA) to the UK. Sending numerous tweets, emails and messages to organisers, certified teachers and attendees at US teacher academies, he urged them to ask about a UK event. He set up a Google Teacher Academy UK pressure group and recruited dozens of teachers. Eventually Google realised that he was not going to go away, and he was instrumental in helping plan the event that came to the UK in 2010 (London, 29th July 2010).
Tom curates a number of crowd-sourced resources to support teacher's professional development. The "Interesting Ways" resources provide a simple focal point for teachers all over the world to share practical ideas about using technology in the classroom. They have been running for over 3 years, cover a huge range of tools and ideas. Their greatest success is providing inspiration and guidance to thousands of teachers across the world.
His greatest success has been to make teacher-led professional development a reality for hundreds of teachers:
“Tom has inspired me through his work in the classroom and his reflective writing style. He is a leader through his skill in networking his practice and his school with people and contexts throughout the education world. Tom’s blog is number 1 on my subscription list and, in my opinion, is a must-read for educationists." (David Noble, Chartered Teacher, Hillside School)
Tom’s Blog : http://edte.ch/blog/
JONATHAN NALDER
Jonathan is excited to have been shortlisted despite being from the other side of the world. He worries that this may make vote-garnering more difficult, but then stops to reflect that being selected by such respected judges in the educational technology field has far more weight than a popular vote...
Even more however, Jonathan is excited that the shoulders of those he stands on (the many many great Educators from Smart Classrooms, Slide2Learn, One Laptop per Child Australia schools and the Apple Distinguished Educator program) are also gaining recognition through this shortlisting - AND that he may get the chance to spread the message of how mobile devices can transform learning even further as a result.
Thanks LWF! Now, over to you EdTech loving public. Give Down-under the chance to have the work thats being done here recognised.
Jonathan's blog: 'The Dawn of uLearning'
See this site to download the Slide2Learn teachers guide: www.slidetolearn.info
ILEARN4FREE
iLearn4Free is dedicated to providing free quality education to the children of developing nations through mobile technology. Education is the foundation of an advancing society. By focusing on early literacy, iLearn4Free can provide a platform for a quality education.
Founded by French native Isabelle Duston in 2010, iLearn4Free is creating an application called m4read that will teach children how to read in their native tongue. The interactive activities in m4read can be adapted in many languages, creating accessibility to children of all nationalities and encouraging cultural diversity and acceptance.
m4read is comprised of 30 to 35 units, depending on the language. Each unit implements learning games and short stories that teach a certain reading skill or set of phonemics. The context behind m4read is based on six longer stories, each highlighting a child from a different culture.
The m4read educational content is based on phonemic awareness, systematic phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. We aim to motivate children to tackle the challenges of learning new sounds and recognize new words as they play interactive games.
iLearn4Free believes strongly in international collaboration. Our diverse team of over twenty members, education specialists, graphic designers, programmers and language specialists are located across the globe.
REDBRIDGE GAMES NETWORK
I’m Nicholas Hughes the ICT Coordinator at Nightingale Primary School, an AST and part time borough consultant in the London Borough of Redbridge. I am the founder of the Redbridge Games Network. We are a collection of schools that have pooled our skills, enthusiasm and resources to explore the use of games based learning within the classroom.
We have been working on a wide range of areas including:
- investigating how the Wii can be used within Literacy to enhance writing,
- using the DS within Numeracy to support mental calculation,
- children being given the tools to be creators of games,
- using online games to promote learning from a range of sites,
- using game based learning with KS1 using DS and Sony Playstation,
- how to use games effectively with PE lessons.
We are a very open network that encourages sharing and collaboration at every opportunity, come and join us.
Moving onwards we are continuing to explore games based learning in the classroom and are planning to investigate the expanding used of handheld devices within the classroom.
http://redbridgegamesnetwork.blogspot.com/
LAND OF ME
Made in Me, a new London based multimedia children's publishing company have been working hard to inspire young children to explore their creativity and imagination by developing games and software that are enchanting, wonderful and altogether different. We wanted to make a world full of intrigue and mystery, a place where endearing characters lure you into a gentle world of endless possibilities... We introduce to you, The Land of Me.
The Land of Me is a new, magical software adventure designed to nurture children’s creativity, language and early literacy for children aged 3 and up. Developed with early years expert, Professor John Siraj-Blatchford, The Land of Me is full of on and off-screen activities to help nurseries and schools with EYFS and Key Stage 1. The 6 enchanting chapters provide new engaging ways to cover different areas of learning including Shape, Size & Colour, The World Outside, Making Things, Rhythm & Dance, Songs & Rhymes and Story Time, as well as oodles of printable activities that use The Land of Me as stimulus.
REBECCA SMITH
Rebecca has been an enthusiastic user of elearning being involved in different projects and collaborations. The Departmental VLE includes a resources store, forums and short podcasts. Learning pathways have enabled students who have not studied triple science to have access to this material and help bridge the gap between GCSE and Advanced Level. Across the school, Rebecca has led a group to coordinate a Teaching and Learning area on the VLE to share good practice across the school.
Rebecca has been involved in a collaborative research project with LEB Partnerships and Manchester Metropolitan University. Within this project, she has used Activexpression devices within the classroom. She has pushed their boundaries and experimented with them and the new self pace software to enable students to self assess, differentiate tasks and homework within the lesson that is being set.
A further blogging project using Edmodo and Y12 students, enabled them to link up with researchers from Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield, Warwick and Indonesia. Researchers shared areas of expertise and uploaded data for students to analyse and evaluate. Students spoke of increased confidence, and a greater understanding of how research links to their learning in class. This was a truly unique opportunity that could only be made possible through appropriate use of technology.
JOSE PICARDO
I am Head of Modern Foreign Languages at Nottingham High School, where I teach Spanish and German, and I believe fervently in making education compatible with the needs and expectations of our students through the effective use of technology.
Being able to take advantage of the available technology is an essential skill for teachers to acquire in an age where pupils’ learning expectations are changing radically.
Above all, I believe that the effective use of technology in our schools ensures that education remains relevant to our students in their increasingly digital lives.
ABDUL CHOHAN
Transformational learning was the underlying philosophy behind my work at Essa Academy - waves have been created from the drop of a pebble in the world of technology and education.
Handheld learning revolutionising education is a dream for many however has now become a living reality here. Each student has the use of a personal iPod, and each teaching member of staff has the use of an iPad which has ultimately enhanced the culture of learning to remarkable bounds.
The list of notable wonderments of technology is endless some of which are anywhere/anytime communication between staff and students, anywhere/anytime learning, and non laborious ways to enriched teaching and learning. Additionally, independent learning is a skill students are taught through the use of iPods themselves, and teaching space can be maximised in the classroom with wifi connection from iPads to the projectors for teachers. Through the idea of 'All will Succeed' exceptional fruition has emerged!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
http://www.sec-ed.co.uk/
CHANNEL 4 EDUCATION
Channel 4 Education delivers "any platform" projects aimed at UK teens (games, sites, apps, television), helping them to understand the world they live in, achieve their personal potential, be inspired, and make to the decisions that affect their futures. As the first generation to have grown up with the internet, Education's projects recognise how young people use digital media and technology to discover, create, share and learn. Teens expect to engage with and control their media experiences, and to share their experiences with friends, family and peers across any platform and using any technology: Channel 4 Education aims to reach these teens on their own terms, in their own spaces, with learning that they will love.
http://www.channel4.com/education
RECHARGE THE BATTERY
Recharge the Battery is a project that has made an incredible impact not just on our students, school and local community but nationally too because it uses innovative technology as a simple concept to teach a science topic and to change lives. The main objective was for students to be able to explain the advantages and disadvantages of intensive and extensive farming and to communicate this to the global community.
Students were given the opportunity to create their own mini curriculum through developing their own objectives and outcomes. They then decided that they would use technology to produce resources that would communicate their message to a wider audience. The rationale behind the decision to use technology was that it engaged them and their fellow students and allowed for greater flexibility and more creative outcomes. They also thought that this medium had the potential to communicate to a global audience. They wanted to focus on using handheld technology like their mobile phones to create videos & podcasts etc.
They felt this project was particularly important as our school is a specialist Science, Maths and Computing school with a rural dimension which means we have a small livestock area on site and the students therefore the students wanted to take advantage of this and brought 8 rescue battery chickens from a local intensive farm to live a free-range life at our school.
While other schools ban students from using their mobile phones in class for this project we encouraged the pupils to use them to record information. The benefits are that this type of technology is readily available as most students own one and more importantly they know how to use it effectively. They recorded videos in class, then edited them in moviemaker and produced films which they then uploaded to a video sharing website where thousands of people watched them and gave them feedback.
However it also impacted more on the community than we ever thought it would. Students were really involved in their subject and decided to make more informed choices about where there food comes from and what food they should eat. They then went home and discussed this with their parents and in some instances whole families have changed what they now buy, for example switching to free range eggs or meat instead of intensively farmed produce.
Becky a student said ““It really has changed my life and my friends we now really think about what food we eat and where it comes from. It has changed our lifestyle and made me think about wider issues.”
It made students think about what food they eat and where it comes from. It has changed their lifestyle and made them think about wider issues. It has developed the tools necessary to become effective 21st century learners and opened their eyes that learning is a life-long process.
http://uk.partnersinlearningnetwork.com/
SECOND SIGHT
The technology enhances student and teacher's access to audio, video, 3D and interactive content. Teachers are able to blend the use of their established text books, display materials and audio visual content in a way that has not been easy to deploy in the classroom before now.
Using Second Sight teachers, practitioners and students can easily create their own rich multimedia content that can be used in conjunction with traditional printed content. Second Sight comprises a PC based Experience Creation Tool and a Second Sight Viewer UMD (Universal Media Disc) for the PSP. ConnectED Education is Second Sight's exclusive distributor in education and training. Second Sight has been developed with Black Ridge Technologies, an innovative development studio with strong links into online gaming, mobile and handheld technologies for the purposes of education and entertainment.
http://connectededucation.com/
LEIGH WOLF
Leigh Graves Wolf is an inspirational educator, photographer, social media maven, technologist, and unabashed foodie. She also happens to coordinate Michigan State University’s Master’s in Educational Technology Program. What is amazing is how Leigh manages to integrate these various aspects of her self to help students (current, past and future) in this program develop and grow as professionals.
Leigh orchestrates experiences that allow students to be innovative designers of curriculum through the intelligent and creative use of technologies. In each and every aspect of the courses she models best practices of engagement and pedagogy.
Leigh’s influence in the program goes beyond the development and teaching of courses. Maintaining a sense of community across our multiple contexts is no easy task. Through innovative use of twitter, social media, blogging, Leigh connects students, thereby enhancing the student experience. She knows every student in our program, personally, and is always available to them. She has connected students to others in her wider social network, bringing in experts to talk to them as and when needed. She has also “visited” our students’ classrooms either face to face or via video conferencing to expose students in K12 environments to the possibilities of new technologies.
Her students call her a “truly outstanding” and a “phenomenal educator” and appreciate her “attentiveness,” “timely input and flexibility.” Students appreciate the manner in which she models online practices and as one student said, “She brings so much to the table and her willingness to share inspires me to share with my coworkers.” As another student noted, “Leigh has been an amazing driving force for not only this course, but for the entire MAET program… She cares deeply about the program in all facets, from ensuring that the content is rigorous and applicable to her clear desire to see the overall experience be a memorable one. She has inspired me profoundly as an educator and I will not forget the amazing experience that I have had over the past three years.”
Leigh is a leader, community organizer, educator and passionate advocate for the use of digital media in learning. Her influence can be seen in our program’s rankings, in the conferences (national and international) where she has been asked to present. Leigh Wolf is an exemplary example of a twenty-first century leader and educator and most deserving of this recognition.
http://www.leighgraveswolf.com
VOTE FOR LEIGH WOLF - SEND WOLF TO 07950 080 667 (+44 7950 080 667 NON-UK)
MICHELLE GALLEN
In April 2008, Michelle Gallen founded talkirish.com - an award-winning social learning network of over 8,500 learners, teachers and speakers of Irish.
Talkirish.com aims to advance, promote and preserve the endangered Irish language through the use of social media and mobile technologies. It provides free and paid-for Irish language learning materials to adult learners. It gives Irish a new digital platform for the 21st century - one that's neutral, positive and friendly.
Talkirish.com blogs publish a free Irish word and proverb a day, along with supporting audio files and flashcards (also distributed via rss, twitter and email).
In media galleries, free audio files, flashcards, documents and video help Irish language learners with the notoriously difficult pronunciation.
Talkirish.com offers a free multimedia dictionary, a word game and quizzes. The site just launched its first paid-for service – Buntús Cainte MP3 course for iPod, iPhone and iPad.
Over 100,000 people have used talkirish.com, creating nearly 1,000,000 page views.
Michelle Gallen has been named the Talk Talk Digital Hero for Northern Ireland for her work on talkirish.com.
Talkirish.com won the Kieran Hegarty Award for Interactivity at the Celtic Media Awards 2010
Talkirish.com was shortlisted for four Irish Web Awards 2009 and won the Best Education/Third Level Website category
Talkirish.com was nominated for an Irish Blogger award 2009 and an Irish Net Visionary Award - Best Use of Social Media.
Talkirish.com was included in the Top 50 Businesses with Irish and the 2009 Courvoisier Future 500 list.
Michelle Gallen received a Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Level 1 award 2009. She won an UnLtd level 2 grant in 2010.
Michelle's top priority over the next two years is to create a self-sustaining website that is accessible and useful to every Irish language speaker, learner and teacher across the world.Michelle believes in what she does, her projects are in many ways an extension of herself. I have never known someone to face so many challenges on so many fronts and yet come out successful. Ideally I would bottle her motivation/determination and give it to every young social and commercial entrepreneur.
Michelle combines great project management skills with diplomacy, determination and creativity which allows her to overcome obstacles which would stop others.
She has taken many knocks and yet keeps delivering. She is a fantastic role model for the few female entrepreneurs in Belfast and the UK.
DAVID HOLLOWAY
David was presented with an iPhone in January 2010, to teach, demonstrate teaching and learning and mentor students. David’s response was “How do I use this, I’ve never had a mobile phone?” With support and coaching, David was instrumental in the success of the project and consequent college-wide dissemination.
David integrated m-learning into the curriculum and his enthusiasm inspired and empowered teacher trainees to try new technologies. A number were low in IT literacy but David encouraged them to experiment and learn things together, sharing problems and good practice and facilitate peer support for improvement. Students eventually began to lead the demand, requiring photographed evidence of their work to be uploaded on the VLE (increasing its use).
Consequently teacher trainees from the College have embedded m-learning into their practice. David says “The FE Teacher Training curriculum is intended to produce a paradigm shift away from traditional teaching methods of lecturing, writing on a board, and wandering around class; towards student-centred methods including rich group tasks, interactive teaching, the facilitation of learning, and microteaching sessions. This innovation is supported and encouraged by the use of mobile devices including phones. The implementation of the phone was consistent with that paradigm shift, complementing what students were already doing.”
Through this project David has improved his own practice as well as others. In an Ofsted Report, May 2010, for the partner HEI, it was commented:
“One of the partner colleges is making excellent use of emerging technologies to enhance mentoring support by exploiting iPhone technology to allow mentors to record conversations, photographs, and video aspects of their work, thus enabling the instant sharing of good practice as it happens.”
David has continued this practice in his work with other groups. Phones are borrowed from our Learning Centre and he captures students evaluating their course (mental health), and sends them into the community to photograph angles (maths), presenting them via PowerPoint or movie software. Across college other mobile devices like Nintendo DSis are also being loaned to students and lecturers for enhancing functional skills. David is inspirational and unafraid to try new technologies.
MOBILE OXFORD
Mobile Oxford – a mobile web service aimed at members of Oxford University and all people of the City of Oxford. It was one of the first crop of mobile information services in UK higher education and I believe it deserves an award because it set out and achieved some goals that were different to others.
Mobile Oxford was designed to be available from any type of mobile device (not just iPhones) and to be accessible for those with certain disabilities. It also was the first to provide real time travel information, making it not only useful to those inside the University, but for those of the general public.
Mobile Oxford currently features location-sensitive library searching (including telling you where you can find the nearest copy of a chosen book); points of interest and mapping across Oxford City; real-time transport information including that displayed at bus stops; aggregated news feeds; access to the University's virtual learning environment; full access to the University's iTunes U podcast catalogue; Oxford (and traffic) WebCams and much more.
In its first year of availability, the site has had over a million distinct visitors. Development has been innovative and remains on-going . The work is now an open source community project available to anyone who wishes to implement it and the team welcome all contributions (http://mollyproject.org).
Positive feedback has been plentiful locally and we were very pleased when Mobile Oxford was recently nominated for the UN World Summit Award in Mobile Content Education (http://www.wsa-mobile.org/).
In large historic and complex Universities such as Oxford, administrative structures often mean development and innovation move rather slowly. It has been particularly good therefore to see the fast pace at which Mobile Oxford was launched and how well during its first year it has kept itself fresh and dynamic with constant innovation, updates and addition of new functionality.
SHANG-POOL ARCADIA
The innovative project Shang-pool Arcadia, using virtual and mixed realities, took aspects of parks in Shanghai and Merseyside and created a virtual Arcadia which explored the park as an idealised landscape.People were invited to explore the landscape as avatars and uniquely, at a series of events during October and November 2010, people in Liverpool and China had a real time simultaneous presence in the shared landscape as projections at the Bluecoat Gallery and the University of Shanghai.
At these times First Life and Second Life blurred as data, sound and video transmissions between these locations were used to create and enhance the shared experiences.The collaboration between LJMU,Salford University, Shanghai University, conceived and orchestrated by Peter Appleton, Reader in Creative Technology at LJMU, to develop innovative forms of interaction between the virtual and first worlds enabled a local school, Upton Hall School FCJ,to engage wth the project through a series of workshops which explored the landscape and it's cultural resonance
MOBL21
An award-winning mobile learning application, Mobl21 brings the flexibility of mobile technology and the structure of an educational framework, on to a single platform.
Mobl21 enables educators to develop content that learners can access from their mobile devices, allowing them to study at their own pace and therefore, perform better. Using Mobl21, educators can create content in the form of multimedia study guides, quizzes and flashcards, which learners can then access anytime from their mobile devices.
In addition to a number of app features that help users learn on the go, Mobl21 also provides a number of tools for educators. These tools help measure student engagement and learning levels through a unique CREATE, SHARE, CONNECT & MEASURE® system. So educators can know exactly how much learning is really taking place.
Mobl21 interfaces though multiple mobile devices and environments, including Apple iPhone / iPod Touch, Android, Blackberry, ADOBE AIR app for laptops/desktops/netbooks, and a new iPad app due shortly.
MARY FARMER
Mary attended the Handheld Learning Festival last year for the first time - she was inspired by the work she saw and subsequently has run two successful projects. Mary works in a Special school with challenging children. The first project was spoken about at Game Based Learning this year and involved using the Nintendo Wii to inspire writing - with great results and led Mary to set up her own blog. The second is a project that is on going and uses the I touch device - Mary has been blogging about this as well as using twitter to share apps that she has found has made a difference.
Mary embodies what Handheld Learning stands for in education, she has seen the benefits that it has and has used it to great effect with children for whom a 'normal' curriculum does not at times work. As a result the children have been engaged and motivated by both projects and have produced excellent work. It also demonstrates the use of Hand Held Technology ouside the 'normal' environment - i have enjoyed reading her blog posts and we are looking to be part of the Nintendo Wii project - HOTS in future years.
http://webfronter.com/hounslow/wii_cedars_oak/
RICHARD SMARTT
Over the past year as education manager for CDI Europe, Richard has been responsible for creating and running the first ever Apps for Good course as well as training three course alumni to become educators. He has not only crafted a highly innovative course that mixes critical design, market research, technical feasibility, marketing and business models, but he also wrote a poem/rap at the first graduation ceremony inspiring everyone. :)
A former IT teacher and poet who grew up on a dangerous housing estate in South London Richard is a true inspiration to young people.
http://appsforgood.org/about/press/
WORLDS OF MAKRINI
The aim of this serious game is to raise awareness and acknowledge learners own behaviors while taking into consideration others values and beliefs. Through looking at daily tasks, interactions and tackling issues and opinions that may cause conflict, this solution conveys the notion of ‘behaving inclusively’.
The main objectives are to: Increase personal diversity awareness and inclusive behaviors, recognize learner’s own perceptions and biases, seek out similarities and differences that apply to colleagues and customers, develop the knowledge and skills to build solid business relationships, acknowledge the business impact of diversity
The abstract concept for Makrini™ was chosen to overcome the issue of ‘diversity fatigue’ often associated with compulsory training programmes around diversity. By using humanoid aliens (which we do not have pre-conceived concepts for) rather than humans (who, even unwittingly, we all have many assumptions and stereotypes around) the designers were able to truly challenge and exaggerate certain key elements central to the difficult subject of diversity and inclusion.
Aspects of self assessment are crucial in working through the simulation as the serious game will adapt to how you set your personal preferences ranging from risks, time, beliefs and values. This is initiated through the learner being sent the planet Makrini where they are asked to set their preferences which are kept with them throughout the simulation. On completion of the serious game the preferences set at the start of the simulation are compared to what the simulation thinks the learner preferences are based in their performance. This way the player can see how they performed hopefully encouraging them to return to Makrini™ to improve on their scores.
This product is a first in the diversity and inclusion training market, it has been designed with a lot of passion and drive to create something truly unique that really captures the audience and provides a fresh and motivational approach to learning.
http://interactive.globalnovations.com/?page_id=451
APPS FOR GOOD
Apps for Good is a programme by CDI Europe, where young people learn to create apps that change their world. Since January 2010 the team has been working hard to make this vision a reality thanks to the key support of Dell YouthConnect and most recently the Nominet Trust.
After running two cycles of courses with 14-18 year old girls in Tower Hamlets, East London and 16-25 year olds not in full-time education in Lambeth, South London, we now know the dream is possible. App portfolios these 40 young people have worked on/ are working on include: Stop&Search, StudentVoice, StudioPhly, OysterCheck, BuzzerBuddies and Transit.
For 2011 we are working hard to opensource our content and to bring Apps for Good to more than 1,000 young people in partner schools and community centres around the country. We always aim high and are confident that with great partners like Central Foundation Girls School and High Trees Community Trust and many more in the future we can achieve this!
TECHNOLOGY IN PRISONS
2010 Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship ‘Technology in Prisons’
Bill said: ‘Young people in particular love to play games and even those with very poor levels of basic skills are able to play quite complex games and communicate effectively. If we can harness this enthusiasm for games and, for example, map the existing games available for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation, Wii etc., to a recognised basic skills qualification, it would go some way to improving their independent learning skills and these can be further developed on their release in college, community education or vocational training.’
‘Such devices would of course need to be modified and adapted to the level of security within the individual prison but this could easily be achieved. The cost of such devices per learner would also be extremely low after the initial purchase as they would be reusable throughout the year and available 24/7. At a later stage specialist software could be produced using ‘open source’ and other free learning resources.’
‘It is the cost to society that will have the greatest impact. If offenders are released into the community with higher qualifications and better job prospects they are less likely to reoffend and more likely to make a positive contribution to society in general.’
http://www.technologyinprisons.org
http://www.g2gcommunities.org/
