Adventure Author

Deadline today for first MGiS cohort

Applications are steadily flowing in for the Making Games in Schools project, some for cohort one, some for cohort two, and we are delighted to be in a position to say that the first round of training will definitely be going ahead, such is the level of interest as the last few applications make their way through the ether. Judy and I will be looking through all the applications in detail early next week and will let everyone know our final decisions as soon as we can. It's very encouraging to see so much enthusiasm, and we do appreciate some schools being flexible about which cohort they join.

I must add that it's been fantastic to see how good the bids are - we tentatively asked for at least two classes and two teachers to be involved, but in most cases far, far more than that will be brought on board, and over a longer period that we had dared hope, with all sorts of plans for cross-curricular projects and wider staff training, too - thank you, brave pioneers all!

More news soon of the final group for cohort one . . .

Futurelab report and recommendations on games and learning

The May edition of the Futurelab newsletter carries a very helpful set of resources for educators and researchers interested in the role of games in learning, produced as part of their Games and Learning programme of research, events and publications. The collection includes:

• a policy recommendations reportby Ben Williamson of Futurelab. This summarises the key arguments for and against games and makes recommendations for ways forward, including the need for further research to develop our evidence base, as well as support and training for teachers. It also recognises the importance of Scotland's Consolarium as a model for a national centre of expertise south of the border.

• a report for educators by Ben Williamson of Futurelab. This report is aimed at teachers, trainers and policy makers. It looks at the eduactional use of commercially available games in schools (rather than 'edutainment packages) and offers a range of case studies. It is 'written as an accessible guide to the rationale and practices of game-based learning, it identifies available evidence from existing research, and supplies some new and previously unpublished research on teachers’ and children’s experiences of using games in classrooms'. It goes on to look at the implications and offers recommendations. And we're delighted to see that our own Adventure Authoris cited as a resource used by teachers, alongside much better-known commercial products such as Myst, SimCity and MissionMaker!

• a survey analysis report by NFER which considered responses to questions covering the following topics: teachers' use of computer games for entertainment and leisure; teachers' use of computer games in the classroom and the hardware; teachers' possible use of computer games in the classroom in the future, and the reasons for this; the consequences of playing computer games, both positive and negative; and perceived barriers to the use of computer games in the classroom. Although around 40% never played computer games themselves, and over 60% never used computer games with children in school, around 60% said they would consider doing so for educational purposes. Clearly there's still a long way to go, with lots of issues to resolve around training, equipment, resources and an understanding of the learning that can take place, but at least it would seem that the majority of the teaching profession might be willing to try! 

• a scenarios poster illustrating some of the ways in which computer games can support learning in schools.

For more information on the work of the Games and Learning programme and to download copies of the reports and poster, visit http://www.futurelab.org.uk/projects/games-and-learning/research. And it seems worth adding here that our own work has much to add to the body of evidence, not least our paper 'Computer Game Design: Opportunities for Successful Learning'!

You can read the full May Futurelab newsletter at http://newsletter.futurelab.org.uk/58/ - and go to the bottom of their page to find details of how to subscribe. 

A Curriculum for Excellence and game design

I rejoined the Heriot Watt team at the beginning of May,  thanks to funding from EPSRC which allows us to disseminate the work of Adventure Author through the Making Games in Schools project - that means getting our approach out into Scottish classrooms, training teachers and providing support along the way. Part of that support is keeping our resources and information up to date, so I have been back into our teaching materials to ensure they link with the final Curriculum for Excellence guidance recently published here in Scotland. I will also be doing further work on our teaching manual over the summer, but for now I hope these documents, highlighting how game design fulfils many of the expectations and aspirations of ACfEx, will be helpful - as we always say of game design, "It's 'A Curriculum for Excellence' in a box!"

A Curriculum for Excellence - Gamemaking and technologies: Download Technologies and making games

A Curriculum for Excellence - Gamemaking and literacy across learning: Download Literacy across learning and making games

If you would like to take part in the Making Games in Schools project, and your school is within a 100 mile return trip from Heriot Watt University and you think you can fulfil the project requirements, do submit an application - we'd love to hear from you! Dealines and application forms can be found here.

MGiS: 4 deadlines for applications 2009-2010

If you are thinking about applying for the Making Games in Schools project, the dates below show how we are planning to time the four cohorts over the coming year. Each will begin with 2.5 days' training at Heriot Watt University for successful applicants and projects will then run in schools during the ensuing weeks.

Applications should reach us by the following dates:

Cohort 1

Closing date: Friday 12 June 2009

Training 2-4 Sept 2009
Project to run during Sept/Oct

Cohort 2

Closing date: Friday 30 October 2009

Training 9-11 Dec 2009
Project to run during Jan/Feb 2010

Cohort 3

Closing date: Friday 29 January 2010

Training in early/mid March 2010 (TBA)
Project to run during April/May

Cohort 4

Closing date: Friday 19 March 2010

Training late April (TBA)
Project to run during May/June

 

For more information, download the MGiS information sheet and application form:

Download MGiS Information for Schools 2009-2010 May 09

Download MGiS Application FormFinal with dates

 

UKLA - gamemaking and 21st century literacy

The United Kingdom Literacy Association's 45th international conference is called 'Making Connections: Building literate communities in and beyond the classroom' and we are thrilled to have been given a slot to talk about 'Adventure Author and storymaking through computer game design' (Saturday 11 July at 1.30pm), an exciting opportunity to share some of the literacy-related aspects of our work. Alas, not for us the exotic locations so often favoured by international gatherings - we will be taking the floor at Greenwich University in London, but the environs are beautiful and we will be in great company, so we don't mind at all!

Our blurb for the seminar reads as follows:

'Adventure Author and storymaking through computer game design'

"The creation of computer games provides an intriguing encounter between 20th and 21st century literacies, and challenges us to revisit our understanding of 'writing', 'reading' and 'text' - as the Adventure Author project at Heriot Watt University has been discovering through its work on creativity and computer game design with 10-14 year olds.

"Computer game design is a creative, motivating, pupil-centred experience that harnesses the children’s own culture and allows them to read, write and learn in new ways. Kress and others talk of the ‘multimodal’ nature of some texts, but the term ‘multidimensional’ seems to better encompass the interactive and 3D nature of these games. We see conventional writing at work, but also gain insights into ways pupils use the visual, spatial and interactive elements of game design to contribute to the storymaking process, carrying meaning beyond words. What could be the implications for teaching about texts in the 21^st century?

"The theoretical discussion in this presentation will be accompanied by analysis of games made by children during a classroom field study.

 

"N.B. ‘Adventure Author’ is a freely available game creation tool for children aged 10-14, a modification of the Neverwinter Nights 2 game-making toolset for designing and building interactive stories."

Follow this link if you would like to know more about the event: http://www.ukla.org/site/conferences/event/the_45th_ukla_international_conference/.

Once we return from southern climes we'll blog our adventure and post our slides and notes for those who can't make it on the day.

Slides from HW teachers' workshop 8th May

Thanks to all the teachers who attended the workshop on Friday. Here are the slides:

Download Making Games in Schools8thMayEdinburgh

Making games in schools - application forms

If you are interested in taking part in the Making Games in Schools project, here are the information the application forms and dates are here.

Information for Prospective Participants
What?
•    A superb creative, cross-curricular Curriculum for Excellence opportunity which meets the new technologies requirement to design and make computer games, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
•    A programme of ongoing training and support over an 18 month period for 4 cohorts of 8 teachers in using the Adventure Author gamemaking software in classrooms, typically for 6-8 weeks.
Why?
•    Important professional development and leadership opportunities
•    Enthused and motivated pupils
•    Free software
•    Free accredited training by national CPD provider
How?
•    2.5 day residential training course for each cohort, including theory and practice, at Heriot Watt University, delivered by Dr Judy Robertson and Cathrin Howells, followed by school-based planning and implementation by pairs of teachers.
•    Classroom visits from Cathrin Howells to support learning and teaching and observe progress.
•    Additional in-classroom technical support from computer science students.
•    Teachers will be asked to work with a minimum of 2 classes during the project period.
•    Participating teachers will also undertake to train other members of staff in their schools on the job once they are confident with the technology themselves.
•    Teachers will document experiences in personal learning logs and keep records of pupils’ achievements, acting as researchers and contributing to current research in games-based learning.
•    Cohorts will meet to share their projects with each other and present their work to other teachers.
•    Throughout the project, the teachers will support each other online using blogs and wikis.
Who?
•    The target age group is between 11 and 14; thus primary seven, and first and second year secondary classes will be targeted.
•    We would like to recruit teachers in pairs, to support each other. One member of the pair will be a secondary computing teacher or a primary school ICT specialist. The other member might be a teacher from a complementary discipline such as English or drama, or a teacher from a primary school with links to the secondary school.
When?
•    Cohort 1 from September 2009
•    Cohort 2 from November 2009
•    Cohort 3 from February 2010
•    Cohort 4 from April 2010
 
What else?
•    Participating schools will need to have the recommended system requirements on their PCs (see below).
•    They will need to guarantee senior management commitment to the project, to ensure support for planning, development, implementation and dissemination.
•    Teachers should be willing to share their work within the project and beyond.
Technical Specification for Neverwinter Nights 2
Please note: The game files are large, so pupils will each need access to at least 100 MB of disk space on their user account.
Neverwinter Nights™ 2 Download Recommended System Requirements
     3.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4® or AMD Athlon® equivalent
     1.0 GB RAM
     ATI Radeon X800 or NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or higher
Supported Video Card Chipsets:
     ATI Radeon X1900 series
     ATI Radeon X1800 series
     ATI Radeon X1600 series
     ATI Radeon X1300 series
     ATI Radeon X850 series
     ATI Radeon X800 series
     ATI Radeon X700 series
     ATI Radeon X600 series
     ATI Radeon X300 series
     ATI Radeon 9800 series
     NVIDIA GeForce 7900 series
     NVIDIA GeForce 7800 series
     NVIDIA GeForce 7600 series
     NVIDIA GeForce 7300 series
     NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series
     NVIDIA GeForce 6600 series

Neverwinter Nights™ 2 Download File Size
4.5 GB 
 
MGiS Project Memo: Age-appropriate censor patch
Please note that the published version of NWN2 is intended for 13 years and over. We have a downloadable censor patch to ensure the content of the program is suitable for younger children.

Game making in the Curriculum for Excellence seminar

I'm giving a free talk at Heriot-Watt University on Fri 8th May about teaching game making within the Curriculum for Excellence. It's at 2pm - 4pm in room CM G01 in the Colin McClaurin building. All welcome, but post a comment if you intend to come so I can order enough biscuits!

Someone else who thinks Scotland is the bees knees for ICT in education

Here's an interesting interview with Laurie O'Donnell from Learning And Teaching Scotland: http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/publications-reports-articles/web-articles/Web-Article1244 . See - I'm not the only one who goes on about Scotland being good at this stuff. Actually, if you have any familiarity wth the Scottish character, you will realise it is pretty rare for us to admit anything is more than "no bad".

Well done, Ollie

Well done to Ollie Bray, a local teacher who has won an award for his innovation with games in the classroom. "Ollie Bray, depute headteacher of Musselbrough Grammar School, East Lothian, took first place in the Innovation in Community section for his presentation of 'Thinking out of the XBOX' at the Innovative Teachers Forum 2009 in Vienna" (http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/news/2009/educational/march/news_tcm4541959.asp?strReferringChannel=aboutlts)
 Tell you what, it's all happening in Scotland!