May 2012
3 posts
7 tags
Perpetual Testing Initiative
The Perpetual Testing Initiative for Portal 2 was released as DLC on May 8th. Originally, in order to create custom levels or maps for Portal 2, the Hammer Engine needed to be used - now Valve has put level creation into the hands of all with it’s simple to use in-game editor. Below is a map that I put together in about 5 minutes - granted it’s never going to win a prize for aesthetics...
5 tags
Play Ecosystems & Why You Can't 'Teach' Games
from http://minecrafteduelfie.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/kids-are-just-kids-sometimes.html
“I caught up with her after the lesson and she said she had a lot of trouble with them, they were not listening to her instructions when asked to not to dig tunnels into the mountain and generally being uncooperative. I must say I am a little disappointed in the students, however does the saying...
7 tags
Design & Analysis of F1 Racing Vehicles
At Quantum Victoria students have the opportunity to design a Formula 1 racing vehicle using Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software, engage in mathematical modeling, analyze computational fluid dynamics by using a virtual wind tunnel, and then construct their design using a manufacturing unit. They will then race their designs to see who truly has “The Need for Speed.”
This program is...
April 2012
4 posts
7 tags
Gadgets, Fetishism & Web 2.0
Jaron Lanier, a pioneer of Virtual Reality, takes apart Web 2.0 mentality and launches an attack on the internet, computing and a culture of gadget fetishism that is driven more by fear than love of technology, in his book You Are Not a Gadget.
Proponents of Web 2.0 talk about the powers of collective knowledge construction but the reality is not always borne out by the facts. Lanier describes...
6 tags
Why Children Need Make-Believe Violence
Children play - its how they make sense of the world.
In societies where guns are part and parcel of media and culture, children inevitably at an early age play toy guns and ‘shootouts’. In other cultures, where guns are not part of the local symbology, children play instead with toy spears or bow and arrows.
The act of imaginary weapon play and violence in itself provides children...
12 tags
Cloak of Darkness: Using IF for systems thinking
Having first written about using Text-Based Adventures in education back in 2009, my interest in them as a tool for teaching programming concepts, game design, literacy and systems thinking has been renewed. Exploring Interactive Fiction (IF) design systems such as Inform7 and Adrift, I have found Quest to be probably the best for small projects ideally suited to K12 education. The desktop client...
12 tags
Red Dead Redemption: Liars Dice
One of the mini-games in Read Dead Redemption is Liar’s Dice.
Liars dice is a game of incomplete information which distinguishes it from games like chess and backgammon where you can always see what your opponent is doing. The art of liars dice is filling the gaps in the incomplete information provided by your opponents bidding, and at the same time preventing your opponents from...
March 2012
5 posts
7 tags
Hexacopter
Testing our Hexacopter at Quantum Victoria. (Obviously we are still having a few issues with stabilization and the altimeter - kudos to Paul Taylor who is ironing out these bugs)
The Hexacopter’s features go far beyond the basic manual control RC multicopters on the market today. Unlike RC-only multicopters, our Hexacopter is a complete UAV solution, offering both remote control and...
5 tags
There is nothing wrong with this picture
Today I spent the day with Grade 3&4 students playing & designing in Little Big Planet and learnt more about them in 4 hours than some teachers would in six months - and yet, some teachers would scoff at this picture and say that it isn’t rigorous and nothing of value could possibly be going on here. Play is for home. Play is for ‘free-time.’ Play is for children and only...
6 tags
Make Chrome Store Games With Construct 2
Construct 2 is a relatively new HTML5 game making tool. Currently available only on PC, this powerful engine allows you to make Chrome store & Facebook Games, with zero game making or programming experience.
There are lots of tutorials available, but if you are the type that feels that they need a bit more direction than you can currently take a Construct 2 course on Udemy for $149.
...
7 tags
Data Driven Bullshit
Yesterday I saw a Grade 3 child, who has a love for learning and life, retreat into a shell of his former self. This child has missed the entire last week of school, and since the year began, almost missed 15 days of school, due to very significant home issues.
It broke my heart.
If students are struggling at school, ask yourself why? Is it that the ‘curriculum’ is beyond it’s...
5 tags
Games & School: The Failure Argument
Failure is a concept that we are all familiar with. In school you likely passed or failed. You made the basketball or football team or you didn’t. And if you did fail, perhaps your parent or guardian was there to tell you, “don’t worry about it, we will try harder next time and you will succeed, mark my words.” Except in rare circumstances where a students intrinsic...
January 2012
6 posts
6 tags
Medieval Re-Design
Your typical Medieval PBL unit would typically be built around a driving question like “What was life like in 14th century England?” Students would research clothing, art, music, food and perhaps have a culminating event like medieval bread baking. This is inauthentic PBL in my opinion and doesn’t do this incredible period of time justice.
Stirling Castle, standing high on a...
7 tags
Nintendo at Oakdale
Dawn Hallybone recently hosted Lynette Barr and I at Oakdale Junior School, where we got to see some games-based learning in action in a primary setting.
As the students entered the room they were instructed to collect a Nintendo DS and then sitting in pairs, use the Time Lapse activity, which is part of Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training. Time Lapse displays two analog clocks and requires the...
6 tags
Pyramide du Louvre
The Pyramide du Louvre is in the Cour Napoleon of the Palais du Louvre. It aligns with the Arc de Triomphe and the obelisk in the Place de la Concorde giving a truly spectacular view that sweeps from the Louvre through the Luileries and continues up the Champs-Elysees to the Place de i’Etoile.
In Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, Robert Langdon states at one stage that the Pyramid contains...
9 tags
Prime Meridian
From Newton’s clockwork universe through to Einstein’s relativistic effects of time dilation, classic science fiction movies like 12 Monkeys, Terminator and Inception, through to the deep philosophical questions of Plato and Aristotle - the human race has an inherent fascination with time.
(I once set a Physics assignment that had students watch the movie 12 Monkeys, and then using...
6 tags
Inklings at Oxford
Oxford is one of my favourite places in the world.
It is like stepping back in time - from the ancient buildings and grand architecture, Christ Church College, to the feel of an important sense of history and ancient traditions; time seems to slow down.
This visit, among many other things, I visited The Bear Inn and the Eagle and Child Pub, two of the oldest pubs in Oxford. The Eagle and Child...
3 tags
Exploring Culture through Games
Games are a universal part of human experience and present in all cultures dating as far back as 3000BC. (Although many Archaeologists claim that they have found evidence of board games dating as far back as 9000BC)
From an education perspective, games and game design can teach students system thinking, logical reasoning, spatial awareness, strategy, game theory, the difference between zero-sum...
December 2011
3 posts
5 tags
KickStarter: Approaching the Elephant
Approaching the Elephant is a proposed documentary by film-maker Amanda Wilder.
From KickStarter;
“Imagine attending a school where it’s up to you what you learn. No class is mandatory. Rules and judicial decisions are determined by democratic vote. Everyone from the youngest person, who could be as young as five years old, to the director of the school, has an equal say in how...
3 tags
Yeah but...
Following the #pencilchat storm over the weekend (I wonder how many people know that John Spencer’s blog Adventures in Pencil Integration has been doing this for years and in fact Seymour Papert used the pencil allegory dating back to 1980) got me to thinking. As educators who are pushing change or perhaps just trying to promote the integration of more technology, we need to have a go-to...
3 tags
Democratic Schools - Summerhill
A. S. Neill’s Summerhill School in Suffolk, UK is a completely democratic school. Students of all ages decide for themselves what they will do and when, how and where they will do it.
“This freedom is at the heart of the school; it belongs to students as their right, not to be violated. The fundamental premise of the school is that “all people are curious by nature ; that...
November 2011
10 posts
5 tags
Introduction to Programming: LightBot
Before students come to Quantum Victoria and do some robotics work, some understanding of basic programming concepts is beneficial. Attached are two pre-visit activities that teachers can use with their students based around the game LightBot.
Also find some brief teacher notes as a Google Doc.
*These are draft documents. Feedback welcome!
4 tags
Out of Our Minds
“Our ideas can enslave or liberate us. Some people never do make the transition and remain resident in the old world view; their ideological comfort zone.” - Sir Ken
Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative is a book that, for the most part, I thoroughly enjoyed. Sir Ken gives a very broad overview of a changing world, a broken education system, shares anecdotes that sometimes...
6 tags
Portal 2 Game Modding Student Activity
The second of many Portal 2 student activities that I will be posting.
4 tags
Thinking for Our Future
The Creative Innovation conference finished on Friday with an incredible program of speakers on the day including Ray Kurzweil, Edward Debono, Rufus Black, Paddy Miller, Brendan Boyle & Tan Le.
From an education perspective, the conference was a great chance to meet and network with people from business, industry, philanthropy and to talk to many successful entrepreneurs. Kurzweil stated in...
3 tags
A Different Type of School
I stand here today… to apologize.
Our education system is failing your children - which means that as a teacher, I am failing your children. I am failing to prepare them to be creative thinkers, innovators and entrepreneurs - due to an educational system steeped in tradition, nostalgia and old ideas.
Well, its time for a new tradition. Its time to rewrite the rules of education - to imagine a...
6 tags
Super-connected world - Marvel or Myth?
The other deep conversation that I had the pleasure of sitting in on yesterday at Creative Innovation was “Super-connected world – Marvel or Myth?” with Ray Kurzweil, Daniel Dennett & Tan Le.
According to Ray Kurzweil, in the 21st Century we won’t experience one hundred years of progress—it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate). We are fast-approaching a radically...
4 tags
Is this the death of education & the dawn of...
“You can’t be too ambitious with your expectations of children” – Stephen Heppell
“Play is part of the process – play isn’t for recess and then you get back to work.” -Brendan Boyle
I am currently attending the Creative Innovation conference and had the pleasure of sitting in on a Deep Conversation with Professor Stephen Heppell, Associate Professor Brendan Boyle and the...
5 tags
Minecraft 'Inception' Trailer
6 tags
Hauppauge HDPVR
Currently running a Hauppauge HDPVR through it’s paces with the sole intent of recording console game play. The HDPVR records video from a video game console or cable TV or satellite set top box. The recordings are made onto a computers hard drive in a compressed H.264 format. It uses component video, S-video or composite video (but not HDMI), and will record at resolutions from 480i to...
4 tags
Computer Games & Learning
Computer Games & Learning Handbook - FutureLab
Aimed at teachers and those interested in using games with an educational intent, this handbook aims to provide some useful anchoring points for educators to make sense of the area and to develop practical approaches to the use of computer games as a medium for learning.
Be interested to hear what people think of this handbook.
October 2011
5 posts
6 tags
Little Big Planet - Contraption Challenge
Little Big Planet 2 is a multiplayer game that catapults the student into the role of developer/designer and producer. It gives the students an array of tools to build levels and then share them with the world. Using this game promotes 21st century skills such as problem solving, creativity, communication, collaboration and higher-order thinking. The game includes an accurate physics engine that...
7 tags
Portal 2 Student Activity
The first of a series of Portal 2 student activities - enjoy.
7 tags
6 tags
Epic Science RPG
Quantum Victoria and La Trobe University are currently developing a science-based RPG. It will include a wealth of intriguing science-based puzzles/games wrapped into an exciting, compelling narrative in which students work towards an end goal linked to the narrative. The game has a back-end teacher assessment tool built in so teachers can see student progress.
Without giving too much away, the...
6 tags
Creative Innovation 2011
I have recently been the recipient of a scholarship to attend Creative Innovation 2011. From the media release,
Ten emerging leaders and innovators across Australia have been selected as scholarship winners from an enormous pool of talented applicants. They will attend Creative Innovation 2011 and present their innovation for the future to some of the biggest business thinkers in the world...
September 2011
8 posts
6 tags
Children as Makers
In the Makers, Cory Doctorow paints a picture of a not too distant future, where a global economic downturn has led to an explosion of tinkering, innovation and creativity. This explosion is coined the ‘New Work’ movement and draws similarities to the dot-com boom of the 90’s. This ‘New Work’ movement empowers the average person and inspires a renaissance of sorts,...
5 tags
Change and a Better Future
As part of the scholarship application process for Creative Innovation 2011, I was asked to respond to the question, “In this super-connected world, what is your idea for change and a better future?”
This is my response.
Catalyzed by technology and fueled by creativity and innovation, fundamental and exponential change is now a common part of the super-connected world in which we inhabit. In this...
9 tags
Factory of a Better Tomorrow
Little Big Planet 2 is a multiplayer game that catapults the student into the role of developer/designer and producer. It gives the students an array of tools to build levels and then share them with the world. Using this game promotes 21st century skills such as problem solving, creativity, communication, collaboration and higher-order thinking. The game includes an accurate physics engine that...
6 tags
acer Iconia Tab A501 - Review
The tablet has dimensions of 260x177x13.3mm and weighs in at around 730g, weighing a good 100g more than an iPad. Whilst 100g doesn’t sound much, using the Iconia Tab for any lengthy period of time results in fatigued forearms – it really is a two-handed device. (The acer protective case for about $50, that folds into two positions, is a must and gives your forearms a rest.)
The display is...
6 tags
Student Choice
One of the main concerns I hear from teaching staff in general, is that they do not have the time. I understand their concerns - I really do. Teachers are being asked to do more and more and not being given any extra time to do so.
In 2009, a Year 7 Home Economics teacher that I have previously done some work with, had for the past several years, got her students to produce a written report...
7 tags
acer Iconia Tab A501
I am in the process of reviewing the A501 acer Iconia Tab. The tablet features impressive specifications — boasting NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 mobile processor, a 10″ screen, version 3.0 (Honeycomb) of Google’s Android platform and a range of other features including USB input. Other features include:
32 GB flash memory
1 GB RAM
5 MP rear camera
2MP front camera
microSD card...
2 tags
Infographic: How Video Games Are Changing...
Via: Online Colleges Guide
4 tags
The Normalized Child
In Video Games & Learning, Kurt Squire quotes The Absorbant Mind from Maria Montessori written in 1949:
“Normalized” children, aided by their environment, show in their subsequent development those wonderful powers that we describe: spontaneous discipline, continuous and happy work, social sentiments of help and sympathy for others…. An interesting piece of work, freely chosen, which...
August 2011
1 post
4 tags
Valve's Learning Space
Portal 2 is a game primarily about Physics - the game pits the player against an AI unit called GLaDOS who at one point in the game states, “Speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out.” From Newtonian Mechanics such as mentally calculating the vectors of force and velocity, potential & kinetic energy, momentum, conservation laws to things like Modern Physics, such as...
July 2011
2 posts
4 tags
The Techno-Human Condition
Technologies inhabit two rather independent realities. First there is the reality of the immediate effectiveness of the technology itself as it is used by those trying to accomplish something. This is a level 1 technology (ie. a jet airplane). The other reality is that of systemic complexity - level 2 technology includes subsystems that when acting together create emergent behaviour that is often...
2 tags
Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard
“For things to change, somebody somewhere has to start acting differently. Maybe it’s you, maybe it’s your team. Picture that person (or people). Each has an emotional Elephant side and a rational Rider side. You’ve got to reach both. And you’ve also got to clear the way for them to succeed.”
On the plane to New York I got the chance to read Switch: How to...
February 2011
1 post
3 tags
Learning Without Frontiers
I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Learning Without Frontiers conference held in London from January 9th-11th.
From the website,
“The last 10 years has seen unprecedented growth and development in consumer technologies at an accelerating pace beyond anything mankind has experienced. Exponential improvements in affordable digital processing power, storage, communications,...
January 2011
1 post
2 tags
The Facebook Effect
“From Sixdegrees to Friendster to Facebook, social networking has become a familiar and ubiquitous part of the internet.” – David Kirkpatrick
The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That is Connecting the World by David Kirkpatrick, provides a fascinating insight into the development of and the people behind Facebook. From near acquisitions from a host of tech companies including...
December 2010
2 posts
1 tag
Dumbing Us Down
“Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique indivdual, not a conformist; it should furnish you with an original spirit with which to tackle the big challenges; it should allow you to find values which will be your road map through life; it should make you spiritually rich, a person who loves whatever you are doing, wherever you are , whomever you are with; it should teach you...