learning in progress ….

i've written a couple of slightly more formal things over the last couple of years - so i thought why not upload and link them all in a blog post.

1. here's an article i wrote that relates to a concept mapping software idea - a personal project thats been ticking away in the background for a few years - its a bit waffly but aiming at what i thought was the genre of their conference (and although it was accepted, i couldn't get there)

2. here's a review i wrote of an article relating to educational innovation - part of my masters studies, and relates to river city (the original article under review is here)

3. lastly, a research proposal. don't know what i think about this. its pretty heavy going - a week in writing, over the hols - and one of the lecturers - who marked it - thought it was full of throw away lines and no substance, while another in the same faculty:

"i haven't seen anything as analytical as this anywhere and it's an area that causes immense philosophical problems but no one I know of has properly analysed it so the discussion on it tends to be in absolutes"

i think its flawed in its balance - its more a background to a proposal - but i needed to get the ideas out of my system, i think

anyway thats part of why i upload them - the image of a solitary student doing all that work, only for it to be read by one overloaded lecturer seems as futile for adults as it is for school age learners

cheers

River City - I’ve referred to this in some previous updates but here’s some detail. River City is a MUVE “multi-user virtual environment.”An online game would qualify as a MUVE - a place you can interact with other characters (avatars). In that sense, like the SIMS game. And of course kids tend to like that environment.

River City takes the game-like environment and uses it for learning – the puzzle is why are people getting sick in the simulated town? (turns out there are several overlapping factors – complex issues, without the need to "get it right"). The students work in teams, test hypotheses, measure and observe the environment, set up experiments, answer quizzes for online reporters.

Its also a Harvard Uni research project, investigating the effects of these environments for learning. (more...)

Multimedia is interesting. This is an update on some of the cool things that we’re doing with it – but some context first. I only have to watch my 4 year old learning the alphabet by playing online Sesame St games, or online memory games with the Wiggles, to see that computer stops being a boring, if useful, calculating tool, and becomes an engaging medium.

His dad still likes spreadsheets and programming, but that’s not the normal entry point into computing any more – especially for four year olds. Games are more common starters for kids, and music downloads, chatting online with friends, web video etc are in the mix for older kids. So, in education, where to with all this?

Well, for one things, its less like this ("labs") :

(more...)