So the BETT awards for educational technology have been announced and from looking at the winners we can only conclude that standards have been raised. The winning products are bright, original and versatile resources that fulfil the needs of teachers and pupils alike. Upon assessing the winners, I found the most attractive products were those that encouraged creative user experimentation. Critics have always accused educational software of stunting the scope of a child’s imagination. Perhaps in the early days this was a legitimate concern. But the winners of the BETT awards are a testament to how educational technology has moved away from its prescriptive confines. These resources invite a complex response from children, encouraging them to learn abstract concepts through creative play. Check out the winners at www.bettawards.co.uk

Screenshot from Focus on Beebot.

Focus on Beebot by Focus Education Ltd is a surprising product. It consists of a 3D sequencing programme where students can experiment with sequencing tasks to map out a route for Beebot, a bee coloured robot with a permanent smile. Students can guide Beebot through virtual worlds, but they can also programme their sequences into the Beebot floor robot in the actual classroom. This is a wonderful feature as it allows children to apply the abstract principles they have learnt from the software onto a physical piece of machinery. Children can feel satisfied about what they’ve learnt , enjoying the end result of their work by watching Beebot zoom around the classroom.

The sense of a fulfilling learning experience explains the success of 2Simple’s 2paintapicture. This is an art package that allows students to play with a range of artistic techniques. Children can see the results of their efforts attractively displayed on the screen. What gives this product the edge over other art packages is the ability to recreate the styles of well known artists. A child can learn the technical secrets behind great art at the same time as painting their own masterpieces. Noisy things by Q & D Multimedia won the Early Learning Solutions award because of its innovative approach to introducing young children to musical concepts such as rhythm, pitch and tone. Children play around with a variety of colourful, mischievous characters that make different sounds at the click of a mouse. The genius of Noisy Things is its intuitive design. There is no text to disrupt the experience, the children simply learn instinctively through interacting with the characters on screen. This is perfect for early learning because it allows children to learn about music through independent experimentation.

Screenshot from Noisy Things.

Another aspect of the winners was a new emphasis on software that allows for easy assessment and profiling. Bluewaveswift won Supporting Institutional Leadership and Management Solutions award. It was built on a lot of research done by head teachers in Leeds and is designed to provide a comprehensive profile of the state of a school’s development. Testimonials by head teachers all over the country tell of how Bluewaveswift saves hours of work.

Smartcat Profiling by Screen Learning is a selection of thirteen games that assess children’s reading, spelling, mental arithmetic, motor control, language skills and even emotional recognition. This allows teachers of children at the foundation stage to keep an eye on how each child is developing and ensure that they fulfil the needs of each child as an individual. The world of education is currently anxious about low levels of literacy and numeracy skills. Often this is a result of children not keeping up with the rest of the class. Smartcat Profiling has come at the right time, since it ensures that teachers know exactly which children need more help, ensuring everyone learns at the right pace. But what makes it really work is that each exercise is a game that the child can enjoy. This is a refreshing approach to assessment , making it feel less scary and more fun.

Screenshot from SimVenture.

Learning through games is the secret to the popularity of SimVenture. Venture Simulations Ltd have created a programme that allows students to set up a virtual business. Liam Godfrey, lecturer in business studies, has come from a background in banking and has a wide experience of simulation programmes used for professional training. He says that SimVenture is the most comprehensive software of its kind. Students are getting hooked on the game. The more competitive they get about scores the more clued up they are about the real dynamics of the business world. This is the beauty of these winning programmes: they draw children into a genuine passion for a subject. Technology isn’t there to make boring subjects interesting but to make fascinating subjects accessible. When you get sucked into a subject you love, learning is always fun. These products are taking full advantage of this phenomenon, taking us out of the Victorian austerity of the three r’s and into a future of varied and enjoyable learning.

Posted: February 19th, 2008 under Education, Design, Publishing, Web 2.0, BETT.
Comments: 1

I’d have hoped my first post would have concerned something grander than the misappropriation of features in video games. But hey.

When I was at university (all those…weeks, ago), and trawling the very depths of YouTube as any self respecting student should, I would occasionally stumble across videos mysteriously tagged: ‘machinima’. These videos would typically involve awkward animations of computer game characters in 3D environments, in sequences involving the kind of esoteric references and in-jokes that I imagined I would understand if I only spent more time playing video games (and don’t think I didn’t want to).

At the time I dismissed them and altered my search terms so that I could find, well, anything else. However, having worked at Online for a few months now and had a couple of dips in the new media ocean, I started thinking about it again.

For a better grasp of what exactly machinima involves, I turned to Wikipedia: ‘As a production technique, the term concerns the rendering of computer-generated imagery (CGI) using real-time, interactive (game) 3D engines, as opposed to high-end and complex 3D animation software used by professionals.’ That is to say, the manipulation of 3-D characters in a digital environment to create animated videos. It is far less costly than the high-end CGI of the kind that Disney Pixar have made their speciality, but it also affords a film-maker greater control over what happens, and often gives them higher production values, than can normally be achieved using basic hand-held video cameras.

Machinima represents quite a curious development in computer gaming culture; beginning in the early nineties when first person shooter games like Doom allowed players to record their gameplay in realtime. These demo files could be shared between and viewed by players. To paraphrase Wikipedia – it turned the player into a performer, with gamers comparing their runs on various levels and tasks.

Whilst games with 3D graphics became more numerous and sophisticated (the Grand Theft Auto series being perhaps the most controversial) the greater emphasis of the creation of these sequences was gradually placed on making engaging pieces of film, rather than demonstrating any kind of gaming prowess - hence the name of the movement; a combination of machine and cinema.

Because of the way in which it developed, machinima began as an inherently subversive movement; the videos I found at university mostly consisted of taking established characters and making them do things they weren’t supposed to do. I think I’m right in saying that there’s nothing quite like seeing a bunch of World of Warcraft characters dancing the Macarena – which is not, of course, to say that it’s a good thing.

But machinima has now evolved into quite a sophisticated and well-established medium. Just reading the Wiki article we hear that Roger Ebert has described it as an ‘extraordinary’ new art form; that it is such a recognized aspect of popular culture that it’s used in an episode of South Park. An Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences has been set up, and holds Machinima Film festivals. Entire computer games like The Movies have been developed which allow players to manipulate 3D characters in order to make films. Machinima dramas with runs outlasting most television sitcoms have appeared on, and are still on, YouTube.

Why is this important? Machinima’s redefinition of the notion of computer game authorship represents another manifestation of that ever-cited change in the way that people perceive media and communications: the move towards user-driven content, Web 2.0, interactivity…all of the usual buzzwords. Machinima provides people with a very easy way of telling a story or making a film or expressing themselves without the need for even a video camera.

It also keys into that odd fascination with easily manipulating our environment that you see in model railway enthusiasts and strategy gamers alike. The ability to represent yourself in a world over which you have more control than in physical reality holds great appeal – the success of Second Life and the excitement generated by the Playstation 3’s Home feature have shown us as much. How long before people are making sophisticated films, with elaborate stunts and lavish settings, starring themselves? There are programs which allow 3D characters to automatically lip synch any piece of spoken text; how long before people are making presentations in custom built virtual offices, via their avatars?

The effects these kinds of development have on how young people use the internet, and their learning, can only be guessed at. Although it hasn’t been too long since I was at school, it’s been a while. If, back then, my teacher had allowed me to make a presentation in class on the Battle of Hastings using animated 3D characters, I’d have loved it. Academic institutions worldwide have established themselves in Second Life to allow students’ avatars to attend online lectures. Why not animate an entire lecture, allowing your avatar to call up video and imagery with the mere gesture of a digitally rendered hand, to thousands all over the world?

Whether these ideas end up being practicable or not, they remain very exciting possibilities.

Posted: November 20th, 2007 under Education, Design, Web 2.0.
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