2 reasons not to be a 21C sheep

From Google’s Research blog, they were talking about computational thinking. They say this is important because “Given the increasing prevalence of technology in our day-to-day lives and in most careers outside of computer science, we believe that it is important to raise this base level of understanding in everyone.” Google says “everyone” – and this [...]

Conference, preso or panto

Do conferences create critical consumers? and following that thought – Are conferences the best environment to foster creative and innovative thinking? In this post, I’m exploring the Australian conference – I make an up for opening brashness somewhere in the middle and tell you want to think right at the end – as this is [...]

ipads changing our relationship with text

An observation about iPad’s that I’m exploring with colleagues is that they change the relationship people have with technology and with writing. Firstly, let me put this in context. Most of the people that have these where I work, are involved in some form of writing process. Secondly, the people that have the iPads are [...]

I’m in remedial education

My last child attended ‘kindy-start’ this week. He was needless today excited. So I went along to see him join the ranks. My heart sank as I spotted him sitting in a row, with his first ever workbook. While I fully understand the need to him to learn to read and write – to be [...]

Why you need to start doing dailys to learn more

One of the reasons people log into games like Warcraft is to do the daily. It’s a quest that helps build reputation with one of the various factions in the game. Generally speaking they don’t take too long. 5-15 mins. They are a tactic of getting players to check back in – and keep playing. [...]

What’s an Educational Developer?

Here’s a Wordle of the job description I’ve just submitted for classification for an Educational Developer. I’m pretty happy with the result, as I wanted to ensure the role was goal-based, inventive, innovative, collaborative and requires community participation. I’m also happy some old the language that might normally be associated with this kind of job [...]

Game School – Day 3

Okay, I’m getting cranky for two reasons right now. One, I’m over orbital pundits talking about literacies for the 21st Century, especially stuff about illiterates. It’s not new (future shock) and its unsupported flag waving. Two, kids who play games are not wasting time, they are learning valuable processes in decoding – yet we insist [...]

Learning to be a Game Maker #1

Having conceded that Mr9 is a better game player, there is only one thing to do. Start making games with him. I was inspired by a comment that James Gee made about kids. He says that kids can do amazing things with technology, when they have others helping them – especially parents and peers. So [...]

Games as documents. Beyond web2.0 in digital literacy

Today, if you turn on the Xbox, hordes of kids aged three to adult appear immediately to play Halo Reach in hi-def, cinematic glory – blissfully unaware of the dark-days before broadband and epic networks. So what are we not understanding or tapping into? I think it has a lot to do with being selective [...]

Tineye – Reverse image search

Here’s something you might like, because it adds a new dimension to critical literacy, and plugs into your browser. Tineye is a delightfully simple, but clever tool. It allows you to find out where an image came from how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist, or if there is a [...]