http://contemporary-media.co.uk/blog Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:26:53 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I had a rewarding moment last Thursday, as I watched students from Stoke Damerel Community College getting a pleasant surprise as they walked into their English lesson. It was the first lesson to introduce to the concepts of Teen Second Life and the literacy project. The lesson got underway with ... http://contemporary-media.co.uk/blog/?p=244 I’m on the delayed train home from the Serious Virtual Worlds conference at the Serious Games Institute at Coventry University. It’s times like this that I can’t help but contemplate how convenient teleportation would be. Oh to be an avatar...! The fantastic two-day event was put on by the SGI, ... http://contemporary-media.co.uk/blog/?p=243 When I recently heard that I had to film at a valves factory, I wasn’t exactly filled with enthusiasm. However, when I found out that the company were actually the brains behind Buddy – the world leaders in the coolest and most high performance SCUBA diving kit – I was ... http://contemporary-media.co.uk/blog/?p=242 So the Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF) has got a thumbs-up from the Civil Service Capability Reviews. Apparently the department is mainly ‘well placed’ or ‘strong’ in each of the key areas of leadership, strategy and delivery. The latter is particularly significant, as it endorses the ... http://contemporary-media.co.uk/blog/?p=241 When I was at school, it was a rare thing to be asked what I thought about my education...the range of subject choices was limited, and the extent of my careers advice was that I would make a good policewoman. But all that’s changed. Today, ‘student voice’ has become ... http://contemporary-media.co.uk/blog/?p=240 In his blog my colleague Adam Montandon (HMC Interactive) draws attention to a truly life changing project currently being undergone at the Keio University in Japan. The project headed by Professor Junichi Ushiba, allows severe paralysis patients to take to the virtual world of Second Life, controlling their avatar via ... http://contemporary-media.co.uk/blog/?p=239 It’s an exciting time in the world of mathematics at the moment. Last week, I attended the NCETM annual conference where Lord Andrew Adonis formally accepted on behalf of the Government all the recommendations that Sir Peter Williams laid out in the launch of the Primary Mathematics Review. This included ... http://contemporary-media.co.uk/blog/?p=238 A friend at BECTA recently drew my attention to Learning from Digital Natives, a research project report recently produced by The Higher Education Academy. It offers a useful insight into how Web 2.0 or “social technologies” can benefit learning. One of the most intriguing recommendations is to “build a ... http://contemporary-media.co.uk/blog/?p=237 Hooray! Alien Invasion, the interactive classroom resource we’ve been developing over the past 18 months for the Bowland Trust, is about to be launched alongside 22 other case studies, at the annual conference of the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) held at The Royal ... http://contemporary-media.co.uk/blog/?p=236 Last week Sim and I popped along to the Children in Virtual Worlds conference held at University of Westminster. The event was primarily to investigate how under-thirteens are using Virtual Worlds (VW) and to showcase the BBC’s well anticipated Adventure Rock. The conference also included several extremely interesting presentations by ... http://contemporary-media.co.uk/blog/?p=235