Thunder

Following from Teachmeet, Theo has created a wiki for sharing ideas about the educational implications of using online video editing applications.  So if you feel like joining the debate pop along and sign up.

Trying to think of a creative project that harnesses music and film, then think no further check out BoomAcademy.

BOOM! Music Video Academy uses the coolest music from the backing of the pioneers of the music video, MTV, and the latest video editing software from Adobe to enable teachers and students to create their own music videos.

BOOM! challenges you to tap into your creativity and produce the music videos of tomorrow.

Teachers can download a plethora of resources ranging from posters and lesson plans to copyright free music files to be used in the video.  You can also view past winners videos to be used as inspiration and challenge your students.  The student interface is really cool, it is very interesting to see the different approach to the website for students and teachers.

Even though the competition is being organised by Adobe and MTV, there is no requirement to use adobe software.  I wonder if there would be any scope in using the web based software discussed by Theo at the recent Teachmeet: Jumpcut and VideoEgg.

I have just read this post on Hope School’s blog about their 10 blog rules, the rules they have decided upon are really nice:

1. Don’t give out your address or phone number or any personal details
2. Only use your first name
3. Don’t put pictures of yourself or others on the blog
4. Use appropriate language
5. Try your best with spelling, but it doesn’t have to be totally perfect.
6. Don’t be rude or horrible about anyone or anyone’s work
7. Use two stars and a wish to make a comment on how someone can make a piece of work better. It’s good to have nice things written about our work.
8. Respect other people’s opinions.
9. Everyone is welcome to contribute to the Blog
10. Remember from our RE lessons, you’ve got to be a friend to have a friend. Go and visit other schools to see what they’re up to (as well as ours.)

The rules seem very simple, but effective.

The biggest problem I had at SETT was having no business cards to give out, so last night I spent some time looking for business card websites - and there are far too many!  My favourite is Street Cards, especially the gaping void cartoons - that were on the Stormhoek poster we received at Teachmeet.

This morning I checked my rss feeds and came across a link on Ewan’s del.icio.us account to Moo, a mini card site that can print your own Flickr photos onto your cards. At the moment they are giving away a pack of 10 cards to the first 10,000 Flickr Pro users.

Teachmeet was a great success – I was able to put a lot more faces to names I have read over the past year. The informalness (I don’t think that is a word) of the event was definitely a major plus, at times several of us were sat on the floor, similar to pupils in primary schools ☺ The only problem with these events is that you pick up so many great ideas and there aren’t enough hours in the day to investigate them all.

I would personally like to thank the speakers: Theo, David, Ollie, Chris, John, Kate & Sean, it was a shame we didn’t have anymore time to listen to anyone else.

A big thanks most go to both Stormhoek for supplying the wine and Promethean for paying the exorbitant corkage charges charged by the Crowne Plaza, and also for Ewan for doing the bulk of the organisation.

The meal at the Goat was a great success and I eventually got to meet Mrs Mc (Morgane).

I hope I get an invite up to SETT again next year so I can meet you all again and gain from your wealth of experience and creativity.

PS Ewan, we need to get a photo of you in your t-shirt.

When I booked my train ticket to SETT back in August it was only about £5 more to travel first class, so I thought why not.

On my way up to Glasgow I was pleasantly surprised by the hospitality on the Virgin train, when I boarded the train I was offered a drink (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and choice of a bacon or sausage sandwich – what a great start to the trip.  After I changed trains to finish my journey I was served with fresh sandwiches, fruit, flapjacks and again more drink.  Throughout the rest of the journey the train staff moved through the carriage refreshing my drink and generally being very pleasant and helpful, even bringing a warm facecloth. The train was a Pendolino.

The journey back, however, was a different story – it was a direct train to Crewe.  This time I was on a Virgin ‘Voyager’ train.  On leaving Glasgow we were informed that we could go and collect a snack box from the on-board shop, according to the brochure on my table the snack box might contain ‘a roll filled with brie & grape or chicken & bacon, Penne State sour cream & chive pretzels, Lily O’Brien’s Chocolati Chocolate & mixed fresh fruit’, you can imagine my disappointed when I opened it to find 2 Tuc cheese sandwiches, a snack sized kitkat, a slice of fruit cake, a bag of dried mixed fruit and a carton of orange juice ☹  There was no complimentary alcoholic drinks only hot and soft cold drink.

How can the services be so different?

I have now returned back home after two excellent days in Glasgow at SETT ‘06, where I was presenting ‘Thinking out of the xbox- game making for learning’ in the Learning Village.

Hopefully I have inspired some of the Scottish teachers to go away and get their students to write computer games using either GameMaker or Mission Maker.

It would be great if any of the teachers who were at SETT and are going to embark on game making could leave a comment or drop me an email, maybe we could develop a collaborative project?

After a four hour journey up to Glasgow I am now here sitting in the coffee bar outside SETT. Having picked up my speakers badge the nerves are really kicking in, I have already met a few of the scottish bloggers (John Johnson, David Noble & David Muir) and I hope to meet many more throughout the day.

Time for me to try and get my presentation in order, I have downloaded a powerpoint viewer so I can play the presentation on my laptop and I have reinstalled Firefox. Lets hope my 512MB of RAM holds together for the missionmaker demo later.

Thanks most go to Promethean for funding the wireless access codes that allow me to blog from SETT.

You need to be in a band and to perform an original song not longer than 5 minutes in length. You will perform from your school to a panel of rock experts. The performance for the national finals will take place over a video conferencing link from your school or local VC centre. This will be seen live across the internet and everyone can vote online for you to win.

If you think you have got what it takes then enter the competition, but you will have to move quickly as the regional heats start at the end of the month.

I have just been alerted to this conference:

Hand to Eye conference: ‘What do we learn from games?’

Videogames are changing the way we teach and learn so as part of GameCity the annual interactive entertainment festival in Nottingham, we would like to invite you to the Hand to Eye conference.

The conference will be held on Thursday 26th and Friday 27th October and will host some of the leading speakers from the videogames, academic and creative industries. It aims to explore some of the subtleties, opportunities and truths about player’s experiences of videogames and interactive entertainment used specifically in the learning environment, Hand to Eye offers

▪ Specific examples of the implicit learning strategies in commercial gameplay.
▪ Examples of commercial videogames being used and adapted in the classroom.
▪ Blue sky projections – learning in and with videogames.

Hand to Eye is for

▪ IT leads in RDAs, local councils and government who understand how the new generation of school leavers will change the face of the workforce forever
▪ Educators interested in learning how the classroom techniques utilising videogame technology
▪ Games industry professionals who can engage directly with the core of these new markets.

To learn more about how you and your organisation can benefit, come to GameCity, the only event of its kind in Europe. For more details on the conference package, go to www.handtoeye.net.