Is 2010 the year of mainstream immersive online learning?

February 11th, 2010 by Tim Greenhalgh

Is this the year when immersive online learning goes mainstream? I think it might be.

Surveys, like the one just launched by Richard MacManus, editor of ReadWriteWeb will help by giving us a clearer picture of what kids want from their web time.

Richard is asking parents to sit with their kids and complete the quick survey. Out of that, we could spark a whole load of new ideas from bright young minds around how they want their fun and engagement delivered. There should also be strong indicators of how they’re learning through games.

Just to say, before going on, that this post was sparked by conversations with a client, MOOFU, that works in the 3D learning and planning space. Disclosure done!

The MD, Nick Palfrey and me (among many others!) both think that 2010 could see widespread adoption of games-based environments for collaboration, exploration and user-led learning. We’ve seen in the past three months particularly, a growing noise in the area of “learning as fun”.

This week, Flickr founder Stewart Butterfield announced he’s going back to his games roots with a multiplayer online game, Glitch. The BBC then reported that 13.3 million people in the UK regularly play casual games and spend around £280 million a year on that – according to data from the UK National Gamers Survey.

It’s more common currency now that the idea of gamers as young, slightly asocial males is way too narrow to use in any useful analysis of game demographics. Mega-popular sites, like the girl-gamer Thumb Banditscontinue to demolish the view of games as man-terrain.

As games culture helps to shape the way people of all ages engage online, the acceptance of games-based learning as a lifelong tool will become generalised. We can look to the US for a lead here. UGM Social Media recently had a blog post showing how immersive learning is taking off, albeit schools-focused for now.

At the Quest2Learn school in New York City (funded by the Bill and Amanda Gates Foundation, among others) learners use a range of social technologies, from video games to social networking, to solve hypothetical problems.

Away from the digital elites, the Federation of American Scientists has developed a first-person shooter-inspired cellular biology curriculum. With Immune Attack, Young gamers explore the fully-interactive 3D world of an ill patient and assist the immune system in fighting back a bacterial infection.

Dr. Melanie Ann Stegman evaluated the educational impacts of the game: “The amount of detail about proteins, chemical signals and gene regulation that these 15-year-olds were devouring was amazing. Their questions were insightful. I felt like I was having a discussion with scientist colleagues.”

As the Building Schools for the Future initiative matures, I’m sure that 3D immersive learning will need to be one the main elements, enabling communities to engage in virtual learning spaces that mirror the physical education environments and … pause for breath… make learning like, fun.

The UGM blog says that games-learning technologies are “on the cusp of freeing education from its 2D textbook prison” – and we can add that these socially inclusive tech innovations will free the learner from the physical boundaries of educations buildings. Exciting times indeed!

      

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Safer Internet Day and beyond means serious fun with identity and privacy

February 9th, 2010 by Tim Greenhalgh

Safer Internet Day 2010 has again raised awareness of safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially among children and young people globally.
Insafe launched a pan-European quiz on 1st February, for 5-11 and 12-15 year-olds, open to individuals or school classes who compete with the objective of becoming increasingly aware of their [...]

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Massive Multiplayer Online Games and learning for fun

February 1st, 2010 by Tim Greenhalgh

My two sons are both avid online game players, the elder preferring First Person Shooter and Sports titles, the younger favouring Role Playing Games. They’ve both been playing online since they were pre-teen from Habbo Hotel to Call of Duty, FIFA to World of Warcraft and GuildWars and beyond.
Rarely, the games were gruesome and [...]

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10 professional things you can’t do with an Apple iPad

January 28th, 2010 by Tim Greenhalgh

Here are ten professional things you simply cannot do with an iPad:

Edit film
Edit images
Create 3D models
Create vector illustrations
Create/edit mocap
Compose/notate/edit music
Create animated cartoons
Design/edit publications
Create and file corporate accounts
Create/execute strategic PR plan for new “magical” device.

There’s plenty you can’t do professionally with an iPad – as detractors have been pointing out since its launch. But that’s maybe [...]

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The Apple iSlate changes everything - maybe even its name

January 26th, 2010 by Tim Greenhalgh

In a few hours’ time (10.am PST – 6pm GMT) Steve Jobs will unveil the new Apple iSlate (iPad, iPlank, iWant1) at the Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts Theatre in San Francisco and change everything, again - except the global network his new baby will join.
Guess what, he’s not alone. Hewlett-Packard CTO Phil McKinney [...]

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