Merlin John Online

'Use computer games, not edutainment' – Unbox21

Daniel McKeown looks into a partnership between UK and Indian schools for computer gaming
Hard-pressed teachers looking for educational resources could do a lot worse than drop into their local Gamestation shop, according to a new project from the British Council.

Unbox21 is a project involving 40 Indian and 15 UK schools, which will examine the use and potential of commercial video games in education, as opposed to games specifically designed for educational purposes.

Clicker 6 rises to challenge of the inclusive classroom

A revamped, less-complicated 'Clicker' with word predictor is essential viewing for John Galloway
Clicker, from Crick Software, is a program that has been popular for many years, partly because of its usefulness in helping to create more inclusive classrooms. But also because it has continued to develop, each version maintaining the essential elements of the Crick brand and building on them to provide something better.

This sixth iteration is no exception and is a must-see for anyone working in special needs.

Gerald Haigh's Five Things To Think About - 4

Gerald Haigh's regular column on leadership issues and information and communications technology (ICT) this week looks at:

EMAP's vision for BETT 2013 at ExCeL; How 'Community Connect 4' helps teachers and techs; iPads welcome everywhere; Avantis' healthy alternative to iPad – Flash content too; Oliver Quinlan on blurring the boundaries for learning at BETT TeachMeet.

Positive feedback from schools PlayStation project

Midlands games-based learning project reports improved engagement and skills
Sixteen schools across Wolverhampton that have involved students and teachers in a research project involving Sony PlayStation 3 games consoles using LittleBigPlanet2, the creative adventure game, are already reporting positive feedback.

Presenting his interim findings at the Learning Without Frontiers festival at Olympia, London, Don Passey, senior research fellow with the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University, said the game players had developed team-working, communication and thinking skills while the "ambassador" students who worked with them felt their team-working leadership and planning skills had improved. The teachers felt the skills they improved most were thinking, team-working, planning and generating ideas.

New school's ICT empowers hard-to-reach learners

Sally McKeown meets educators with a remarkable record for helping learners most in need
Professor Lord Robert Winston, world famous scientist and TV presenter, opened the brand new £2 million North West London Independent School in Ealing last week.

The school educates some of the most challenging young people in London and offers them a chance to use first-rate ICT facilities to get qualifications and to nurture often hidden talents.

Welcome to the world of 'apptivities' – Purple Mash

2Simple beat Microsoft to the cloud, and Chris Drage is impressed by the result – Purple Mash
You have to hand it to 2Simple. This small UK creative software publisher has achieved a task that many bigger companies with massive resources have struggled with – made the treats, tricks and triumphs of its lauded 'hard disc' programs available to any teacher and learner using a web browser. It's risen to the cloud!

Welcome to the world of "apptivities" that is Purple Mash, 2Simple’s successful, cross-curricular online space. It's been built on the achievements of programs like 2DIY and the feedback from schools and users, and gives customers even more – to use at school and at home.

'Google it' takes on fresh meaning for UK schools

Douglas Blane visits East Lothian, an influential Scottish authority doing important work with Google
If there’s one person who knows what works and doesn't work for teachers it’s the ICT expert in an education authority who takes their calls for help when things go wrong.

“It’s the big difference I’ve found since we introduced Google Apps for Education in all our schools,” says East Lothian’s David Gilmour. “I’m not getting endless emails from teachers saying ‘We’ve got so far and now we’re stuck.’ It's really striking. They're taking the tools, learning to use them immediately and doing useful things with them.”

Bryanston pushes assessment envelope with eChart

Bryanston School has built a dynamic digital embodiment of its education philosophy – the 'eChart'
At recent keynote presentations, former schools minister Lord Jim Knight asked his audiences, "Where's the school app that tells you how your kids are doing at school?"

The good news is that what he’s looking for is just down the road from his Dorset home. It's called The Bryanston eChart and he can get a powerful demonstration of its effectiveness at Bryanston School where it has been jointly developed with learning platform company Studywiz.

Birchfield ports all its materials to students' mobiles

Birchfield leads way in getting content to students' mobile devices, writes Gerald Haigh
When you have developed an extensive CD-Rom library of multimedia content covering virtually the whole of the curriculum, what do you do when alternative technologies and methods of delivery begin to appear?

Birchfield Interactive, just one of many software companies facing that challenge, has taken the bold step of anticipating the inevitable increase in the classroom use of mobile devices – particularly the ones owned by the students themselves.
Win Birchfield Mobile materials worth £10,000 for your schools – see below

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Logo BETT awards Welcome to Agent4change.net, the website of Merlin John Online Ltd. It's a free site and comments no longer require registration, but they are moderated.

What's new: Coverage of the BETT 2012 education technology show at Olympia, London, January 11-14 where editor Merlin John was presented with the "Outstanding Achievement in ICT Education" award at the 2012 BETT Awards.

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One of the most illuminating educators working in the UK today is Professor Sugata Mitra. View the complete video of his keynote presentation to the Blackboard Teaching and Learning Conference 2011 by clicking on the "Videos" tab above.

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Resources

Clicker 6 rises to challenge of the inclusive classroom

A revamped, less-complicated 'Clicker' with word predictor is essential viewing for John Galloway
Clicker , from Crick Software, is a program that has been popular for many year...

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Events

Positive feedback from schools PlayStation project

Midlands games-based learning project reports improved engagement and skills
Sixteen schools across Wolverhampton that have involved students and teachers in a research project...

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Gerald Haigh's Five Things To Think About - 4

Gerald Haigh's regular column on leadership issues and information and communications technology (ICT) this week looks at:

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Touching the future – kids join in staff development

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New school's ICT empowers hard-to-reach learners

Sally McKeown meets educators with a remarkable record for helping learners most in need
Professor Lord Robert Winston, world famous scientist and TV presenter, opened the bran...

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'Use computer games, not edutainment' – Unbox21

Daniel McKeown looks into a partnership between UK and Indian schools for computer gaming
Hard-pressed teachers looking for educational resources could do a lot worse than drop...

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