play think learn

A link to this interesting article on the BBC was sent to me today (thanks, Emma). It raises some interesting points on the ways in which gaming is perceived and how it could be (should be?) integrated into a work environment.

The article highlights some very real concerns involving the potential of games to exploit workers, and I fully agree with much of the sentiment that games have the potential to revolutionise how we work, particularly that “game mechanics, and game presentation, can make otherwise difficult or tedious tasks more palatable”. However, I am somewhat troubled by the implicit assumption that everyone is a gamer.

I playing love games and would happily play games at work all day but I can quite accept that there are people that would hate it. If it’s true that “as the population becomes ever more game literate, there’s less and less reason to rely on the old-fashioned, inert interfaces that so many psychometric tests require”. What about the people that don’t play games? Or play different types of games? Won’t this just lead to another form of discrimination?

(On reflection, while playing games all day at work is a nice idea I’m sure it wouldn’t take me that long to get bored… or frustrated… or simply dying to do something different. And what would I do when I wanted a break?)

Thanks to Lawrie for pointing out this video to me, to add into my first ever keynote talk (and for doing an excellent job of calming me down beforehand).

I think this is a great way of highlighting some of the potential navigation and usability problems for students in virtual worlds, which often get overlooked. It also got a laugh.

Also on Second Life, this report has recently been published by EduServ and provides an overview of how SL is being used in Higher and Further education in the UK.

Okay, this isn’t directly related to games and education, but it made me laugh.

When I’m travelling I like to take photos of funny street signs, and was quite pleased with my Cuba haul, but managed to be well and truly trumped by this photo taken by Kate Dalgleish, who we met on our final day. It was taken in Chinatown in Havana, where it seems that they have some rather strict rules. Banning skateboards or camels I can understand, but surely we should be doing more to encourage the integration of mythical man-horse creatures?

This is the first of several postings that have been sitting in my drafts folder from before I went on holiday…

It’s been a mad couple of weeks, with very little time to sit down between meetings, never mind think about blog postings. However, I had the fortune to be travelling from Birmingham to Manchester earlier this week in the company of Andy Black - if you’re ever looking for some inspiration or cool tools, he’s the man to talk to.

Three of the gadgets that he pointed out to me are:

• Scrapbook - a FireFox extension for managing collections of web links, which lets you download whole web pages (including links) and view them offline.
• ScribeFire - another Firefox extension, this time an integrated blog editor.
• Google spreadsheets have a new sharing option so that you can simply create a web form that is linked directly to the online spreadsheet.

Last week I attended an e-learning symposium at De Montfort University, focusing on the use of web 2.0 technologies. I was very impressed with the level of staff enthusiasm and innovation and the way in which new technologies are being used creatively by staff throughout the university. It is very refreshing to see an institutional culture of embracing a range of different technologies rather than being wedded to a single monolithic learning environment.

An excellent opening keynote was given by Lawrie Phipps from the JISC on learner expectations and technology, which raised some very interesting ideas around web 2.0, connectivism and the rhizomatic model of collaborative communities. I’ve seen several different definitions of ‘web 2.0′ but I particularly liked the simplicity of Lawrie’s definition of ‘web 2.0’ as “anything that’s new and interesting and users want to use”.

I’ve just got back from my final training run before the Great Manchester Run on Sunday, which inspired me to write this post. Never a great fan of exercise, I started running in the New Year and am amazed to have finally found an activity that I not only enjoy but actually look forward to. However, when I consider running in relation to its gaming attributes it’s perhaps not all that surprising:

• There’s a clear goal (the 10k race) that is achievable but not too easy;
• There are measurable outcomes so that steady and ongoing improvement can be seen in a number of dimensions (speed, stamina, knackeredness);
• It takes place in an immersive environment - ‘actual reality’ with real Manchester rain;
• I’m in control of where, when, how often and how far I run;
• I’ve several friends who are also taking part in the race and offer advice and support;
• Perhaps most crucially, thanks to a foolish bet I made last year (after one too many shandies) there is a serious competitive element that my innate dislike of losing won’t let me forget.

I’m a bit concerned that all my enthusiam will disappear once the race is over, but I suppose I’ll just have to sign up for another one quickly. A marathon perhaps. How hard can it be?

This post wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the fact that I’m running for a good cause, and any support would be very much welcomed. I can be sponsored here.

Apologies for the lack of postings recently, I have just returned from two weeks travelling around Cuba, which was a really amazing experience, a bit like going back in a time warp. Spending time in a developing country really makes you appreciate how diverse the world is and how many creature comforts we take for granted.

While there we had the opportunity to visit many, many museums. I hate museums. With a passion. They make me want to fall asleep the minute I walk through the door and look at objects in boxes with lots of accompanying text (even the ‘interactive’ exhibits don’t really do it for me and generally seem tokenistic and pointless).

Then I discovered the museum of rum. Finally, a museum that I found interesting. Objects and gadgets that you can touch and play with. Signs in Spanish that you have to translate. Free rum.

This got me thinking about ways in which museums could be made more interesting (for me, anyway):

• providing an experience rather than just information;
• making this a true multisensory expereince (taste, touch, smell, sound as well as pictures and text);
• creating a puzzle to make people find out information rather than simply providing it.

I guess this is all pretty obvious stuff, and maybe museums in this country have changed since the last time I ventured into one. I will have to force myself into one for research purposes. I wonder if there is a museum of real ale in Manchester…