When presenting at the Microsoft Partners in Learning forum, I was asked if it was possible to create a quiz-style game using Kodu. At first I thought this would not be possible but after giving it some more thought, I realised that this is actually fairly straight-forward. After reading this blog post from Alfred Thompson I thought using a tagged conversation was the way forward. However, I decided to simplify this by just listening for a particular button to be pressed. In my game players can answer multiple choice questions using A, B, X or Y on the gamepad.
The screenshots below show pages 2 and 3 of the character (Stick) who asks the question when bumped into by the player (Sputnik):
First the Stick asks a question then goes to Page 3. On this page it responds to the answer pressed on the gamepad. In this example the correct answer is given with the A button, in which the player is awarded with a pushpad (key) for the next part of the game. If the player gives a different answer the Stick will respond telling them they have the answer wrong and to try again. In my game I allow the player to have as many guesses as they like but this could be changed to make the game more difficult.
Currently the game does have a couple of bugs, one example is that the sticks are supposed to be closed until their key has been collected but this only seems to work sporadically and I haven’t quite figured out why?!
You can download the game here. Please feel free to try it out, use or adapt in any way!
For more Kodu demonstrations I will be on the Microsoft stand (D40) at BETT from 11th to 14th January.
As I sit here on a Sunday afternoon, relaxing after a fantastic and overwhelming few days I wanted to share some reflections on the fantastic conference that was the Microsoft Partners in Learning Forum.
This was my second year attending this wonderful, and free, event and I was quite relieved by the lack of snow for my travels home this year!
I arrived in Reading in time for the Innovative Teachers meet on Wednesday evening that took place in the Royal Tandoori restaurant. In this meeting we were treated to a variety of short presentations on various practices involving the use of technology. We saw presentations on the following:
David Rogers, talking about the development of a Mobile Learning Policy and how students assisted with the development of this through chalk graffiti around the school. You can read more about this on David’s blog here.
Oliver Quinlan gave an insight into how Twitter and blogging is being used with PGCE students at Plymouth university.
xQuiz, a quiz game that has been developed using Xbox controllers where students press the coloured button corresponding to the correct answer in a quiz.
Finally, we heard from Julia Skinner talking about her 100 word challenge which you can read about on her blog here.
At the end of the evening, Stuart and Dan presented the ten prize winners of the Innovative Teacher Awards with beautiful glass awards and bottles of Champagne, it was a true honour to be one of the ten and I allowed GeekyBarbie to look after my award back at the hotel later.
Partners in Learning Forum on Thursday #mspiluk2011
On Thursday I arrived at Microsoft TVP shortly after 8am to set up my stand to display my project, once this was set up I left GeekyBarbie in charge while I headed upstairs to prepare for my workshop on Kinect and Kodu which I was running with Ray Chambers (@Lanky_Boi_Ray).
Once I’d set up my laptop in the workshop room I hurried back downstairs to chat to the many delegates about my Virtual Classroom Tour on the use of Kodu. I was surprised by how many people were interested in my project and what I had to say. I made lots of contacts during this time, as well as at breaks and lunchtime.
Before the workshops began it was time for the keynote speakers and first up was Ian Livingstone and I have to say I was in awe throughout most of his speech. Firstly he is the co-author of the Fighting Fantasy series of books, of which I read many as a child, in fact they are probably still sitting in my mum’s attic! During his talk he gave a journey through the history of computer games and it was fascinating to be taken back in time to some of the games I remember from my childhood, including those on the infamous Atari! He talked about his work with Domark Games and then with Eidos and his contribution to Tomb Raider, showing a video of the newest version of the game to be released next year:
As you can see, the graphics are phenomenal and at first I struggled to work out whether these were real or CGI! This led into the discussion of the skills gap created by ICT education in the UK, and how STEM skills should really be linked to art in order to make young people more employable if they wish to progress into a career in visual arts and special effects, whether it be for games or film. He made some very interesting points about how we should be teaching more computer science in classrooms and not just how to use the applications (which can be taught in a fairly small amount of time). I felt totally inspired, listening to him. You can read more about Ian’s proposals with NESTA here.
Next up was Ollie Bray, whose blog I have been following for a while, and I was very excited to be hearing from him in person. He talked about how he had been using games in the classroom to engage students, firstly with how Sim City could be used within Geography and then the use of Guitar Hero, which was used as a “hook” to engage primary school students to work together on a transition project in teams, bringing together a variety of curriculum subjects. This was another truly inspiring key notes speech and has given me some ideas for projects to use my Xbox in school . . . watch this space!
Next it was time for the workshops, and I worked with the fantastic Ray Chambers, delivering a workshop on Kinect and Kodu. I delivered the first half, talking about and demonstrating how Kodu can be used in both ICT and as a tool to enhance Literacy. Then Ray talked about how he had been using the Kinect to engage his students when delivering his unit on databases and how it had progressed from there, he has also developed software for teachers of other subjects (particularly music) on request, which I find totally amazing, I don’t know how he finds the time! He’s such a nice guy. He gave a great hands-on session, giving everyone a chance to program their very own Kinect application using C#, with most of the delegates doing so successfully (even with no previous programming experience!)
At the end of the day we gathered in the auditorium where Stuart Ball talked about the excellent Partners in Learning network, which is truly brilliant and has had a huge impact on my teaching over the last couple of years. He then began to announce the four winners of the UK Innovative Teacher awards and I was totally gobsmacked to hear my name called out alongside Ray Chambers, Katie Boothman and Sarah Coombes, we each received an Xbox for our schools and an invitation to the European awards in Lisbon. It was such an overwhelming and amazing experience, I was literally shaking with excitement afterwards!
This amazing day was brought to a close firstly by Alex Bellos and his adventures in numberland, here he talked about Chinese Maths and demonstrated how to multiply numbers by drawing them as intersecting lines, it was incredible and I’m eager to show it to my maths department in school.
Lastly we heard from Taking it Global and their work as a social network bringing young people together to look at global issues.
Thank you, once again Partners in Learning, for another fantastic and inspiring event!
I have recently been investigating the use of mobile phones in school and how they can be used productively to enhance learning instead of simply being a nuisance or a distraction. A tall order, I know!
Thanks to many of my Twitter friends I have had lots of suggestions regarding this particular topic. I have now put together a list of ideas that I particularly like and intend to take forward and thought I would share them with you.
Firstly, QR Codes were suggested to me by a lot of people and I can see some real potential with these. There are many sites you can use to generate a QR code such as bitly and delivr. A QR (Quick Response) code is a two dimensional barcode that can store more information than a standard barcode and can therefore be used to store a URL. These can be scanned using a mobile phone, which will then be directed to the selected URL. Here is an example for you to try:
From the suggestions I received, some of the effective ways to use QR codes in school are:
A school treasure hunt where students have to scan the codes to find the next clue(s);
Posters containing QR codes for students to scan, these could be advertising events or simply giving students information in terms of revision topics;
Add sound files to a public Dropbox folder which students can download and play on their phones;
Using a website called Qwikvotes that allows students to vote in polls or surveys simply by scanning the relevant QR code. Here is an example:
Another way to carry out voting with mobile phones is by using a site called Poll Everywhere, this is a great site that allows you to ask either an open-ended or multiple choice question and generates a number students can text their responses to in order to vote. The results are then displayed on the screen.
There are also many, simpler ideas such as using the calendar and reminders that are built into most mobile phones for students to record homework and coursework deadlines. I’ve even told some of my students to take a photo of their school timetable so they always have a copy of it on them. In fact the video and camera features of mobile phones can come in extremely handy, they can be used to record a range of different information depending on the subject area. One suggestion I received was carrying out a scavenger hunt where students would have to find certain items around the school and take photos of them.
In addition to the features above, most mobile phones will allow you to record sound and can therefore be used to collect audio evidence for coursework assignments, interviews or podcasting.
Finally mobiles can make great translation tools for students with English as an additional language with sites such as Google Translate or their translation app. I’m not going to go into detail about the various apps available as this would turn into a rather long post, but of cause there are many fantastic educational apps available for many mobile phones. From helping students organise their deadlines to creating revision flash cards there is a wealth of information at students fingertips, and used in the right way, I think mobile devices will definitely make fantastic tools for learning.
I haven’t been very active on my blog recently, nor on Twitter, as I have frantically been preparing for my AST assessment which was yesterday. I’m pleased to report that I passed and am now officially an Advanced Skills Teacher.
Well that was my first piece of good news, the second is that it’s nearly that time of year again . . . . . on 24th November is the 8th Microsoft Partners in Learning Forum at the Microsoft Campus in Reading. This was a fantastic event last year and is also free! You can check out the video from last year here.
This year I am lucky enough to be delivering a workshop with the fantastic Ray Chambers from Lodge Park Technology College called “Kinect and Kodu, A Games Based Approach”. Ray will be highlighting the excellent work he has been doing with Kinect in his classroom and I will be talking about the use of Kodu to make games in different contexts.
Other workshops include:
Everyone is a Maths genius, can computer science/technology prove it? (Dr Chris Imafidon)
Computing: The Science of Nearly Everything? (Dr Tom Crick)
Who’s afraid of the big bad ‘network’ (Dan Roberts)
You can read in-depth information about these workshops at the Partners in Learning Website. From reading the descriptions of each of these workshops I’m sure the Forum will prove to be yet another outstanding event, I just wish I could attend all of the workshops myself!
You can sign up to the event directly here. I look forward to meeting some of you there on 24th November!
I am going to be running my successful Kodu in the Klassroom seminar again on 13th July in Margate, Kent. This time it will be free though!
If you are unfamiliar with Kodu, you can check out my previous entry here. This seminar will give delegates a chance to learn the basic skills of using Kodu to create a simple game and will then move onto game design and problem solving in the afternoon. A Scheme of Work for teaching Kodu to Key Stage 3 will also be supplied for delegates to use in their own schools.
The day will close with a TeachMeet, giving willing delegates an opportunity to share best practice within their ICT classrooms in the form of short presentations of either 2 or 7 minutes.
For further information you can download the flyer here. Places are issued on a first come first served basis and there are a maximum of 20 places available. Booking is available online at the address below:
First the Stick asks a question then goes to Page 3. On this page it responds to the answer pressed on the gamepad. In this example the correct answer is given with the A button, in which the player is awarded with a pushpad (key) for the next part of the game. If the player gives a different answer the Stick will respond telling them they have the answer wrong and to try again. In my game I allow the player to have as many guesses as they like but this could be changed to make the game more difficult.
I am going to be running my successful Kodu in the Klassroom seminar again on 13th July in Margate, Kent. This time it will be free though!
If you are unfamiliar with Kodu, you can check out my previous entry 