Mix I.T. Up
to
• Bring together the right
task, the right tool and the
right student (Cuban 2000)
•Enable the learner to
participate in different
forms of reality and move
among them according to
individual interests and
needs.
Mixing I.T. Up
Entry Type: Team of two Robin McKean Raelene Beecher
Name of nominating Peer:
School Name: St Hilda’sASG
Position: Coordinator of Library and
Information services / Year 5 class
teacher
Email: robin.mckean@sthildas.wa.edu.au
raelene.beecher@sthildas.wa.edu.au
Phone: 08 92854507 (work) 0419962701
(mobile)
Static PROJECT
BASED
PLATFORMS Our
Learning
Continuum
SITUATIONAL
GAME PLAY
MMORPG
(Massively Multiplayer
Online Role Playing Game)
SITUATIONAL
MUVES
(Multiuser Virtual
Environments)
Mobile
AUGMENTED REALITY
Project Based Platform
(static)
Our students complete these activities as
part of an Inquiry Approach to learning and
use interactive multimedia wherever
possible to facilitate their learning.
These activities are designed to:
•Support common utilities such as Word,
Excel, PowerPoint and PDF‟s.
•Take into account personal interests,
multiple intelligences and learning styles.
•Include rich media such as movies, audio
and Flash*
•Enable teachers to control resources in
Year 5: Sample
order to meet their desired outcomes.
Year 6: Sample
Sample:
Situational
Game Play
Wherever possible,
we support learning by:
Using digital and on-line
adventures based on
problem solving and role Teacher Notes
play to engage the learner.
Sample:
MMORPG
(Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing
Game)
This environment assumes an added
dimension for our students where they :
Use digital games combined with virtual
reality to situate themselves in an
environment where they may experience
desired context and happenings.
Use an „Alice in Wonderland‟ interface as
the educational tool of choice where the
line between education and entertainment
blurs and students and teachers meet in a
multi user virtual edutaining environment –
a cyberworld remote to the traditional
classroom.
Year 5 students were
introduced to portals and
virtual worlds through a
reader‟s theatre and
cooperative reading activity
related to Felicity Pulman‟s
„Shalott‟ ---
a book in which „through a
virtual reality program,
five teenagers are zapped
back in time to the court of
King Arthur ……
They were then
exposed to Viking
Times through „The
Viking Magic‟ series -
“ideal books for readers
who enjoy a strong
story and a richly
imagined world.”
At the same time, the year 5‟s entered Runescape ….
a virtual MMORPG ….. where they were required to complete the tutorial only.
We had moved into virtual reality so that the students
could experience the context and happenings of the Viking world.
Their written report was the beginning of many writing activities born out of a virtual world.
Situational MUVES
After liaising with universities in the U.S. and
Australia we have MUVEd to quality curriculum
based learning opportunities that harness the
social energy, generated by opportunities to
communicate, discuss and exchange ideas, to
encourage cultural awareness and mutual
understandings amongst learners previously
separated by boundaries (political, geographic,
interpersonal).
These activities:
Combine strategies used in the commercial
gaming environment with lessons from
educational research on learning and
motivation.
Students and teachers now assume a virtual
persona (avatar) to travel to virtual places.
Some have experienced time travel. We are
now able to interact within immersive education
specific virtual environments.
A Year 6 cross
curricular project
(Science, Health,
S&E) completed
in conjunction with
Medical Mysteries –
and other
situational game
play learning
activities.
Video Links
http://muve.gse.harvard.edu/muvees2003/index.html
We are returning to River City later this year with a Doctor and Pharmacist
(parent helper) on board to give a second opinion whenever necessary……
Taking their world of imagination further,
the year fives were taken to another virtual world
and exposed to the legend of Quest Atlantis
http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/public/welcome.pl
By accessing Q.A. from school or home, the students continue
to meet regularly in the Anytown village to complete writing quests
related to the mysteries that they are trying to solve in this world.
Quests are given to students
by the virtual newspaper staff.
Augmented Reality
It was a logical step to experiment now
with Mediascapes.
Students are now using mobile, location–
based experiences that blend digital
images, video, audio and interactions with
the physical landscape therefore linking
classroom simulations to the outside world.
We are now
Chasing the ARGH factor….
A new tool for information
gathering, communication, and personal expression.
Students themselves rather than avatars, travel into simulated
environments using PDAs and a map aligned with GPS
coordinates plotted around our school campus.
The programming tool…… from http://www.mscapers.com/
The first mediascape
learning activity
involved the students
of year 5 completing a
cyber sleuth activity
designed to enhance
their knowledge and
understandings of the
environment.
They were required to:
•Locate the
Geographical South
Pole
•Investigate the food
chains,
endangered species
and any possible
environmental threats
Students travelled
around designed
locations triggering
images enhanced
with embedded
sound files.
Introduction to food chain component….
A special information sheet was located at our simulated South Pole.
It was designed to lead into the next learning activity
and relate the activity and students back to the classroom
The students were notified
of their arrival at the south pole
by way of an audio fanfare.
Students are now using the software programme to create
their own mediascapes related to current class inquiry projects.
Lesson and Work Samples