Games for Learning — part of the Games for Change Festival

Excerpt from Jennifer Levine:

For 9 years, the Games for Change Festival has brought the advocacy of social impact games to the industry’s attention. It’s where educators are exposed to new initiatives to bring games for learning to new frontiers. This year, the Festival will devote two entire days focusing on how educators can use the impact of games in formal and informal classroom settings.

Join long time investor in tools for teaching game designer, AMD, as they present an entire track of programming and workshops dedicated to teaching game design in the classroom. And don’t miss the Games for Learning Institute track which highlights research into games-based learning in a series of engaging talks including talks from Constance Steinkuehler, James Paul Gee, and creators of Portal, Valve Software.

Beyond that, there’s a wealth of impressive discussions, roundtables, demos and more at our full program here.

With less than a month left to register for the festival, what are you waiting for? Register now and don’t forget that groups of 5 or more who register together get 25% off! (#G4C12 and/or @G4C on Twitter)

Mass participation TV

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— I originally saw this at lostremote.com and a posting there by Natan Edelsburg:
How Theatrics’ Beckinfield is creating the future of social TV acting [Interview]

Amazon acquires Pushbutton — from pushbutton.tv

Excerpt:

Pushbutton have announced today that Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN). have acquired Push Button Holdings Ltd.

“Pushbutton has a strong reputation for delivering amazing user experiences on connected devices,” said Greg Greeley, Amazon’s Vice President of European Retail. “They were instrumental in helping launch the LOVEFiLM player through a variety of devices, and we look forward to helping them continue to innovate on behalf of customers.”

“With Amazon and LOVEFiLM’s support, we look forward to offering our clients, as well as their customers, even more ways to access digital services in the future,” said Paula Byrne, Pushbutton Managing Director.

 

Also see:

 

Planit from Pushbutton bought by Amazon

Planit, a concept app from Pushbutton.
Image: Pushbutton

The future of TV is social and the revolution is coming ! | SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS | Digital Ministry — from Mark Mayhew

Ynon Kreiz, CEO of the Endemol group the largest independent production company in the world responsible for Big brother said Social TV is going to be huge.

“The ability to create content that will enable people to interface with each other, to connect, to recommend, to share and experience over television, is going to change the landscape of the industry.”

Excerpts:

What is social TV?

Simply put, it’s about merging your social media networks to the TV.  It’s making TV social–again. It’s about taking the water cooler effect and making this virtual, it’s about the empowered consumer viewing content when and where they want, deciding who they want to share it with and being able to do this all in real time.In essence it is a term that describes technology that supports communication and social interaction in either the context of watching television, or related to TV content.Viewers are now using social media to connect with the TV with content that matters to them. Then, as the MIT study shows, they are engaging in massive real-time conversations around those shows and learning to be a part of that conversation and it is a participatory culture as well as a personalised one.TV always been social and on the face of it TV and social media seem like a natural fit but if the TV industry is going to make the most of the opportunities it is going to have change quickly and learn the lessons of the music industry.

It is time to rethink TV. It is time to imagine what it could be and redefine it for the participatory culture of tomorrow.

 

From DSC:

In the graphic below…what thoughts might arise if, instead of entertainment-oriented items, we thought more along the lines of providing materials relating to education, training,  professional development?

The future of TV is social and the revolution is coming!

 

From DSC: It would be sharp (and somewhat James Bond-ish) if you could take the concepts within the iTable from Kyle Buckner Designs.com(esp. motorized parts and a customizable design)

 

Kyle Buckner Designs -- i table

 

…and combine those concepts with concepts found within a Microsoft Surface type of table: (esp. multi-touch capabilities for a group of people to work collaboratively on)

 

Microsoft Surface

 

…and combine those concepts with concepts found within Steelcase’s Media:Scape product (esp. the ability to bring your own device and instantly “connect” it and press a puck-like device to begin displaying it on the screen/table)

 

Steelcase's MediaScape

media:scape illustration

 

…kinda gives us a flavor for what may very well be part of the integration and continued convergence of devices…and it may be a device in your living room or study.

Apple’s new video regarding their iOS 5 operating system

 

Apple's video regarding their new iOS5

 

Apple's video regarding their new iOS5

 

From DSC:
I have it that these technologies will be used for educationally-related purposes/materials as well; including digital storytelling, transmedia storytelling, transmedia-based interactive/participative educational materials and more.

 

MyTVBuddy kicks off as the first pan-European Social TV app on iPad — from appmarket.tv (emphasis DSC)

Excerpt:

Today E-ZONE unveiled its iPad app MyTVBuddy claiming it takes Social TV to the next level of exploration, interaction, engagement and participation by letting users check in to TV programs, watch videos, post messages on Facebook, share Twitter messages, participate in conversations  and see where other users are located. MyTVBuddy kicks off with a special launch edition of Eurovision 2011.

MyTVBuddy comes with a solution for turning TV viewing into a social experience by using mobile devices such as the iPad. According to a recent study from Yahoo, nearly 90 percent of people watching television are using a mobile device at the same time. Be it Twitter, Facebook, email or instant messaging, they are doing more than just watching.

 

From DSC:
TV and entertainment coming up to bat — with learning-related applications on deck!   🙂

 

Also see:

 

 

Addendum on 5/11/11:

Nuts and Bolts: From Classroom to Online, Think “Transform” not “Transfer”


1. Analyze the current state of the classroom program.
2. Update and cut-and-chunk material.
3. Identify ways of adding interactivity and capturing the richness of the “live” event.

John Hunter on the World Peace Game — TED March 2011 — my thanks to Mr. Joseph and Mrs. Kate Byerwalter for this great presentation

 

TED Talks -- John Hunter presents the World Peace Game -- March 2011

About this talk
John Hunter puts all the problems of the world on a 4’x5′ plywood board — and lets his 4th-graders solve them. At TED2011, he explains how his World Peace Game engages schoolkids, and why the complex lessons it teaches — spontaneous, and always surprising — go further than classroom lectures can.

About John Hunter
Teacher and musician John Hunter is the inventor of the World Peace Game (and the star of the new doc “World Peace and Other 4th-Grade Achievements”).

 

 

From DSC:
I realize that many in education don’t view Bill and Melinda Gates with a great deal of admiration or respect. However, they and their foundation are about to make a hugely positive difference in — and contribution to — education. I’m sure that these grants will help create solutions that will feature professionally-done, highly-engaging, interactive, multimedia-based, team-created educational content. I hope that many of the solutions will feature sophisticated back-end engines that will allow for highly personalized/customized learning.

This is huge because such solutions are highly scalable. Plus look at who is involved at this point:

  • Pearson
  • Educurious Partners
  • Florida Virtual School
  • Institute of Play
  • Reasoning Mind
  • Quest Atlantis
  • Digital Youth Network
  • EDUCAUSE

Also see:

Also see:

 

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