george auckland by euan mcintosh George Auckland is an inspirational figure from the BBC. Last night, to celebrate 41 years at the Corporation, Manchester Metropolitan University hosted an evening to flag his achievements. George retires as the head of the BBC’s Learning Innovation Unit having started his career as a trainee assistant film editor in September […]
Archive | Learning
RSS feed for this sectionArt and Play
One of the projects I’m working on at the moment is a website that will help primary school children (5-11s) with their art work. The audience for the resource is quite complicated because teachers are likely to be the standard bearers for it – they’ll be the ones that direct children to it (at least […]
Challenge
I’ve written a couple of posts already about motivation (the motivation to learn and motivational momentum) but today I want to explore some of the issues associated with that powerful driver: challenge. The ability to overcome some conflict is central to the engagement of most narrative experiences. Similarly the level of challenge associated with any […]
Motivational momentum
In my previous post, I shared some thoughts about the motivation to learn. Today I’m thinking about the momentum that motivation generates. There are a number of factors that can generate motivation. These can include: Active participation Intrinsic and prompt feedback Challenging but achievable goals A mix of uncertainty and open-endedness Active participation in a […]
Bothered? What motivation to learn?
The initial challenge for any learning is to determine, encourage and exploit an individual’s motivation so I’ve been thinking a little about what motivates us to learn and what motivation can acheive. Particularly after enforced schooling has finished. K.Patricia Cross identifies a number of reasons why adults choose to learn voluntarily: For its own sake When it […]
Education builds your brain
I struggled writing the title for this blog because it’s so obvious isn’t it? Of course education makes us cleverer, for many that’s the whole point. I suspect that many people, like me, have assumed that it’s about ‘filling’ our heads with knowledge but learning offers much more than that – it’s not just about […]
Thinking and Learning
This month, the Royal Society has published its latest report on neuroscience and education, Brainwaves 2. It is a gloriously positive assessment of learning and the contribution science can make to fulfilling its potential. The report’s summary suggests that the fertile common ground between the disciplines offers a “future where educational practice can be transformed […]
New connections; common ideas
One of the joys of being able to publish ideas online is the ability to make entirely new connections with people one would never otherwise meet. This weekend I’ve had the pleasure of being introduced (virtually) to two really interesting thinkers and practitioners in fields of play and learning – Lois Holzman and Jim Martinez. […]
Rewarding learning
My little girl was ‘Star of the Week’ at her school last week for ‘great number work.’ She was ecstatic to receive the recognition. And it’s a big encouragement to her to keep on trying. I’m very proud of her. Coincidentally but far more trivially, I went up a level in Modern Warfare 2. […]
Reflecting on gameplay
I lose a lot of games. In fact, on balance I almost certainly lose more times than I win. But I’m not going to let it get me down. Repeated failure in games demonstrates a number of important aspects of in-game learning. The fact that getting it wrong, often terminally, is an intrinsic part of […]