This will be my last post of the year: I’m looking forward to spending a few work-free days with my family over Christmas. I hope that you will be having a break too. Play with Learning is one year old and I am delighted with how things have turned out over the last twelve months. […]
Tag Archives: learning
What Games are Good For?
In spite of my criticisms of many educational games, I believe passionately in the potential of games to inspire learning. I don’t think that games are a panacea but they do have many characteristics that can make a profoundly positive impact on our lives. The real educational value for gaming lies in four key areas: […]
Educational games
Yesterday I spoke at BAF Games. This is a summary of my ‘Play with Learning’ talk. I have embedded links to supporting information into the post . Sadly, I couldn’t capture the lively Q&A session afterwards. I made my first game as a young teenager – a board game so incomprehensibly complex and tedious, it only […]
Psychology & Neuroscience articles
NCSU research: Study Shows Sports Can Help Communities Recover From Disaster http://j.mp/o0bzkz Distract Yourself or Think It Over? Two Ways to Deal with Negative Emotions from Association for Psychological Science http://j.mp/l37Fnm Too much choice is a bad thing – Journal of Public Economics http://j.mp/kJXbgT Snooze you win? It’s true according to Stanford reseasrch http://j.mp/iCsjtQ The […]
Media for learning
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Head teachers, Principals and education officers in the West Bank this week as part of my work with Karen Ardley for UNRWA. We talked about the relative strengths and weaknesses of the media available to us for the leadership development programme we’re putting together. Some of the points […]
Riding a bike
I talk about learning all the time, it’s often learning situated in classrooms or in the workplace. Of course, I see examples much closer to home too. My little girl is 5 years old. She started school in January. She hasn’t stopped learning since the day she was born and whilst that might be true […]
Teach or learn
There’s an interesting article in this week’s Journal of Neuroscience about the how we learn, specifically how our genes might influence our attitude towards learning from instruction or experience. It’s an interesting new perspective on the differences between learning and teaching. According to researchers from Brown University, people genetically inclined to follow instructions can make […]
Learning with George Auckland
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]