POPtalk

Hayley is the newest addition to the BrainPOP UK team and she’s mega keen on all things gaming and ICT-related so last week she popped along to Channel 4’s 2010 Education Conference.

The Conference “focussed on the latest Government policies and the Opposition’s plans; explored how innovators in education are responding to the challenges, and showcased some of Channel 4′s new education projects on citizenship, science and games.”

So, bearing in mind the large variety of topics covered on the day, e.g. “free schools”, here are some of the highlights from Hayley’s day…

I’d never actually been to the Channel 4 building before so I was more than a bit surprised when I saw their huge “4” sculpture made of umbrellas – just like their adverts!

As a bit of a self-professed geek, the part of the day I got most excited about were the presentations by Matt Locke and Alice Taylor. Matt talked about what Channel 4’s been up to over the last year like their 1066 game, which surprised them all with its popularity, and Science of Scams.

While last year’s projects are interesting, it’s what Channel 4 education is up to this year that I got really excited about.

One that stood out was “The Curfew”. Really intriguing, it’s a game that looks at surveillance and authoritarianism set in an Orwellian near-future Britain. Immersive and interesting, it certainly looks like something I’ll end up playing when it comes out later this month. Plus, anything that helps young people engage with politics is a good thing!

Author of Fun Inc, Tom Chatfield, gave a really interesting talk about the role of play in learning and how it transforms the notion of failure into opportunities, from “I failed” to “I haven’t done it yet.”

I’ll leave the final note to Zenna Atkins, Chair of Ofsted, who summed up the general feeling of the day quite nicely by saying (and I paraphrase),

“good teachers are absolutely vital and good teachers will use these instruments (new technology) to enhance what they are teaching.”

We’ll make sure to keep an eye out for the transcript of the conference which should appear on the Channel 4 website soon and we’ll post a link here when it’s ready.

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Tuesday took us to Shropshire for a special event -  ICT @ the Heart’ Using Technology to Support Learning ICT & E-learning Conference.

We met teachers from across this diverse area, which stretches from North Wales and across into the West Midlands, through urban and rural, large and small schools.

We were invited by Steve Beard, who has been a long time fan of BrainPOP UK, and who we really wanted to do something special for.

Shropshire schools were given a great deal and their own sign up page, partly because Steve was so keen to promote what we offer to his schools.

So, in many ways this was the ideal event. A friendly advisor, some lovely goodies to give away, teachers who were keen and excited to see new resources, and a fanstastic resource to tell them all about!

Even the total lack of access to the internet (the only requirement to use BrainPOP UK!) did not dampen our spirits too much! The hotel had changed their set up without telling anyone and the wi-fi did not reach to the rooms we were in! However, our 3G dongle just about got enough signal (in a signal blackspot!) to display enough of our lovely site to show vistors to our stand. And that we did. It was nice to be able to have deeper and more supportive discussions with teachers about their needs than is possible at an event like BETT.

BrainPOP UK is still one of the new kids on the block, and although there were lots of other suppliers there, most of them have been around for ages, and we benefitted from the fact that our material is fresh, engaging, constantly refreshed and growing.

Apart from raising awareness of our site and the special offer to Shropshire schools (which is why we were there), we  were lucky enough to hear John Davitt and Andy Black talk!

If you haven’t seen these guys talk, then you really should try! John’s oblique humour and gentle delivery contains highly practical, inspirational and informative support that really seemed to get the delegates at this event scribbling away, noting down ideas, and urls. Andy brought us the challenges and opportunites of the technology – from the kids point of view – and reminded us of our obligation to make the most of what is before us. But,  Andy rarely does things in a ‘normal’ way – as you can see from his use of a table cloth as a projection screen.

We also gave away a load of prizes, including a whole class subscription for a year to Prees Primary School!

Thanks to Eileen from the ICT team for making sure we picked the winner fair and square!

I presented a BrainPOP UK bag with the subscription certificate, a rare BrainPOP UK mug, badges, and a Cadbury’s Cream Egg to Gareth from the school.

He was a very happy man!

Thanks to Steve, and all the ICT team for inviting us and to all the delegates for making us so welcome.

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