How do children (and a teacher-researcher) develop their understanding of authorship through planning, making and playing an ARG?

Answer:

In progress……

Two of the other speakers were Marina Palomba, Media Smart Director and Legal Director of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and Charlotte Hughes, Secretary of Media Smart. They spoke about the new Media Smart resources which are to be launched at the end of November.

Kristin Mason, Learning Executive of BBC Learning was also presenting and discussed the the BBC’s new media literacy website and forthcoming resources intended to help children use information ethically.

There was time for mince pies, mulled wine and interesting discussions before it was time to go. As I crossed over the river on my way home, my mind was filled with new thoughts about the way ARGs can provide engaging and meaningful contexts in which children can develop and demonstrate a critical understanding of the media through which the game is designed and played. I learnt more about the range and scope of the Media Smart materials and will certainly be investigating the BBC site further. It’s great to know that such useful materials and resources are availiable for teachers and children to use and develop. Certainly lots to reflect on….

Today I attended seminar 1 at Sheffield University: The nature of virtuality.

Julia Gillen’s presentation helped participants to ground the day’s discussions within a historical context by outining some of the antecedents of today’s complex online virtual worlds: prosthetic devices, video games and MUDS.

As part of this historical journey, her presentation incorporated a quote  from Richard Bartle, who wrote in 1983:

“What I would like to see –and it’s a long, long way off –is some local or national network with good graphics, sound effects and a well designed set of worlds of varying degrees of difficulty. In this true meritocracy, you will forever be encountering new situations, new difficulties, new solutions, and above all new people. Everyone starts off on an equal footing in this artificial world. “

At the time, when Richard Bartle was creating the first MUDs, this comment must have seemed visionary and now in hindsight it seems perhaps phrophetic.

During this talk I was particularly interested in the way virtual worlds have been discussed and presented by the media over recent years. Julia had carefully selected examples of news coverage and used these to higlight the point that although there is still a “sustained tendency for hyperbolic and ‘moral panic’”  there is “also a gradual development of more subtle understandings.” (I’m now going to trawl media archives for references to ARGs!)

This presentation also raised ethical issues related to researching in online virtual worlds.

Jackie Marsh’s presentation explored the nature of virtuality and drew on the findings of research into children’s engagement with club penguin. She drew on the work of Malpas who argued that:

‘A basic starting point for any serious discussion of the virtual must be recognition of the non-autonomy of the virtual – a recognition of the fact that the virtual does not constitute an autonomous, independent or ‘closed system, but is instead always dependent, in a variety of ways, on the everyday world within which it is embedded‘. (Malpas 2009:135)

Jackie Marsh then went on to explore the way that children interacted with the online space drawing on their economic,cultural and social capital. I really enjoyed hearing about the children involved in the case study and the children’s comments helped to bring the argument to life.

After lunch,  Michele Knobel joined the seminar as a virtual participant and talked with Guy Merchant, responding to questions from the group.

The last of the presentations was by Sheila Webber who shared her personal experiences of second life.  Find out more about the many adventures of Yoshikawa on her blog.

A thought provoking day. What a good start to the seminar series!

Yesterday I presented my paper Peer Puppeteers: Alternate Reality Gaming in Primary School Settings at the Digra Conference at Brunel University. This was the first Digra Conference I’d attended an I’d really like to go next year if  I can. I met some really interesting people and had some great conversations. Unfortunately I was only able to attend for the first day and part of the second so I’ll have to make do with reading the conference proceedings online to find out more about the papers presented on the Thursday and Friday.

Leaving Poster

My last day at school today and the children I taught in Year 1 when I first arrived were leaving too. New beginnings for all of us! I’ve had so many happy years at Rosendale and I’m going to miss the place and people so much. It’s been really fun and not only that I’ve learnt so much there.  Wendy Jacobs, the Head, has been so supportive of my PhD research and given me so many opportunities to develop professionally. The children I worked with on the ARG project were amazing and I couldn’t have done any of it without them. I’ve enjoyed teaching each one of my  classes over the years and I couldn’t have hoped for a better staff team. (Melancholy sigh.) Well I shall return to meet up with good friends again in the very near future. I’ll see you all again soon I’m sure. I feel very, very lucky to have had the chance to work here! (Thanks for the leaving poster – what a surprise!)

Greenwich University

A glorious location for another fantastic UKLA conference. A particular highlight for me was listening to Margaret Mackey present a paper on ‘Making Connections in Multiliterate Lives.’

This was the first time I had heard her speak and I went away form her talk reflecting on the diversity of  students’ literacy practices and the responsibility of educators to recognise and develop these. Margaret Mackey’s book ‘Literacies Across Media: Playing the Text‘ inflenced my thinking whilst I was writing up my MA thesis in 2003. I now look forward to reading ‘Mapping Recreational Literacies: Contemporary Adults at Play.‘

I also enjoyed Robin Alexander’s keynote speech.

This year I was presenting a paper alongiside Lynda Graham and Martin Waller as part of a symposium exploring digital literacies, chaired by Jackie Marsh. I was really pleased that Sue Ellis, the director of the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE), was in the audience as I hadn’t seen her since the CLPE Assessing Creative Learning project. My work has has been shaped by my experiences on the CLPE Power of Reading Project and this was a great chance to share my developing ideas with a knowlegable and interested audience.