This was the third event of the day, and its late, but I promised Hannah I would write it up. It was at Pinewood Studios and was the launch of a Create, Compete, Collaborate programme which presented live brief challenges to young people to develop international links and to share, collaborate and embrace the values of the Olympics. It was also an opportunity to see how the new Diplomas can succesfully engage with professional practices and creative professionals, in this case Games Designers from across the world. It was good to join the students who spoke to the large gathering with easy confidence and gracious humour.
Talking later to a games designer/programmer who supported the course I was reminded of a common feature of so many cases where we, in education, have been succesful in drawing down professional practice into classrooms. It is the partnerships between the teacher, the professional and the students which is key. There are always direct and distinct channels of communication between each of the three parties. I have seen it work in the field of graphics, music technology, theatre studies. The key seems to be that the teacher does not try to be the expert and conduit for all expertise, but manages the relationship between the professional and students so that expertise is brought to bear directly where, and when, it is needed.
I have written elsewhere about this games course with an international cast of teachers and designers so won't repeat it here. Indeed although, I would like to write much more about what, I think, are genuinely significant pedagogical breakthroughs in this Diploma course, I am relived to note that I don't have to: because, I will be able to read it in Hannah's MA thesis which she will be writing this summer.
On a final note, one part of the evening was spent in Pinewood's state of the art super-sensory-surroundorama-viewing cinema. I don't really like the cinema these days - its always full of youff eating popcorn loudly and talking. But with the sound vibrating through the seat I have to admit it actually was ...LIKE... OH WOW! AWESOME!
2 comments:
Thanks for such kind words Dan, I had not expected such a quick write up. The evening was a culmination of a years work from pupils and staff. With the similatanious perspective of the new goverment (who are pulling funding from diplomas and the arts at a rate of knots) and the medias naive and uninformed coverage of the diplomas has all in all given most people a negative persepective on the birth of these new courses. However how many GCSEs end year 10 with the launch of a live working computer game for the paralympics? Along with having branded and launched a radio station. Having made jingles, logos and a film trailer. This is both a relevant and necessary course for the pupils in the 21st century (who think nothing of blogging, virtal classrooms and new technologies, we are doing a disservice to them if we are not providing access to this type of learning). The importance of this course was acknowledged by several practitioners and industry professionals who pupils had been interacting with on work experience. They all indicated that the pupils had employable skills that were inline with some degree courses. Long live the diplomas and watch this space for next year!
Futurelab has some interesting stuff on the role of games in education today.
http://www.futurelab.org.uk
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