….. The senior games programming unit is structured to simulate an authentic design and development process for a client. The teacher is positioned as the project manager, the early learning centre director is representative of the client and the children as test pilots of the learning objects. The students are the managing directors and producers of the learning objects for their local client. The senior students observe the children playing their educational games and document the young learners’ engagement and ability to interact with the technology and the learning object. This method of trialling and testing reflects common industry processes of research and design and most importantly, connects the student to real-world application and experience. The students’ practical application and testing of their games programming provides authentic feedback and an enriched learning process.
Having senior students design and develop literacy and numeracy-based learning objects for younger learners creates a multi-layered learning context. The mode of “learner as author and instructive developer” for expressing their knowledge is consistent with Churches (2008) and Maclean (2005), who suggest that when students develop and author their own multimedia they are demonstrating higher order thinking skills, enhancing their learning and presenting their understanding of the content.
One area that we were sure of relates to the need for our students to have a change-ready and imaginative mindset as they move into a digital future. As our students move through multiple careers they will require an assortment of transferable and blended technology skills. In Thomas Ryberg and Lone Dirckinck-Holmfeld (2008) publication on ‘Power Users’ and patchworking they mention societal transformations, globalisation and the massive diffusion of information and communication technology (ICT) have dramatically changed the conditions for learning, and that these societal transformations demand new competences and literacies….TBC
Keeping a focus on well-researched, quality learning requires exploration outside the walls of your own classroom. To do this we investigate a broad range of post-secondary tertiary courses and invite a several industry professionals into our teaching and learning program. We also keep up to date with our software application skills and emerging technologies and techniques through lynda.com. Having a well rounded understanding as to where the students are heading for undergraduate studies and employment futures is imperative to their digital futures.
… (TBC) Animation is not new to schools or cultures around the world. Today, open-source software and software applications such as Adobe Flash and After Effects are providing students with the technical tools to create powerful animations as a means of communication and new literacy development.
…(TBC) Our ongoing curriculum strategy is to develop technology skills that enable students to become fluent in new information systems enabling innovative connections: something that is required for a contemporary entrepreneurial mindset, transferring learning as they weave through multiple career paths.