Mouse Mischief and Kodu by Microsoft

I was reading through some of my bookmarked blogs on delicious to see if they were worth keeping and stumbled upno this post:

"On April 30, 2010, Microsoft shared with the world a FREE tool where teachers can create a multi-media presentation via PowerPoint and the students can NOW participate DURING the presentation! Each student can use a mouse, answer questions, and the teacher can see how each student answered. No more spending thousands of dollars on interactive programs and clickers. Just download the FREE Mouse Mischief from Microsoft and create! Microsoft does have sample lesson plans to get people started on how to use the “Multiple Mouse” option." from Krista http://coolschoolwebsites.com/ (CSW)

Link to Mouse Mischief download:
http://www.microsoft.com/multipoint/mouse-mischief/en-us/default.aspx

On the subject of free Microsoft software. I have recently discovered Kodu. It is specifically designed for kids wanting to create their own games. It is very visual and looks a lot of fun I will be trying this out with my Boys in School group at Coatesville and my lunchtime computer club at Forrest Hill School. Kodu is designed to work with the xbox controller however you can download to your PC and use keyboard controls.

Link to Kodu website and download:
http://fuse.microsoft.com/project/kodu.aspx

Learning @ School 2011

I had the opportunity to go to Learning @ School this year. The last conference I attended was ULearn 07. Learning @ School was a good opportunity to meet people I had read about like Scott McLeod and to get to know members of our cluster group better. Over the next 2 weeks I will share my thoughts and reflections about aspect of the conference.
Below are a list of what I attended. I will use this list to start most of my posts. My first breakout with Scott McLeod has inspired me to start this blog!


Breakout 1 – Scott McLeod Powerful, personalized learning: Why EVERY educator should have a listening station.

Breakout 2 - Sylvia Martinez If Games are the Answer. What’s the Question?

Breakout 3 – myPortolio.

Breakout 4a – Google Apps Teacher Dashboard

Breakout 4b – Software for Learning

Breakout 5 – School libraries in transformation

Spotlight Medley – Douglas Harre Core’s 10 Trends 2011

Keynote 1 – Scott McLeod Two big shifts and one big problem: The growing disconnects between schools and our digital, global society

Keynote 2 – Sylvia Martinez The 92% solution

The Trade Centre – Interesting Stuff
From 3D Printing Systems to YOOBEE iPad in action

Scratch Day Webinar

Last week Karen from Scratch at MIT asked me to take part in a webinar. There was a group of about five of us asked to share our experiences about scratch day. This was the first time I have done anything like this. On a personal level I have used MSM and skype however this was quite different. Stephen Howell was one of the speakers. I have been following his project using the Xbox kinect's and I am very keen to give this a go. I have started a gallery on the Forrest Hill School scratch account with Stephen's projects called "Kinects". I'm also interested in Yoshiro Miyata's project. His ideas are inspiring. Linking people and cultures from around the world to learn together!
The technology of the webinar was great. It worked well overall with a few minor glitches. I still would prefer face to face. However, I think with a bit more practise it would become more natural.

Looking forward to May 21st Scratch Day 2011 it’s going to be a good one!

Some useful links
To review webinar:
http://scratched.media.mit.edu/resources/hosting-scratch-day-event-february-2011-webinar
Find out more about Stephen's kinect's project:
http://stephen-howell.tumblr.com/
Be a part of the World Museum 2011, Yoshiro's project:
http://day.scratch.mit.edu/users/yoshiro-miyata