Maximized

Flash Platform Game Technology Center

2009-12-22T10:08:00.000Z

Adobe has launched a new site to support those interested in using the Flash Platform for creating games.

There are a number of articles and videos giving a comprehensive background to casual gaming and games development with the Flash Platform, as well as tutorials, samples and games to play.

Flash Platform Game Technology Center http://www.adobe.com/devnet/games/

Get Brains at Carnegie College!

2009-10-24T09:56:00.003Z

Come and join the charity Zombie Walk at Carnegie College in Dunfermline on Thursday 29th October. Facepainting will take place at the Mediaspace building from 11am and the walk will start at 12 noon. Come ready dressed as a zombie or have your face painted for a small fee, with profits going to charity. The event will raise funds for the charity CHAS which helps terminally ill children and their families.

Photograph by Xenobia Joy (Flickr)

Anarchy in the classroom? No, just making it work

2009-10-18T06:51:00.005Z

It's been a while since I identified myself as an Edupunk. In fact it seems it was only 6 weeks after the term was coined that I outed myself as an Edupunk, and now people want to talk to me about it.

This week I had a conference call with some researchers from Ryerson University in Canada who are investigating Maker Culture, and as part of that are researching 'makers' in education, which includes the Edupunk movement.

Of course, I've linked here to more authoritative sources on what Edupunk is, although I did give the researchers my own definition of Edupunk, which you can listen to if you follow this link to the podcast.

Edupunk is only a name, and there are many more educators who wouldn't want to be called 'Edupunk' who regularly do good things in the classroom, challenging the curriculum, finding shortcuts and better ways to teach, engaging students with self-created devices, or hacking/mashing together learning tools. I personally like the Edupunk tag, as long as it's not taken too seriously - there's been too much debate over the name, it's the culture and community that matters. As Shakespeare would say 'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet'. It's what educators do that matters, and if there's a slowly emerging group of educators willing to push the limits to educate their students, then education authorities need to take notice and recognise that these educators are doing this in the best interests of their students, and are doing so because there is something rotten in the current system. Something needs fixed, and the people who are fixing it, mending the leaks, baling out the ship are those at the sharp end of education, the people who do education every day, people who don't just see students as little bags of funding, people who are frustrated by the constraints placed upon them, people who care, and those people are teachers.

I want one of these...

2009-10-02T17:44:00.001Z

2nd Edinburgh Twestival

2009-09-13T07:47:00.003Z

Thursday 10th September saw the second Edinburgh Twestival take place at Electric Circus.

From twestival

Twestivals are charity fundraising events created by Twitter users for Twitter users, usually featuring live music, fun, raffles and a party atmosphere.

I went along with a number of students who are recent Twitter converts, and also met up with some of my Twitter followers face-to-face.

A good time was had, and the live music was superb. Of course, and most importantly the event raised lots of money for the chosen charity, CLIC Sargent.

Questionable Strategies in Web Marketing

2009-09-05T11:57:00.001Z

Recently I’ve received several invites, friend requests and messages via social networking sites that go along the lines of the following:

insert name has sent you a friend request,
Hi Colin, I also went to insert university name and studied the same course as you. I was lucky enough to get work with insert company name who makes insert product. Drop me an e-mail or call me on insert number.

OR

Hi Colin, I got your name from insert name of trusted friend who says you might be interested in insert product. If you’re interested, mail me back or get me on Skype insert Skype name.

Both of these sound quite plausible, but after receiving several in a short space of time I got a little suspicious and started thinking about it.

Of course, some clever modern-day telemarketer is searching the social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Bebo for people who match the target audience of their products, then contact their targets with a message that includes some personal information or friend recommendation gleaned from the web to give the message some plausibility. It’s just like the telephone marketer that calls you and says that Mrs Smith who lives in your street has recommended you for a free insert product or service here which isn’t actually free.

To test my suspicions I replied to my old university ‘buddy’ saying. ‘Great to hear from you, do you remember Professor Zaire who taught project management? I can’t believe he still works there, he must be 8o years old.’

A couple of hours later I receive a reply saying, ‘Yes I can’t believe the Prof. is still there either, he should’ve been pensioned off ages ago. Let me know when you’re free for me to call you’.

Of course Professor Zaire is a complete figment of my imagination, so I’ve just confirmed that this is some web 2.0 social media marketing scam aimed at parting me from my hard earned cash.

Be warned!

Blogging about Teaching Experiences

2009-09-01T12:59:00.003Z

Trying out Wordpress on reccomendation from Mari Smith, Relationship Marketing Specialist. Now keeping a blog on my classroom activities on Wordpress.

As featured on Flashkit.com

2009-08-04T11:48:00.002Z

Checking out one of the best Flash resource sites, Flashkit.com today, and found that my Papervision 3D and Flash tutorial is today's featured tutorial!!

Flash and Papervision 3D Beginners Tutorial

2009-07-28T13:03:00.004Z

Recently I've been playing around with Papervision 3D, a set of Actionscript classes that provides Flash with a 3D engine.

Some really neat interfaces and games have been created using Papervision, but the tutorials I have found haven't been particularly easy to follow, so I've decided to write some of my own.

Check out my first Papervision 3D and Flash beginners tutorial on my website at maximized.co.uk.

Flash Builder

2009-05-16T11:01:00.003Z

Just read some tweets from @adobeted mentioning something called Flash Builder. Seems like the next version of Flex Builder will have a new name.

Adobe Catalyst looks like a great app too - a way for designers to create user interfaces before passing them on to developers who can add the functionality through coding.

I wonder how much these two apps will be integrated, because it sounds like it should be just one app rather than two...

Battlefield Heroes Open Beta

2009-05-05T12:20:00.005Z

I've been playing Battlefield Heroes, the new free multi-player shooter from Electronic Arts.
The game was recently opened up as a public beta, for which I'd registered a few weeks ago.

Similar to the Battlefield series of games, Battlefield Heroes is a team vs team multiplayer with two factions, the Royals and the Nationals. The game can best be described as a cartoon pseudo-World War 2 shooter.

Players choose characters from three different classes - Soldier, Gunner and Commando, and can customize their characters by gaining points in the game or purchasing points in what looks like an innovative method of financing the game. Points can be traded for character customisation - outfits, styles (Pirates for example) and also for abilities and weapons.

The game at present features three different maps, each with different features, such as a pseudo-european village, a seaside map complete with beached pirate ship, etc. Some maps also feature vehicles, which at present are limited to planes, tanks and jeeps.

Battlefield Heroes looks completely different to the other games in the series - using cartoon style graphic similar to those in Team Fortress 2, and also featuring some fun cartoon physics (watch you character fly as he is hit by a tank shell!).

So far, so good. The game plays smoothly, even on my relatively low-spec hardware, and it is very enjoyable. Soon everyone will be whistling the theme tune which sounds like a cross between The Great Escape theme and a football chant!

Mining photography exhibition, Kirkcaldy

2009-03-19T20:11:00.002Z

Visited the photography exhibition 'Black Diamonds' at Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery today. The exhibition is a documentary of a day in Longannet Mine in West Fife, the last deep coal mine to close in Scotland.

The black and white photographs follow a typical day for a miner, starting with the handover of their entry 'ticket', their ride on the trains, on man belts, working, piece time, shift end and showers. The photographs really evoke the sense of cameraderie and tough working conditions of the Fife miners.

Well worth a visit, and a refreshing change from exhibitions of portraits and landscapes.

Twestival Success

2009-02-13T16:10:00.004Z

The Edinburgh Twestival has turned out to be a great success, with over £3500 being raised for Charity: Water.

An evening of fun, music, laughs, drinking and tweeting was promised and was delivered. The Hawke + Hunter was a great venue, with the event split over 2 floors, with the lower floor hosting the entertainment, and the upper floor the bar and chill-out area.

With Twitter becoming ever more popular, it has gained a lot of media attention form the event, and several journalists and TV crews were on hand to capture the event and spread the word (or should that be retweet?)

For avid Twitter users it was a great opportunity to meet face to face with fellow users who they had previously only ever met online.

I managed to catch up with about a dozen of my 'followers' and also gained a few over the course of the evening. I came away from the event feeling that something good had happened - not just the great fundraising for a worthwhile charity, but also that new friendships had started or had grown due to the event. This really was a case of social networking becoming socially concious.

Can't wait till the next one...

Check out my Edinburgh Twestival photos and my interview with Podcast Matters.

As Others See Us - Photography Exhibition

2009-02-12T16:42:00.002Z

Went to see this exhibition at the Scottish Parliament. Portraits of Scottish people (some famous, some not), with extracts from their favourite work of Robert Burns. The photographs' locations tie in with the poem / story. Produced as part of Homecoming 2009, and tying in with the 250th anniversary of the birth of Scotland's favourite poet, Robert Burns.

As it happens, bumped into one of the exhibitors, Ross Gillespie, who was photographing the exhibition layout for his records. Chatted a while about how the project / exhibition came about and also found out that he's originally from Dunfermline, which is where I live. Great to get a personal insight into the work and the exhibition.

Of course, I had to take a photo - I should have asked which work of Robert Burns he'd have liked to go with it...

Game adopted as 'official' game of Edinburgh Twestival

2009-02-09T13:05:00.002Z

Woohoo! My Twitter game has been adopted as 'official' game of the Edinburgh Twestival!

Play the Edinburgh Twestival Game.

My new Flash game

2009-02-07T20:47:00.002Z

I just completed a new Flash game in honour of the Edinburgh Twestival. Check it out at my Edinburgh Twestival Game page.

Edinburgh Twestival

2009-02-06T12:10:00.005Z

On 12 February 2009 175+ cities around the world will be hosting Twestivals which bring together Twitter communities for an evening of fun and to raise money and awareness for charity: water.

Edinburgh is hosting a festival - more details can be found at the Edinburgh Twestival homepage.

As a recent twitter convert I'm hoping to meet up with fellow educators at the Twestival and find out about their use of technology in the classroom. So, if you're going to be there, then look out for me amongst the 200+ crowd, and say hello.

Alternatively, you can Tweet me at @camaxwell.

Also, check out my Edinburgh Twestival game.

Flash Training - Feedback

2009-01-23T10:42:00.003Z

Thank you to everyone who attended the Flash Training day at Carnegie College on Wednesday 21st January. We had delegates from Reid Kerr, South Lanarkshire, Forth Valley, Carnegie, Telford, Langside, Dundee and Cardonald colleges, as well as two delegates from high schools.

The first half of the course covered animation techniques in Flash, including character animation, walk cycles and lip synch. The afternoon session covered the creation of a game in Flash, using ActionScript for player movement, collision detection, scoring and timing.

Thanks for all the nice comments, and good luck with your teaching this forthcoming semester!

If anyone has any further training requirements, please contact me and I'll see what is possible. The next planned training session will be in June, at the end of term. The session can be tailored to meet the requirements of the delegates, so please let me know what you want.

At present we're in the position where we can offer one or half-day courses in each of the following Adobe products - Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Flash, at an introductory or intermediate level. Also if you're interested in animation or games development with Flash, then we can also run full day courses on either of these topics. We can also offer on-site training if you have a suitable training room / software setup.

Remember, our courses are tailored for education, so cover more than just the tools. We look at development process, tips for teaching, and also provide materials that you can take away and use in your own classroom.

Thanks,
Colin

Twitter-woo

2009-01-19T19:45:00.003Z

I have known about Twitter for some time, and know people who use it, but have only just awakened to it potential after meeting up with fellow AEL, @iusher at BETT last week who is a long time Twitter user.

Already through Twitter I've discovered a great new screen capture tool called WINK, which works really like Adobe Captivate, but is freeware - woohoo. I've also managed to follow a number of really interesting people in similar fields to myself, and find out what they're up to and what's new in our shared areas of interest. I've also found several people I know, but never guessed were avid Twitterers (or should that be Twits?). I can't believe I've never Twittered before now and have been missing out on so much. I feel like such a newb.

Follow me at @camaxwell.

Back from BETT

2009-01-16T13:21:00.006Z

It was a busy 2 days spent at BETT with Adobe. I presented on both days on 'Flash Games in the Classroom' and spent a lot of time at the Adobe stand talking to customers and other educators about using Flash and other Adobe software in the classroom.

BETT 2009

We also had a reception at the Altitude broadcasting and conference venue at the top of the Millbank tower - a chance to catch up with fellow Education Leaders and Adobe staff and find out about new and exciting things in the Adobe world.

I didn't have much chance to look around the rest of BETT as it was incredibly busy, but I did bump into Joe Wilson from the SQA and we chewed the fat for a while about our different reasons for being at BETT this year (SQA had their first stand at BETT this year), and about possible future developments between Adobe and SQA.

I also spent some time with the journalist Jack Kenny who writes education articles for a number of publications, including the Guardian and Times Education Supplement. Jack was keen to learn about developments in Scotland and how the Scottish Qualification Authority had partnered with many ICT vendors and integrated vendor curriculum into mainstream secondary and FE qualifications - something he wasn't aware of happening in other regions of the UK. So it looks like us Scots still have that pioneering streak!

As always I took a lot of photographs throughout my time at BETT, so please take a look at my BETT 2009 photo gallery.

Off to BETT

2009-01-13T19:48:00.001Z

BETT starts tomorrow (Wednesday 21st January), so I'll be leaving early in the morning to catch a flight to London.

My presentations at the Adobe stand (K40 on the BETT map) are at 3.30 on Wednesday and 11.00 on Thursday. I'll be presenting on 'Flash Games in Education' and demonstrating a number of different games and simulations used for education. I'll hopefully also pick a member of the audience to star in their own version of a game I'll be demonstrating!

Back on Thursday evening, so will probably post an update and photos then.

Project 365

2009-01-04T15:12:00.002Z

Project 365 isn't new. I read about it on this site, and also, a fellow Adobe Education Leader, Tim Needles recently completed his own Project 366 for 2008.

Anyway, I have resolved to take a photograph every day this year. I will post them approximately weekly to my Blog. At the end of the year it will serve as a reminder of all the good bad and ugly things of 2009.

As it is, I have started without any real thought for what theme the photos will take - i'll probably vary it as the weeks go by and come up with some different ideas from time to time. Also, I almost missed yesterday, and ended up taking a last minute self portrait of me and the kids just before bed time - oops! I must resolve to be more commited and organised!

Talent Crunch

2008-12-22T12:26:00.002Z

Sad news that Channel 4 Talent has been hit by the credit crunch and is shutting up shop.

Channel 4 has for a long time nurtured talent through different schemes such as 4 Talent and Ideasfactory, but now in its being flushed down the global economic shitpipe. Thanks you very much you useless bankers, politicians, economists, filthy fat cats, oil barons and so-called industrialists. If only you were able to think creatively you'd have been able to work a way out of this problem instead of stuffing your pockets with cash and doing a runner.

I had some great experiences working with Channel 4 Ideasfactory in the past, so am really sad to see the end of Channel 4's current talent nurturing scheme.

Good will to all, except bankers, and the long list above, and anyone else who can carry the blame.

Passed - Adobe Certified Associate

2008-12-15T18:05:00.002Z

Today I took the Adobe Certified Associate exam, Rich Media Communication using Adobe Flash® and passed with a score of 95%.

I'm quite pleased with that score - there were 40 questions, so assuming an equal weighting on each question, I only got two wrong. In saying that I was slightly surprised by a couple of questions on Actionscript, as I thought they were at a slightly higher level than I would have expected - but I guess it's questions like this that sort out the good from the great and identify those who could be bothered to delve deeper than the official curriculum materials.

In all I thought it was quite a fair exam, and I've realised that there's one or two features of Flash CS3 that I wasn't aware of (but I took an educated at guess the right answers).

Now I've only the Photoshop exam to do in the new year...

New Google App - Notebook

2008-12-02T22:02:00.002Z

The latest gadget from Google is a 'Notebook' that allows you to easily collect and organise information gathered from multiple websites. Simply install a browser plugin and when you find information you want to keep, select it and right click. An option allows you to add it to your Google Notebook, which records the information (text or graphic) and also links to the original web page.

Whether you are researching for an essay or gathering information about a holiday destination this little app makes life so much easier.

See Google Notebook in action in this video.

- Colin

Flash Training Day - 21 January 2009.

2008-11-27T21:19:00.001Z

Carnegie College is hosting an Adobe Flash training day for teachers and lecturers on Wednesday 21st January 2009. Aimed at teaching staff who already use Flash, the training will cover more advanced animation techniques and using ActionScript for interactivity. The training will be useful for those delivering on current NQ Digital Media Computing, HNC/D Interactive Media and HNC/D Visual Communication courses. The training will be facilitated by Colin Maxwell, Adobe Education Leader.

Further details available here.

Places are limited, so advance booking is required.

Cost is £75 per person.

Carnegie College to merge with Napier University?

2008-11-06T10:26:00.002Z

There's been a rumour for the past week that a merger between Napier Universtity and Carnegie College was coming, however managers have now told staff at Carnegie College that there have been 'talks' about a closer working relationship between the two academic institutions.

The range of options appear to range between a complete takeover of Carnegie College by Napier University, or at the opposite end of the scale, more collaboration on delivering degree programmes.

Watch this space!

Fashion Shoot in Paris

2008-10-27T16:53:00.001Z

Fashion Shoot
Originally uploaded by colin.maximized

No, I didn't take part in this shoot. I was on holiday and happened by.
Aaah, Paris!

All quiet...not quite

2008-09-30T09:22:00.001Z

It's been quiet on my blog lately, but I've been distracted by blogging elsewhere.

I've been using Blogger to support my new college classes and recently set up the following blogs:
photoshop-maximized.blogspot.com
illustrator-maximized.blogspot.com
flash-maximized.blogspot.com
dreamweaver-maximized.blogspot.com

I've also started using the Adobe Education Leaders blog at:
blogs.adobe.com/educationleaders

Check 'em out...

Spotting Digital Fakes

2008-09-17T11:13:00.002Z

With so much controversy arising lately from images that have been altered digitally - Kate Winslett, Beijing Olympics, etc I was interested in finding out how fakes can be spotted, so did a trawl around the web and found that Scientific American has this interesting article explaining a few techniques for spotting digital fakery.

Second Friday

2008-08-29T15:33:00.002Z

It's the end of the first week of classes.

It's been fun, but next week will be busier as the HN students return.

Today we had a short film and discussion session as part of the Carnegie Festival. The films, by students of Screen Academy Scotland were 'Dog' and 'Chain' and a discussion session was held with students and there were contributions from actor Shirley Henderson and staff of Napier University's film courses.

10 things about my new job

2008-08-25T19:59:00.002Z

5 things about my new job / workplace that are better than my old one:

Technician support - a dedicated department technician who is really helpful and organises stuff like battery charging, signing in/out equipment, setting up equipment, etc.
Admin support - dedicated staff to do admin jobs, like phoning students, ordering materials, etc.
Up to date equipment and software - fantastic range of photography equipment, Adobe CS2 or CS3 software EVERYWHERE, new iMacs, great photography studio and video/sound room.
A VLE that works and is easily accessible by staff and students (and is easy to update). Moodle, of course.
An external web server for our department. A world-facing server that lets us support all the technologies we could want for web design, forums, blogs, content management, etc.

5 things I like less about my new job than my old one:

My old pals aren't here
eh... that's it really
nope, can't think of anything else
Yeah, I'm sure
Definitely (at least for the moment)

Day 5 - Friday

2008-08-23T08:03:00.002Z

The day 5 post is a day late as it was my official leaving 'do' from Adam Smith College last night and I didn't have time to update the blog.

Anyway, Friday went quickly at Carnegie College, with a few stragglers being processed through induction and enrolement. We unpacked the art materials and got the ArtSpace ready for Monday, I checked out my computer lab and got all the Macs up and running, and people were busy pulling together their teaching materials and assessments in preparation for the start of classes.

After work it was a quick dash to Kirkcaldy where I met up with a lot of my old workmates for a meal at a new Indian restaurant and a few (too many!) beers. We had a good laugh, reminisced about old times, cracked old jokes and then I abused my old colleagues with an earsplitting rendition of I'm A Believer on the karaoke.

I miss my old colleagues already, and there were a few tears shed over the course of the evening, but I'm sure we'll all stay in touch - it's not as if we're at opposite ends of the Earth or anything.

Professionally we may be enemies, but personally we're all pals.

Day 4 - inductions

2008-08-21T20:28:00.004Z

Induction of NQ students started today. After a few hiccups at the start the day progressed smoothly and it was great to finally meet the students.

It was very interesting to note the difference in Creative Arts students to the ones I'm used to in Computing. Quite a different breed altogether - only one baseball cap in sight, and only a few tracksuit wearers!

We did some activities to try and unlock some creativity and spark the imagination, so hopefully the new students will go away and think about this over the weekend.

Creative and imaginative thought is something that's difficult to teach, and it will be interesting to seee how the graphic design and photography students develop (no pun intended) over the year.

I also had a phone conversation with Liz from Adobe's UK marketing department about some new developments which i hope to become involved in. There will be more news as it's made...

Day three in the CC house...

2008-08-20T18:55:00.003Z

Third day in and the tension is rising. Student inductions start tomorrow for NQ groups and planning was underway for the induction programme.

Meanwhile I was able to log in to the VLE (Virtual Learning Environment - Moodle for those who care)for the first time. It looks like a reasonably competent system, and I'm looking forward to trying it out this forthcoming session. Hopefully I'll be able to add more interactive content into the programme, as most of it is document based. Best of all, staff can EASILY add materials to the VLE very QUICKLY, which is something I'm not used to from my old job ;-)

My own induction continued today and I also got my staff badge. Typical of these badges the photo makes me look like a white blob with black spots for eyes and a black line for a mouth (okay dear reader, I can imagine that you may be thinking that's an improvement).

Received a few e-mails from old colleagues from ASC who are busy coping with their new timetables and additional subjects - good luck!

Day two...

2008-08-19T19:21:00.002Z

A day of meetings and induction and finding my way around.

I have completely forgotten what the first meeting today was all about. It was one of those dull meetings, because dull is sociable and dull likes company. Oh, actually, I just remembered what it was about - Internal Verification - so I was right, it WAS dull!

Anyway, sitting listening to the comments made by my colleagues about the new IV procedures gave me a powerful feeling of deja vu. I could easily have been sitting at ASC instead of CC, listening to the usual banter and sarcy comments. Only the names and faces have changed, the personalities are just the same!

I also had a tour around the campus and a short induction by Human Resources.

My second meeting was about new register and assessment recording procedures. I found myself doodling and attempting to make as many words of 3 letters or longer from the letters in the word STUDENT. I scored 27, with two dubious words, which may have been Klingon.

Someone commented that we'd spent a couple of hours at meetings to be given about 5 basic facts that could have been delivered in a more efficient manner via an e-mail or a brief memo. Anyway, it reminded me of a poster one of my former colleagues had on his office wall, which read. BORED?, NO FRIENDS?, NOTHING BETTER TO DO?, WHY NOT CALL A MEETING?

I also managed to pull together all of my teaching materials - locating the master folders scattered around the campus, and finding, much to my surprise, that there was a lot of really good teaching material available and already photocopied - woohoo!

So the whole day wasn't completely wasted.

First day fun

2008-08-18T21:07:00.004Z

It was big changes all round today as I started my new job at Carnegie College.

I had a unique opportunity to compare two principal's addresses at two different colleges this year - the address at Adam Smith College last Friday, and today's address at Carnegie College. They were really different, each with different styles and focus. While the ASC address was focussed on pursuing a global market (Malawi, Poland, Mauritius), the CC address was about people, and specifically maintaining and supporting a quality teaching staff to support the college goals. There was also a nice introduction to some of the college board members and a demonstration of an electronic polling system, which was quite good fun.

So I got to meet most of my new work colleagues today and see around the building, and get a timetable of classes. I'm teaching a lot of Graphic Design / Visual Communications and Photography classes, particularly in digital imaging, so I'll be doing a lot of Photoshop and some Illustrator. I'm also teaching some introductory photography - so really going back to my roots - it'll be great fun to get back into the darkroom after all this time and do some real wet photography work!

Here's a few photos from my first day - cycling to work, my first glimpse of the college as I ride top work, and my new desk / office.

Moving on...

2008-08-16T08:45:00.004Z

On Monday18th I start a new job at Carnegie College, teaching in the School of Computing and Creative Arts. Having worked at Adam Smith College for over 9 years I felt it was about time to expand my horizons and when this great opportunity arose at Carnegie College I felt I had to go for it.

I'm really excited at the move. The college has some excellent facilities for teaching and I'm looking forward to working in a creative department surrounded by drama, fashion, photography, graphic design and digital media. It will be a real change from the sterile business and computing department of my old job.

Of course, I'll be maintaining my links with Adobe, and promoting the Adobe Certified Associate certification at Carnegie too.

Here's a video showing MediaSpace, made by some college students:

Here's another video of this the 2008 student exhibition held at Dunfermline's Pittencrieff Park pavilion:

Certified!

2008-07-22T16:52:00.002Z

I just got news today that I passed the Adobe Certified Associate - Web Communication with Dreamweaver CS3 exam. I took part in the beta testing of this exam a few weeks ago, but the final exam is now available through Certiport test centres.

I found the exam fairly taxing, and candidates will certainly need to work through all the exercises in the curriculum and become familiar with the software interface before being ready to sit the exam.

The exam itself consists of multiple choice and multiple response type questions, and also some hands-on simulator questions where you have to undertake a small task in a simulated version of the software.

So next step will be Adobe Certified Expert...but that's a much bigger challenge.

I am Edupunk

2008-07-14T11:42:00.005Z

I just discovered that I am a member of a non-exclusive group of educators known as Edupunx. I think this Youtube video will help you understand:

So what makes me an EduPunk?

Several years ago a colleague and I eschewed the use of my former college's VLE in favour of external websites that we could manage ourselves. This allowed us to create and link to learning materials that couldn't be put on the VLE. We offered videos, assessments, links and a whole range of materials and encouraged students to send us content and links to improve the content. (Just to make it clear, my current employer has a much better view of using educational technology, including an established VLE system and a forward thinking strategy on embracing Web 2.0 for learning).

We bypassed the beaurocracy around placing materials on the VLE (and a ridiculous 2 week turnaround). We took control, we didn't pander to the lame requirements of non-educators, we did what we wanted, we did it when we wanted and we did it good.

So what happened? When management found out we were hauled across the coals, our sites were blocked, we were instructed in the use of our corporate (lame) VLE. In retaliation we moved our sites elsewhere so they were no longer blocked, then set up an Intranet server set up to feed material to our students from INSIDE the organisation! The server has been up and running now for several years, and we've used it in numerous ways to further the Edupunk cause - blogging, Youtube style video, file uploading for assesments, links to external resources, etc. It's been so good that most other lecturers now use it, or are planning to adopt it next academic session.

That's one up for the Edupunx!

'Famous' Friend

2008-07-07T20:22:00.002Z

Whilst having my tea tonight I happened to turn the TV over to the Postcode Challenge gameshow, and was sucked into watching it as there was a team from Dunfermline playing and I wanted to see if I recognised anyone.

Anyway, lo and behold, Kathy MacVicar, fellow Adam Smith College lecturer and fellow margarita drinker was in the team. Apparently I was the only person in the whole world that didn't know she was going to be on TV!

For those of yopu that missed it - check the pre-show video.

Summer Holidays - Day One

2008-06-30T15:57:00.002Z

It's the official start of the long summer holidays - I don't count the first weekend as I'm not normally at work then!

The weekend was busy, though - especially with the hangover after the barbecue at my colleagues house the night before. Saturday was spent mostly at the Dunfermline Children's Gala - parading down the high street with the kids, dressed as cowboys, then playing games and picnicing at The Glen (Pittencrieff Park).

So today I started hacking away at the tangled mess of bushes in front of my house, trying to tidy up the garden area. I now have sore arms after several hours of strimming, digging and planting - and it's still not complete. Anyway, should get a rest tomorrow as it's meant to rain and thunderstorm all day - what a great start to the holidays!

RIP Navigator

2008-02-29T12:44:00.003Z

Netscape Navigator will no longer be supported as of tomorrow (1st March 2008) - reported on BBC NEWS.

How the mighty fall - once the most popular Web Browser in the Whole Wide World, it was trounced by the inclusion of Internet Explorer with Windows, then saw its position further eroded by Firefox, Safari, etc.

I'm sure it got better in the end, but at least us web designers won't have to wrestle with the workarounds to get our websites to render properly in Navigator.

Bye bye.

BETT 2008

2008-01-07T10:31:00.000Z

This is BETT week at London's Olympia, the world's largest educational technology event.

Unfortunately I won't be presenting this year at the Adobe stand, as I haven't actually had much time to get to grips with Creative Suite 3 yet! However, I am attending a meeting with Adobe and the SQA about our plans for the DIVA collaboration - and I'll be posting updates over at adobediva.blogspot.com in due course.

This year I'll be looking for examples of video games technology being used for education - there are usually a few games on display, and I'm hoping that there will be more this year, particularly with the increase recognition of games as platforms for learning. I'm planning an article for the SFEU's Broadcast magazine on video games for learning, so am hoping to catch up on some new products at BETT.

So far, looking through the BETT website, this year's buzzword seems to be 'Personalised Learning'. As a teacher, this phrase fills me with dread, conjuring up images of lots of form filling, diagnostic testing, and micro-streaming of students. It sounds like a complete headache for teachers, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised at BETT. Even if it turns out to be as hideously ugly as it sounds, at least we only have to put up with it until the next buzzword is released!

Games Growth Guise

2007-12-23T14:17:00.000Z

According to an article on the BBC News website there has been a 25% rise in spending on video games in the UK over the past year, now amounting to gross sales of around £1.5 billion.

Now, some are rejoicing at these statistics, but lets look at this again - could it be that the average game now costs £39.99 rather than the £29.99 that it did a year ago?

I NEVER paid more than £29.99 for a new game for the Playstation 2, but XBOX 360, PS3 and Wii titles are mostly selling at around £39.99. So if you do the sums, you'll work out that they are actually selling around the same amount of titles (possibly less), but charging us more.

Scrooge is alive and well and working in the gaming industry, ready to grab our money and peddle the same old tosh, repackaged with glitzy graphics, on shiny new hi-def disks. Bah Humbug!

Return to Vocational Education

2007-11-21T09:34:00.000Z

During my trip to San Francisco earlier this year I chatted with Susan McLester, editor-in-chief of Technology and Learning magazine about how IT education in Scotland was changing. In particular she was keen to hear about the DIVA alliance, and how SQA was partnering with ICT vendors to make qualifications more vocationally relevant.

Susan has now published her article on Career Education in the Digital Age. In the article she cites a number of examples of where education has returned to a more vocationally oriented approach, and have proved successful.

It seems that the UK is not the only country where education has come under criticism from employers for failing to address their skills needs. However, it would make a lot more sense if employers would stop criticising, and start acting, and perhaps take part ownership of the problem - perhaps partnering more closely with schools and colleges to address skills shortages.

ECGBL Day Two

2007-10-26T20:13:00.000Z

This morning I chaired a session at the conference on Evaluations Using Games Based learning., during which 3 papers were presented:

Evaluating the impact of subjects' personalities on the design of educational games
Profitable experiences from a business game
Does Games Based learning Enhance the learning and potential academic achievement for the student compared with a traditional diadactic approach?

These presentations opened my eyes to a few interesting ideas, including the effects of time limited games on neurotics and the effects of positive prompting on less conscientuous students.

The keynote before lunch was a presentation by TPLD, a Dundee based company that produces teamworking games. They demonstrated their EduTeams product and also a new product called Winning, and announced their alliance with the SQA on developing a qualification in teamworking that uses their EduTeams product - something I was particularly interested in, as it was also the focus of my own research.

After lunch I was able to choose from a number of presentations, and chose to attend one on engaging disaffected learners with games. I also saw a presentation that suggested a new model for developing serious games, and a further presentation that suggested that a mainstream game could be developed to help teach learners about Australian Aborigine culture.

In all the conference was very good, and I have come away with some new ideas to explore and also some useful information that I'll be able to integrate into my teaching practice in the future.

ECGBL Day One

2007-10-25T19:26:00.000Z

Today was the first day of the inaugural European Conference on Games Based Learning, hosted by the University of Paisley at the Glyhhill Hotel in Paisley, Scotland.

The day kicked off with welcomes from Prof. Thomas Connolly and Prof. Seamus McDaid of the university of Paisley and a keynote by Prof. Bob Stone of the University of Birmingham.

The keynote was on A human-centered approach to delivering meaningful tools for learning, and Prof. Stone demonstrated a number of projects he and his team have been working on in the areas of medical and defence training. Some very spectacular demos of army training were shown, many of which were developed using the Cryengine used in the game Far Cry.

Prof. Stone went on to cliam that hi fidelity graphics and completely realistic simulations were not absolutely necessary for successful learning to take place, and that developers of games-based learning need to ensure they involve end users in the development process in order to create usable solutions - much like the user centric design principles employed in traditional software or interface development.

After the keynote the conference split into 3 streams on Designing Games, Games for Business training, and Games Based Learning in schools. It was during this session that I presented my paper Team Play - Using computer games to engage learners in teamworking.

Later keynotes from the husband and wife team of Dr Kurt Squire and Dr Constance Steinkuehler focussed on the design of video games-based learning and also on the psychology and educational use of virtual worlds.

The first day offered some very good insights into some of the research into the use of games in learning, and some very useful and inspiring ideas emerged.

more tomorrow...

Celebrations...5 days of Broadband

2007-10-12T19:08:00.000Z

I'm having a drink tonight to toast 5 days of continuous broadband service from Talk Talk. At last it looks like I may be getting a reliable Internet service. WooHoo!

Shame its taken so long.

Adobe DIVA Lead Centre

2007-10-10T18:56:00.000Z

Yesterday (9th October), after a presentation by myself and Kevin Clark from the Centre for Creative Industries, Adam Smith College was appointed as lead centre for the SQA's DIVA partnership with Adobe.

We are really excited by this opportunity to take a lead in new developments in web and digital media that will affect the Further Education sector in Scotland.

Talk Talk, up and down like the proverbial underpants

2007-10-07T20:06:00.000Z

Yes more broadband issues with Talk Talk, from the Carphone Warehouse. My line is up and down like the proverbial underpants. 10 minutes online, then nothing, then a few minutes later it works again, ad nauseum.

How about this new slogan for Talk Talk - 'Talk Talk, so bad they named it twice'.

Talk Talk talk back

2007-10-04T16:59:00.000Z

It's one of those rare moments when my Talk Talk braodband is actually working, so I thought I'd blog the event!!!

My Internet connection hasn't been working all weekend - the last time I got online was last Thursday, so that's been a whole week. Suddenly it started working again - it seems that a GREEN light on the modem means a bad connection, and an ORANGE light means a good connection.

So, in the intervening period we've written a complaint to Talk Talk and also made further calls to their helpline / customer services. We finally got through to the customer services / complaints dept and made a complaint. They promised to credit our account with £50 due to the problems we've been having. They said this would happen within 10 days, so they've still got time to deliver... Meantime they still haven't come up with any explanation for our intermittent service.

European Conference on Games Based Learning

2007-09-26T20:12:00.000Z

The first European Conference on Games Based Learning will be held at the University of Paisley on 25 & 26 October.

The event sees a number of academics and business people presenting on various topics around the subject of serious games. Computer games for learning has become quite a hot topic of late, with a lot of research into how to use computer games to engage learners and provide meaningful learning for 21st century digital natives.

This year I'm presenting the research I did with the Team Play Hotel and Team Play Sports games, which were developed to help build teamworking skills amongst college students.

I'm also looking forward to the opportunity to rub shoulders with presenters and delegates from around the world, including Norway, Finland, USA, Ireland, Spain, France, Austria, Germany and Italy. I also notice that one of my lecturers from Napier University, Alison Crerar, is presenting too, on the subject of designing computer games for adult learners.

I'll report back after the event...assuming talk Talk start providing me with a reliable broadband service...

All Talk Talk and No Action

2007-09-26T19:58:00.000Z

Recently transferred to Talk Talk for telephone and broadband, but am regretting it BIGTIME!
My telephone line was transferred on 19th September, and the phone works fine, but my broadband connection has been so intermittent that I've probably not spent any more than 1 hour online in the past week.

I've re-installed, checked settings, phoned the 'helpline' and spent upwards of 7 hours waiting on hold or occasionally talking to a so-called helpdesk operator, but so far the broadband connection hasn't improved.

I should have known not to be tempted by cheap broadband / phone services - after all, Talk Talk was lambasted by the consumer TV show Watchdog not so long ago.

Anyway, it looks like they are still rubbish. So - take some advice and pay for a decent service. I was quite happy with BT / Tesco and paying a bit more every month, but at least I got a working service.

In case you're wondering how I posted this - It's one of those rare moments that my broadband is working, so I'm devoting what little online time I get to letting people know how bad Talk Talk is. Get it up yeh!

Return from San Francisco

2007-07-28T12:53:00.000Z

Absolutely knackered after a week of intense training, updating and networking at the Adobe Education Leaders institute in San Francisco. Managed to cram in some training on Illustrator, In Design, Premiere Pro, After Effects and Soundbooth.
There was also a series of fun social events including a San Francisco Bay cruise, pool at Jillians and karaoke at the Silver Cloud in Lombard Street.
Along the way we also tried out geo-cacheing, got interviewed by the press, took in the sights and met lots of great and passionate educators.
Can't wait till next year...
In the meantime, the galloping kiwi-canadian Brenda Frisk has blogged the whole event at her Brennie's Bytes blog.

Adobe Ed Leader Camp 2007

2007-07-25T17:57:00.000Z

Currently in San Francisco at Adobe Education Leaders Institute with around 60 other Ed Leaders from across the world. The week is a heads up on new and upcoming products and training on the current CS3 suite. There's lots of great social events too - pool, beer, great food and a bay cruise on Thursday!
Having fun, learning lots and meeting a lot of great and inspiring people.
The photo shows me with fellow AEL's Laurie Hazard (left) and Sandi Smith.

SQA Computing & IT Showcase

2007-06-23T09:16:00.000Z

The SQA Computing and IT Showcase was held at Hampden Park in Glasgow on Friday 22nd June. The vent showcased the range of new activities and developments within computing that the SQA have been working on recently.
Updates were made on the progress of the DIVA initiative - the collaboration between SQA and various digital media and ICT vendors (Adobe, Cisco, Microsoft, Autodesk, Oracle, CIW, Apple, etc). There were also information sessions on the new National Certificate Digital Media Computing and the new HNC Interactive Media.

Adobe and CIW Masterclasses

2007-06-21T18:16:00.000Z

This has been a busy and eventful week as the Adam Smith College hosted train-the-trainer masterclasses by Adobe and CIW as part of the SQA's DIVA programme.
Dr James Stanger presented the CIW masterclass, whilst Anuja Dharkar, Adobe's Worldwide Curriculum Manager, and myself presented two 2-day masterclasses on Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Flash.
With participants from over 20 colleges in Scotland, it was a real who's-who of the Interactive Media and Web Design learning community.
The event was arranged by SQA to provide training and information for educators delivering new units and courses that have been developed recently by the SQA, including the NPA Web Design Fundamentals, the NC Digital Media Computing and HNC Interactive Media.
I particularly enjoyed teaching the Flash part of the Adobe course, where we looked at the new features of Flash CS3, investigated Actionscript 3.0 and built digital narratives incorporating animation, photos and video.
Coming up next is the SQA's Showcase event at Hampden Park on Friday 22nd June where current and future developments in Computing, Multimedia, Web Design and Networking will be on show.

20 Years of Pixar

2007-06-08T15:17:00.001Z

Made it to the Pixar exhibition in Edinburgh just in time, 3 days before it ended. Anyway - it was great. The 3D zoetrope was inspired, and the cinema experience where you zoom into a pictures on a wall, and they become 3D and you go inside them, was amazing - you can even get motion sickness.
A lot of effort obviously went into this exhibition, and it wasn't just a whole lot of stills and storyboards on show (though they were interesting too from an animators point of view).
So, if the exhibition comes to a venue near you, then I'd recommend you go along. And my 7 year old son recommends it too - he went with school and raved about it so much that I felt obliged to go myself, and it was worth it!

SAW

2007-06-08T15:15:00.000Z

Okay, I'm behind the times and just saw this on DVD. It's good - a horror / thriller/ crime drama that isn't really as shocking as it was made out to be. I bet the sequels are not as good though.

Spiderpants 3

2007-06-08T15:14:00.000Z

Spiderman 3 - summed up in two words. Nothing new.

NISOD Conference, Texas

2007-05-12T17:37:00.000Z

This week I'm attending the NISOD conference in Texas as part of a group who are presenting on the Focus on Learning 2 project (FOL2) which I took part in last year.

FOL2 involved a number of colleges in Scotland developing new ways to teach employability skills. My project involved creating and testing a computer game to help teach teamworking skills. The result was Team Play Hotel, a Flash game where teams of up to 4 players manage a hotel by taking part in a series of mini-games.

Anyway, we're attending the NISOD conference to present the FOL2 project and disseminate some of the findings of the study. We're also visiting 2 community colleges during the visit, and will be able to attend some of the workshops, presentations and keynotes at the conference itself.

The conference will see the first public showing of the new version of Team Play hotel, which has been redesigned to be set in a Sports and Leisure Centre - Team Play Sports. The revamped game involves more mini-games and better graphics, and has been particularly designed for the Sports department at my college.

Looking forward to the trip - in particular seeing the American colleges - I'm sure we'll see some exciting and inspiring work going on there. Also hoping to attend one of the conference sessions on 'Neomillenial Learning Styles', presented by Dr Chris Dede of Harvard University.

Will try to keep blogging while I'm away and will report back on anything interesting that I see.

Antisocial networking

2007-05-09T12:10:00.000Z

There’s a lot of talk about virtual worlds, social networking, the third place and all the great things that are going on online, but what about the bad things? What about the anti-social networking?

My first experiences of anti-social networking was in Counterstrike, when one player insisted in attacking his own teammates. It’s happened in other game I’ve played and it is really annoying. Check out the hilarious (and now famous) Leroy Jenkins video on Youtube to see how to piss off your World of warcraft friends. Fortunately conscientous SysAdmins will often bar obnoxious players from their game server.

Also, a few months ago I read about some guilds in WoW having anti-gay policies and preventing access to players who admitted to being gay. There was an outcry and the story made the popular press.

A few years ago my local paper ran an article on the menace of boy-racers who would hang out in the Esplanade car park, race along the road and generally cause a nuisance late at night. The story revealed that the group were organising meetings through a website. Luckily no-one made the connection that some of the boy-racers had learned to create websites at my college…

Recently in my college a noticeable slowdown in network connectivity was blamed on a rise in students accessing and using the social networking site Bebo.com. Some staff wanted it blocked, however I vetoed the ban as my honours degree students were using the site as a case study in virtual communities. Afterwards I was approached by two members of staff who cursed me for disapproving of the ban. They claimed that their students were spending too much time on Bebo instead of doing college work, and that public-access computer labs were filling up with Bebo users and that hardworking students couldn’t access a computer to do legitimate college work. Of course, no-one else had the foresight to think that students would evade any ban by simply using a different social networking site (I’d recommend Flixster, by the way!).

So it looks like there is a growing opposition to social networking, beacause some folk actually see it as antisocial. No doubt they’ll be lobbying their MP to slap a virtual ASBO on the social networkers, and will fail to realise that in doing so they’re actually being anti-social themselves.

My message is 'embrace the technology'. Stop banning things and start educating people.

What does it mean?

2007-05-04T09:50:00.000Z

I've been seeing this number all over the web recently, and a lot of people seem to be quite excited by it - but what does it mean? I think it's a number represented in Hexadecimal (base 16), but I really don't know what it is or what to do with it. Maybe it's one of those Alternative Reality Game things? It might be a cryptic clue leading to proof that God exists. Maybe its completely useless to most people, except those that own a great big f***ing telly (to quote one of Irvine Welsh's character). Any ideas? ;-)

09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0

Campaign trail hits Adam Smith

2007-04-30T13:21:00.000Z

The Labour Party campaign trail hit the Adam Smith College today, with First Minister Jack McConnell, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and MSP Marilyn Livingstone appearing at the college's Atrium.

Focussing on education, the First Minister told the audience that Labour was the only choice for Education in Scotland, with the other parties focussing their attention on other areas. Chancellor Gordon Brown then went on to give praise to MSP Marilyn Livingstone and giving her full credit for the investment in Kirkcaldy that has brought two new primary schools to the town and investment in the local hospital.

Click here for more photos...

p.s. The opinions and views of the Labour Party and the Adam Smith College are not necessarily shared with the authors of this blog.

New Flash tutorials blog

2007-03-17T16:56:00.000Z

I've decided to start a new blog on one of my favourite topics - teaching Flash, so if you're interested in learning more about Flash, please head over to flashteacher.blogspot.com.
I plan to post new video tutorials approximately every two weeks, with links to related websites during the intervening weeks.
If you have any suggestions for tutorials, or have found a fascinating Flash-related URL, then please post a message or drop me an e-mail.
The site will cover some of the basics, but will mainly offer tutorials that involve a bit of Actionscripting.

Half complete

2007-03-02T20:26:00.000Z

Finally completed Halflife 2 Episode One which i've had since about June last year.

I'd got to the final boss battle against the strider a few weeks ago, after playing on and off for nearly a year, and thought I'd have a quick go at it tonight. Anyway - I completed the battle on my second go and i guess i'm now ready for the next installment.

Verdict on HL2 Episode One - pretty good, but a bit short and lacking in variety. Lets hope the next installment will provide a bit more - maybe some of vehicles and maybe some really new and interesting baddies.

Cubed

2007-02-23T18:27:00.000Z

This week I bit the bullet and invested in a new games console. I'd pondered over the choice of a XBOX 360 and a Wii for some time, knowing a PS3 was way out of reach of my wallet.

Anyway, the choice was made and I spent a whole £40 on a used Nintendo Gamecube.

Why? I hear you ask. Well, two reasons really:

There are a whole lot of great games on the Cube that don't exist on other consoles. I couldn't deny myself the joys of Resident Evil, Mario, Zelda, Metroid Prime, etc. Even better is that many games shops, and E-bay, are selling a lot of the games really cheap as nobody seesm to want them!
The games, memory card and controllers will work on the Wii (which I've decided will be my next console, but only when there's enough great games to make it worthwhile and when I'm on better terms with my accountant).

So, I'm currently splitting my gaming time between Resident Evil Zero, Star Wars Rogue Leader, Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime and a host of other great games that have never made it to other consoles.

So long Playstation suckers!

End of term

2006-12-22T09:53:00.000Z

It's the last day of term at Adam Smith College (or Carlsberg college as some folk are calling it - work it out for yourselves). The place is empty, no-one has turned up for my 9.00am class, and its unlikely anyone will arrive for the 11.00am one either.

So, since I can't leave until 1pm, I just thought I'd share my 'best of the year':

Best computer game: Halflife 2 Episode One
Best movie: Superman Returns (actually quite crap, but its the only one I saw at the cinema this year)
Best TV show: Torchwood
Best Album: Snow Patrol, Eyes Open
Best gig I went to: Status Quo, Edinburgh
Best song: The Fratellis, Chelsea Dagger
Best college in the world, probably: Some bloke college
Best web game: Line Rider

Adobe Acrobat 8 Tour

2006-11-16T14:36:00.000Z

Adobe are touring the country just now giving free workshops on Adobe Acrobat 8. I managed to get to the Edinburgh session and found out a whole lot about this one Adobe product that I've barely used before.

One great feature was the ability to share and work on documents with others so that a group of users can mark up documents with suggestions for changes. This doesn't even need a specialist server - a shared network drive can be used for the purpose.

Also, there's a neat feature where forms can be embedded in PDF documents, then sent out to a list of people via e-mail. The form can then be filled in and sent back - Acrobat will then collate all the results and provide them as a CSV file for easy import into a database or other application - brilliant!

It looks like Acrobat is shaping up to be a more comprehensive document management system, and this can only be enhanced by the recent decision by ISO (The International Standards Organisation) to adopt PDFs as the standard for archival of digital documents.

This has certainly prompted me to take a closer look at Acrobat and how it can be used in document creation and management.

Transatlantic Connection

2006-11-09T11:58:00.000Z

Hosted an Acrobat Connect session last night with Dr Robert Leneway at Western Michigan University.

Bob has a class of trainee teachers and he wanted to demonstrate the use of technology for remote working, so we set up a little demo, and I showed the class some photos from my home town (Dunfermline), and some of the work I've done.

We had a little trouble with the audio, but the webcam worked well and the chat system made up for the lack of audio.

Despite the troubles it was quite successful and good fun. This opens up a whole host of opportunities for international working, and I'd love to hook up with a class of students and get them to work collaboratively with one of my classes.

Dawn of War

2006-11-03T16:13:00.000Z

Just as the new Dawn of War is released in the shops I'm just getting into the original 2004 version.

I was a big Command and Conquer fan when it was released in 1995 - actually one of the first PC games I ever bought, but haven't really played many RTS games since.

Perhaps its because these games seem to need quite a lot of time invested in playing them. In fact, that's exactly why I don't play RPG's - I don't have the time.

Anyway, I'm quite enjoying Dawn of War, its a lot of fun, and getting harder now that I've reached level 6 and my Space Marines are taking a bit of a hammering from a group of decidedly wimpy looking Eldar.

If you like RTS games, like a bit of sci-fi action, and missed Dawn of War first time round, then pop down your local Game Station, or over to E-Bay where you can pick up a pre-owned copy for about a fiver.

Peegloss and other new words

2006-10-24T11:15:00.000Z

This week on BBC's Have I Got News For You (Friday 20 October 2006) they tried to make up a new word - it was 'peegloss'. I Googled it today and got three hits. The panel came up with several different ideas about what it meant - an Albanian curry, a piece of medieval armour or a rash on a labrador caused by a Vitamin D deficiency. Have you any idea what peegloss means?

My suggestion is that peegloss is a virus - a virus spread by word of mouth, by television, by the web, by e-mail or any other communication medium. It'll be interesting to Google this in weeks to come, and see if it spreads. It's how the word 'quiz' came into being.

I also learned a another new word today - eccky.

Now that's interesting...

Buenos Dias!

2006-10-17T08:22:00.000Z

Living it up on the Costa Del Sol for a week. It´s great to have sun and heat in October!

We had a brush with fame on the way out - Susie from Big Brother was on our flight to Malaga. I spotted her on the way onto the plane, but couldn´t figure out who she was . Later she was in the queue for the toilet on the plane and was standing next to my seat. Her pneumatic boobs were right at eye level, and it was then that I recognised her!

Hasta luego amigos!

What have I been doing?

2006-10-05T11:18:00.000Z

A colleague says that blogs are for those who have nothing better to do. I disagreed. Now I agree, kind of. I haven't posted recently because I have been doing other, maybe better things (though one of them is setting up another blog - notinclass.blogspot.com).

Things I have been doing:

Throwing together a quick video to describe a computer game I've been working on to help improve teamworking skills.
Creating some e-learning materials for my college's sports department, on anatomy.
Playing Halflife 2: Episode One and finding out what all the furore was about the elevator scene. Did you know that they actually use Steam to analyse how players play the game - and have adjusted this part of the game that was proving too difficult for many?!

Hey - gotta go and do better things...

Return of the King

2006-09-10T14:48:00.000Z

I'm not much of a football fan, but years ago I worked as a photographer and covered Dunfermline Athletic games, so I have a bit of a soft spot for the team that goes back all those years.

Anyway, I found myself this weekend at the Dunfermline - Kilmarnock game, which incidentally was Stevie Crawford's return debut at East End Park, which made it a bit of a special occasion. Just before the game I bumped into Stevie's dad, who was looking a bit nervous, but this wasn't caused by pre-match nerves, he just couldn't find his wife in the crowd!

The sun was shining on East End Park, but it looked as if it was raining on the team. 10 minutes into the first half and Killie were one - nil up. The Pars equalised with a shot by Captain Darren Young - which was a saving grace for him as he'd had a terrible game up until then. Sometimes it looked like the Pars had no idea what they were doing. The defence were a shambles and the crosses to the strike team of Crawford and Jim Hamilton never came. So by half time the score stood at 1 all.

The second hald saw Killie go into the lead again, just 7 minutes after the break, and to be honest it looked like it was all over, but the Pars started to creep back into the game and finally Gary Mason scored the equaliser.

I think most fans were content that the game would end up as a draw, when suddenly, at only 10 minutes to go, the ball ended up at Stevie Crawford's feet, with only two men and the goalie between him and the net. Going alone he turned and twisted between the defenders, and nutmegged the goalie to score the decider. It was a superb finish which earned Stevie a standing ovation, and I think he then spent the next ten minutes celebrating to the tune of 'Stevie..Stevie' from the Norrie MCathie Stand.

A terrible game, with a spectacular finish. Kilmarnock must have felt robbed.

Steve Irwin 1962 - 2006

2006-09-04T19:55:00.000Z

The death of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin is a sad loss to both his family and to his millions of fans worldwide. Steve entertained and informed us with his unique way of tackling the world's most dangerous animals - crocodiles, snakes, spiders and other crawly things that most of us would rather avoid.

Of course, he also provided a great service to the animal community - helping re-home abandoned animals from across the globe.

A while ago I made a short animation which was based on Steve Irwin. I would like to offer it as a small personal tribute to Steve Irwin who entertained, informed and enthralled us for many years.

Steve Irwin's Koala Encounter

My Pal Shona

2006-09-01T18:56:00.000Z

I'd like to tell you a bit about my pal Shona. I work with Shona, and have done for over a year. We share an office. She teaches a lot of the same kind of subjects as me.

Here's a few fun facts about my pal Shona -

She is funny, but not as funny as she thinks she is!
She makes odd sounds when listening to music with her headphones - sort of screetchy noises, a bit like those weird folk who don't get picked for the X -Factor.
She drinks beer.
She is a Big Brother fan.
She makes great chicken skewers for the barbecue.

Despite all her bad habits and stuff, Shona is great and she's my best pal, but I sure wish she would squeeze that zit!

24/7 Web, but not on a Bank Holiday

2006-08-29T19:20:00.000Z

It's my wedding anniversary today. I thought I would 'say it with flowers'.

So, I tried 8 different flower delivery services on the web before finally finding one that would deliver on 29th August. Why? Because its a bank holiday weekend, and most won't deliver until Wednesday 30th.

What's more, FIVE of those services made me go through the whole order process before telling me they couldn't deliver on my required day!

That was such a huge waste of time and effort. Poor show Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys, Marks and Spencer and Bunches.co.uk.

So, who won my order in the end? Good old Interflora. Okay, they still made me wait till the end of the process to confirm the delivery date, but at least they did it despite the bank holiday - and they even delivered at 8.30am!

Is it really too much to ask that your flowers be delivered on a birthday, anniversary or other occasion? Is it really a great service to let your users plough through the whole order process before letting them down? I must remember to tell my web design students about this so they can be a step ahead of the design houses that produced the order systems for all these big companies. Hey guys - THINK IT THROUGH!

Paperless office, brainless management

2006-08-23T17:28:00.000Z

The summer holidays are over and it's time to return to work. You're refreshed, feeling enthusiastic, looking forward to new students, new subjects and making a difference to someone's life. Then someone goes and spoils it.

It's the same every year. While teachers and lecturers have had a long, well earned rest, the managers have had time on their hands to think up new and cruel punishments for their staff, and they unleash it just when you get back to work, just when you were feeling positive and looking forward to the new academic year.

"So, what is it this year?", I hear you ask. Three words CLEAR DESK POLICY.

Yes, you can't keep anything on your desk. It's got to be empty. Nil, zero, zip, f**k all. Not a sausage, not a pen, not a single leaf of A4 paper, maybe not even your elbows.

The pointy haired boss has decreed that there is a clear desk policy. Easy for him to say, he obviously has too little work to do, and has too much time on his hands.

So, I have a strategy. Anything that comes in the mail gets sent back, then someone else can keep it on their desk or dispose of it. It keeps my desk clear, it means more time to do my job, it keeps the mailman in employment. Woohoo, winners all round!

I'm also open to any other strategies which might asist me in keeping a clear desk. Please e-mail me with any suggestions - don't post it, 'cause you know what will happen to it!

Adam Smith returns...

2006-08-17T19:22:00.000Z

No, the famed Fife economist and writer of 'The Wealth of Nations' has not risen from the grave, it's just time for staff to return to The Adam Smith College, Fife!

Sadly I will miss the Principal's address and the fun session lined up for us on Friday 18th as I will be presenting at the SQA Showcase in Glasgow.

The showcase is a roundup of what's been happening at SQA over the past year - new HND's, revamped qualifications and new projects. I will be presenting on the work we've been doing with Adobe as part of the DIVA project.

So, staff are back at Adam Smith on Friday, but students don't start for a bit - mid next week I think. Then it will be a week of enrolement before the fun (and classes) begin. Its always an exciting time of year!

Film Four broadcasts Anime

2006-08-09T12:17:00.000Z

I just noticed that Film Four is showing a series of Anime movies this and next week - running until Thursday August 17.

The films start each day around 4 - 5pm. One of the featured films is Hayao Miyazaki's classic 'Princess Mononoke', which airs on Friday 11th August.

Tune in if you can.

Back home...

2006-08-08T16:58:00.000Z

Finally back home in Scotland. It's raining, but that's very refreshing after the sun baked streets of California. Had to laugh when I saw this advert for the new daily flights from Edinburgh to Atlanta!

Had a fantastic time in San Jose / San Francisco. Met lots of inspiring people and heard a lot about some exciting projects. I'm really looking forward to getting my students involved in some of these projects - it'll be great to add an international dimension to some of the things we do, and a chance to use Breeze to hook up with students overseas.

Really interested in Eva Lamarr's CSI Webquest, where students investigate a local cemetery and use multimedia to report their findings. This could be interesting if we did Dunfermline Abbey, where we have the grave of King Robert the Bruce and victims of the great fire of Dunfermline in 1624. It should certainly prove interesting for our American cousins, as some of these people existed even before Columbus discovered America!

Anyway, can't mention every project here. Suffice to say that some educators are doing great things with Adobe technology all over the world, and now that many of us have had a chance to meet there will be more opportunities for interesting partnerships and global cooperation.

48 hours in San Francisco

2006-08-06T16:58:00.000Z

Sorry I haven't been posting every day - it's been so busy.

Anyway, after getting a lift up the scenic route to San Francisco I've spent a couple of days of extreme coincidences.

First I spot Maxwell's hotel, then in the same street 'Natalies Antiques' (my daughter is Natalie), then I find myself in Scotland Street. Next I'm walking along Fisherman's Wharf when I bump into a fellow Adobe Education Leader, Richard Osbourne. Later I bump into another AEL, Roxanna, at the Exploratorium science museum. Freaky or what - is someone trying to tell me something - oh, and there's also a pub called Edinburgh Castle, just up the road from this Internet Cafe!

Anyway, I'm feeling really inspired by the AEL Camp at San Jose. It has really put a lot of things in perspective, and I have seen how 'stone age' our use of technology in Scottish education really is. I guess that's what the AEL programme is all about - getting educators to use creative technology in the classroom, sharing that experience and extending best practice to the farthest reaches of the Earth.

So, it's Happy Birthday to me today. Looking forward to getting home now and celebrating with the family.

Hope to see all you readers soon, and actually quite looking forward to going back to work...

;-)

Greetings from San Jose

2006-08-02T16:16:00.000Z

Long journey, but its so exciting to be here finally.

San Jose is quite a cool place. Very quiet during the day - but busier at night as there's lots of restaurants, cinemas, theatres, etc.

The Adobe HQ is a magnificent building, two towers linked by a bridge, with cool floors covered in typefonts. Nice cafeteria, a gym, dry cleaners, shop, etc.

Hotel is good. Sharing with Steve Adler from New Jersey, who apart from teaching also plays bass in a rock band!

Had a day of presentations on existing and upcoming Adobe products followed by a night playing bocce - Italian bowls. Currently in an E-learning class to learn about using Breeze, with Breeze evangelist Kim Cavanaugh - check Kim's website.

More photos...
Bocce Video

WMD - Weapons of Mentos and Diet Coke

2006-06-22T17:26:00.000Z

After seeing all the videos of people mixing Mentos sweets with fizzy drinks on sites such as www.eepybird.com I felt I had to try it out myself, just to see if it really worked.

So, tonight, Thursday 22nd June 2006 at 18.15hrs, me and the kids tried it under laboratory conditions.

The experiment was undertaken using an almost full 2 litre bottle of Diet Coke (I took a swig beforehand) and 11 Mentos sweets (the kids had some earlier).

WARNING! trying this at home may result in uncontrollable fits of laughter.

Follow this link to see the result...

The way to San Jose

2006-06-21T18:59:00.000Z

Woohoo! This August I'm jetting off to the Adobe Education Leaders' Summer Camp at Adobe HQ in San Jose.

It's a jam packed week of workshops using a range of Adobe products, a chance to meet up with fellow AEL's from across the globe, and also a chance to learn more about Adobe's new product range and how to use it.

I'm planning on signing up for workshops on video production and web design, because I need to brush up my skills. However, there's also workshops on print media (InDesign), electronic portfolios (Captivate, Acrobat & Contribute), and games design with Flash.

It will be a great opportunity for a face-to-face with some of the people I've only ever communicated with via the forums and online meetings, and I hope that I can pick up lots of tips and ideas for making better use of technology in my own classes.

I might even be able to do a bit of sight seeing, and will try to post daily updates on the blog.

WOW? Student Exhibitions

2006-06-12T19:18:00.000Z

Managed to visit a couple of student exhibitions recently - The University of Abertay's 'Computer Arts Exhibition' and Paisley University's 'Digital Futures'.

The exhibitions had great venues, the Hannah Maclure centre in Dundee and the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, respectively. There was a lot of 3D animation work on display - and who can blame students for choosing 3D as their medium of choice for their honours projects - certainly the games, films and FX industry is probably still in need of people with these skills.

I was dismayed, however, by the lack of vision on display. A lot of the work was very alike, or very pedestrian. The graduates are obviously very skilled with the tools - Lightwave, Maya, 3DS Max, etc, but there just doesn't seem to be much imagination kicking around. I would love to see something different, not just another 'big robot walks through a cityscape' or 'Lara Croft stereotype with gravity defying boobs performs some acrobatics'.

Where's the storytelling? where's the characterisation? where's the emotion? where's the innovation? - I just didn't see much of this and I didn't see anything that made me stop and go WOW!

Maybe the courses don't encourage this. Perhaps the education system kicks the living shit out of any imagination our students had. Perhaps its all about keeping to the rules instead of bending them. Maybe it's easier to give a grade to someone who sticks to the rules - easier for tutors to mark if it meets the assessment criteria.

So here's a radical thought - how about marking projects on WOW factor? Instead of looking at a piece of work and saying 'that deserves a pass because it used 5 animation principles, or 3 advanced rendering techbiques', lets say 'that really made me go WOW! - give it 19 out of 20'.

Maybe that will encourage our students to really show us what they can do, and our universities will stop churning out technicians and start producing craftsmen.

Grand Theft Auto NexGen

2006-05-15T13:45:00.000Z

Rockstar’s recently announced at E3 that the next GTA will be released on XBOX 360 and PS3, apparently with downloadable content via Microsoft!

Speculation has started in what location and era the game might be set.

70’s New York seems to be a favourite, but my personal suggestion is modern day Glasgow.

You can just imagine the tasks…

“Jimmy, there’s a Fiat Punto at the back o’ Tesco’s on Sauchiehall Street. Tak’ it roond tae big Mags and pick up some smack before drivin’ it over tae the Gala Bingo at Springburn.”

“Some numpty called big yin is musclin’ in on ma territory. Tak’ a chib and show him whose the man around here”.

“Big Tam McLafferty’s got ten thoosand on this week’s auld firm match. Get roond tae Ibrox and persuade their goalie to throw the match”.

Imagine the opportunities...white shell suits, cut-throat razors, fake Burberry caps, souped up Citroen Saxos, selling stolen gear at the Barra's!

Core Blimey!

2006-05-08T19:15:00.000Z

Have you seen those great adverts across at the Apple website - the ones with the two guys "Hi, I'm a Mac", "Hi, I'm a PC..." ?

If I had the time I'd do a spoof...

Man in Suit: "Hi, I'm Windows."

Man in boiler suit with toolbelt and large tool box: "Hi, I'm Linux."

Windows: "When I need to update I connect to the net and download in an instant."

Linux: "When I need to update I get a load of amateurs around and fix it myself. We download patches and when they fail to install we search for hours for the dependant files. After we've found those, we fix them first, then install."

Windows: "I have performed an illegal operation."

Linux: "Bet you can't fix that yourself!"

Windows: "Ctrl-Alt-Del...Ha Ha, I'm back!"

Linux: "Compile error, missing dependant library zxcvb.c"

Windows: "Stuff that in you're red hat and smoke it!"

Well, it would go something like that ;-)

Can't wait for a Nintendo

2006-05-04T08:55:00.000Z

I foresee throngs of people queueing up, absolutely bursting for the new Nintendo.

It's called 'Wii' you know - pronounced 'wee'. It was going to be 'Revolution', but no!, some marketing type decided it should sound like the colloquial term for urinating.

Let's hope Nintendo's new console isn't piss, or that Nintendo aren't taking the piss!

Maybe it's a tiny console - piddling, in fact!

Oh, the puns! The Sun would have a field day if they thought the general public were interested.

Could be worse, the console could turn out to be s**t!

It's an Honour!

2006-04-29T11:16:00.000Z

Great news at the Adam Smith College - we've been approved to run the Honours Degree year in Multimedia Development.

This should be an exciting year for our students, with some interesting and innovative subjects to study.

First up is Persuasive Narrative which looks at the use of animation and film to make compelling arguments, and secondly Virtual Communities which analyses the communities that have evolved through technology such as the Web and IRC.

Should be fun.

Adam Smith College

Wasting Time with Flash

2006-03-13T14:22:00.000Z

Isn't Flash brilliant for making completely useless things that just take up too much of your time?

One of the earliest things I can remember coming across is Vector Park.

More recently I came across the quite interesting Quest For The Rest, which is in a similar vein to Vector Park.

For a simple, inoffensive Flash game, it's hard to beat Paper Toss.

And, for a slightly offensive game, there's David Blunkett's Blind Panic, which I first saw at The Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival.

Please post a comment and share your favourite Flash Time Wasters...

The dying art

2006-03-03T15:00:00.000Z

Doesn't anyone read anymore?

I've started taking the bus to work recently and have managed to read 2 novels and a Macromedia Flash book in the past month during the journeys. However, I haven't yet seen another single person reading on the bus - not even a newspaper.

Here's my top ten list of activities I've observed on the bus in the past month:

1 - staring blankly out of the window
2 - tapping furiously on the keys of a mobile phone (presumably texting, but maybe games).
3 - staring blankly while listening to an iPod, Walkman, other audio device.
4 - having a conversation (face to face).
5 - having a conversation (on a phone).
6 - picking one's nose.
7 - eating (sometimes the contents of one's nose).
8 - snogging one's partner (maybe a stranger).
9 - playing a handheld games console.
10 - reading.

Religious Experience 4

2006-02-28T19:59:00.000Z

I'm playing a game. I'm surrounded by a group of peasants armed with pitchforks and axes, but I'm armed with a shotgun, an automatic pistol and several grenades, so why am I scared?

Reason - it's not Quake, or Halo, or Doom, or Timesplitters I'm talking about - it's Resident Evil 4.

Wow! what a shit hot game. Buy it now - only £17.99 from Play.com

Best bit - kneecapping the villagers as they cross the rope bridge in the gorge and watching them tumble to their doom!

Worst bit - having to turn off the Playstation because I really need to sleep/eat/poo/work.

3D CGI films set to bomb?

2006-02-22T09:00:00.000Z

Despite my keen interest in all things animated, I have no desire to see 'Chicken Little'. It may be top of the box office at the moment, but that doesn't mean it's any good. Anyway, it's always good business to release an average film when it's not up against any competition - I mean, what else is there to take the kids to see?

So - is this the start of 3D mediocrity at the cinema? We've been grabbed by the Toy Stories, shaken by the Shreks and pummelled by The Incredibles, but what else of note has happened in the 3D animation/cinema world?

'Valiant' didn't put up as good an effort as we'd hoped for, 'Robots' was a bit mechanical and the 'Polar Express' left us cold!

Of course, we should be looking forward to Pixar's next release, 'Cars', but I can't help feeling this won't be able to match the success of their previous offerings.

The bubble will burst, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. Check out Brad Bird's rant on Google Video...

Back to work

2006-02-17T20:56:00.000Z

A brief respite from work, and a few days playing Call of Duty online, but now it's nose to the grindstone again.
Working on some exemplar assessments for the SQA, and will also be writing some new Higher / Intermediate 2 units to fit in with the Macromedia Digital Design curriculum (part of the SQA DIVA project). Also busy trying to finish off my educational game...

Still, it's only 5 weeks till the Easter holidays.

Play Time

2006-01-27T15:29:00.000Z

It's been a busy past few months, but since things have calmed down a bit I was hoping to get down to some serious Playstation gaming, but my PS2 has been hijacked by my wife and kids. No more Killzone, Prince of Persia Warrior Within or GTA - it's strictly Wallace and Gromit, Lego Star Wars and Sonic Heroes at the moment.

On the up side, these 'kids' games are surprisingly good - Lego Star Wars is a total blast, Wallace and Gromit is a revelation - a film tie in that really works, and Sonic Heroes is a great throwback to old school gaming.

They don't cost an arm and a leg either - Lego was only £14.99 from play.com, as was Wallace and Gromit, and Sonic Heroes was only a tenner from Asda - there are worse ways to spend your Christmas money!

BETT on it!

2006-01-12T20:39:00.000Z

Anne, Darren and I had a successful trip to the BETT ICT in Education show at Olympia in London.

Our presentation on 'Accessibility in E-Learning' was well attended, and I'm very pleased with how my students coped with the nerve-wracking experience of presenting at the Adobe (formerly Macromedia) stand.

We attended a few seminars and presentations at the show and saw a lot of new software and educational technology on display. We also managed to pick up a few freebies - badges, pens, mugs, a pot of BBC jam???

Hopefully we'll be able to make another trip sometime in the future, and I'd certainly recommend a visit to BETT if you're involved in e-learning or multimedia development in any way.
www.bettshow.co.uk

BETT presentation

2006-01-05T21:05:00.000Z

The presentation at BETT is looming - 11th January. Drop in at the Adobe (formerly Macromedia) stand E105, near the cafe, at 11.40 on Wed 11th.

The presentation is on Accessibility in E-learning and focusses on Flash. There's a short introduction to accessibility, a look at some of the myths about Flash and accessibility, and some practical advice on some of the things you can do with Flash to make your learning materials more accessible.

So, please feel to drop by. Stand E105, 11.40 - 12 noon, 11th January.

www.bettshow.co.uk