On Promethean's Planet
Ian harper
When we refreshed the website back in
August at the same time we announced
our association with key partners with
whom we will start to demonstrate
how Alice delivers on the interactive
classroom promise.
Promethean Planet, the world’s largest
online community of educators, helps
Digital outcomes need to be dynamic
and vivid. They need to leap off the screen.
deliver on our vision that students will
grow up with Alice…from class to class
Moreover they need to work across
from year to year.
platforms in a virtual student playgrou
nd. We have yet to embrace the entire lear ners journey, from school to home to social media on mobile devices and back to school again, but that transformation to student-
Go to Planet and register – it’s FREE. Access the additional resources there
centric learning is fast taking shape.
that outline where we are heading in
terms of digital literacy and a platform
Time is a flexible dimension. I must
that provides the basis for language
emphasise that, after all this time, we
training and ICT education. It is surely a
in the early stages of this considerabl
cross-curricular title for the digital age.
adventure. We will be calling for
are
e
contributions from time to time, making
this an ever more collaborative journey. Join us.
The former movie producer David, now
Lord, Puttnam spends much of his time
advocating for the use of new media
technologies in education. He echoes
many voices in the commonly held
view that surprisingly little progress has
been made in the many years since
‘digital’ first hit the agenda. You’ll find his
welcome view inside.
“
A reading from the screen experience for the videogame generation DAVID PUTTNAM
”
Digital literacy on whiteboards Although it wasn’t originally written for the education market, the more enlightened teachers around the globe have seen the potential of Inanimate Alice as a learning environment for their young students. As young people almost immediately feel empathy towards Alice and her changing circumstances, it is not difficult to involve, motivate and engage them in Alice’s world, where, along with Alice, the smart teacher can support the child to develop in any number of ways – socially, emotionally and intellectually.
“
A high quality literate text that teachers can rely on
”
Bill Boyd
Literacy Advisor
The fact that Alice already exists in five
languages highlights the universality of the
story and provides incentives for the young
learner to develop a genuine feeling of global
citizenship, a feeling which is enhanced
through collaboration and sharing in the User-Generated Content Section of the
The nature of Inanimate Alice’s transmedia text means that it is relevant in every curricular area, and the MindMap
demonstrates how each of these curriculum areas will ultimately be addressed in the
planned Teachers’ Edition of IA, where teachers will have access to a wealth of ideas and resources to suit their needs. In addition, Alice’s own development through each of the episodes of the story, and the progressively challenging nature of the text, means that the
young learner is developing his or her literacy skills at an appropriate rate, while growing with Alice and Brad as trusted companions.
resource.
Apart from being a high-quality novel in
its own right, IA also provides the perfect
stimulus for writing and creativity, with young
learners eager to show what they can do
when it comes to storytelling, using whatever
means available to them. Whether it’s using
paper and pencil, or more sophisticated
digital media, it’s the narrative that counts,
and there’s nothing that young readers like
to do more than have an episode of IA set in
their own back yard!
Comment DAVID PUTTNAM occasions, about children I’ve talked at length, and on many smarter, more adaptable, and young people needing to be . I’ve talked about the need better prepared than ever before digital technology in order to harness the immense power of ay’s students. Brought up to capture the imaginations of tod y feel they have to power on television and video games, the t is a problem. down when attending school. Tha -screen experience that Here is a terrific reading-from-the ate educators. Kids will talks the language of digitally liter books. It’s vivid moving read this when they won’t read from hniques used in both imagery embracing some of the tec tic rich-media, yet it is film and video-games. It’s authen rely on. Surprisingly a high-quality text that teachers can ters forms in your head, intimate, the feeling for the charac re so for those who prefer just like reading a book, all the mo terial. engagement with “born digital” ma e and, surely, that is the
The kids will love reading with Alic point.
Imagine students seeing this pinore sharp trailer on an ActivBoard bef ity getting down to reading and creativ with Alice...
Click to view the trailer
Alice comes alive
- a use case
Mobile Learning
cOLLABORATION
The teacher launches an episode of Ina nimate Alice, displaying it on the Promethean ActivBoard. The pages com e alive with rich imagery, text and sound, keeping the students engaged throughout the session. The students feel energized and motivated as they become immersed within the story. Students must use their cognitive skil ls as well as their imagination to solve puzzles, play games and find hidd en items all helping uncover what happens next. Upon completion of the episode, the tea cher pulls up an available flipchart from Promethean Planet. Flip charts provide additional hands-on, collaborative learning opportunities. Pro methean Learner Response devices provide for a quick assessment to gag e student understanding. Based on the results of the assessme nt, the teacher then assigns students to a team for a homework assignment . Their assignment is to use the clues that were uncovered in the class review to determine Alice’s next steps. The students are able to access the story via their computer or mobile device for reference and work together as a team to complete the assignment. The next day the students are asked to present their findings on the ActivBoar d to the rest of the classroom. Examples of dev eloped classwork are available for review.
Engagement Assessment
Teacher Training Jess Laccetti In an age where our students are required to be transliterate, and adapt to the multimodal environment of the online world, new media narratives like Inanimate Alice are prime pedagogical material. Not only does Inanimate Alice employ the well-recognised form of a Bildungsroman, but it is imbued with new media qualities of sound, image, video, text and, importantly for kinesthetic learners: varying degrees of interaction. The strong narrative writing along with the crafted multimodality provide educators and students with a myriad of learning opportunities. In fact, Inanimate Alice has been on my secondary, undergraduate and graduate syllabi since it’s inception!
Dr. Jessica Laccetti University of Alberta, Canada
We are always excited to see
USER GENERATED CONTENT emingecialist Laura FlMe dia Sp The inspiration of Inanimate Alice has motivated students around the world to want to create their own next episodes of the series. Learners have used critical literacy skills to deconstruct the digital text as readers, and have used the knowledge they gained to write and create. They have become producers of content in the widest transliterate sense, shaping new narrative possibilities. Students are encouraged to co-create developing episodes of their own, either filling in the gaps or developing new strands of the narrative. These next episodes have taken Alice all over the world and on some extraordinary adventures. In addition,
students have created interstitial episodes that fill in the gaps in Alice’s story. Inanimate Alice has created a virtual circle of storytelling where transmedia meets cocreation inspiring many learners to write and create. User Generated Content has enabled learners to participate, grow and be an integral part of the story.
Take Alice on her next adventure! We are seeing many exciting examples of stories inspired by the series. After viewing the episodes, challenge your students to create their own “what happens next� episode. It is a thrill to see Alice travel the world and to see how inspired learners take her on further adventures. Teachers are encouraging students to use a variety of technologies to do this, with PowerPoint seemingly the most popular. Please share your next episodes with us by emailing to istories@inanimatealice. com. Selected student episodes will be featured on Promethean Planet in a gallery for parents, teachers, and learners from around the world to see, experience, and admire.
Wanderings Andy Campbell will be presenting Alice at Narrative Futures in association with Tate Liverpool. Venue: The Box/FACT - Liverpool 17 November Find out more Susan Dupre presents Technology meets Literature, a hands-on session at the Lacue 2010 conference in New Orleans, 28-30 November. Find out more Dr. Angela Thomas, UTAS, will be giving a presentation focusing on Alice at the AATE National Conference Melbourne, December 2011 Find out more Powering Learning at BETT, Olympia, London, January 11-14, 2012 Find out more