Interesting news articles.......

During my degree, I undertook a research project which investigated potential links between video gaming habits and the academic achievements of boys at GCSE level. At the time, it was a subject close to my heart, having a son who was going through the GSCE process at the time. He, like many of his peers, spent (in my opinion as a concerned mother) an inordinate amount of time playing video games, the content of which could also have been considered questionable to some people. The research I uncovered, together with my own small amount of primary research threw up some interesting information, not least the fact that there appeared to be very little evidence which could be directly linked to underachievement, and that there were other factors which had far more effect on boys than were first assumed.

The research also found that playing video games, particularly those involving online collaboration and teamwork was helping boys to develop a range of organisational and communication skills, as well as increased spatial awareness and motor skills. These were not being recognised and harnessed by schools in the studies, and were not valued.

Writing this blog, and exploring the value of a diverse range of teaching tools has prompted me to start looking for further information on the benefits of gaming in education, and how the myths of causality between games and real life violence are being debunked. The latest article I have found is this one, written by clinical psychologist Christopher Ferguson which I will be adding to my library.

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Another interesting piece of news I cam across is this one about a new font - Dyslexie,which is supposed to make reading easier for people with dyslexia.

Source  - www.guardian.com

The font has been designed by a Dutch designer, Christian Boer, who has dyslexia himself. I find this fascinating, and would be interested to know if this font has been found to be successful. If any of my colleagues on the PCET course are reading this (Sarah? Dave?), I'd like to hear your thoughts? You can read the full article here.

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In the ever changing world of social media, no platform retains the top spot for too long, before a young pretender knocks them off their perch. Facebook has long been the king of social media with billions of users, but the frequency of user interaction has slowed dramatically in recent times, with photo sharing sites and instant messenger apps becoming far more prevalent, particularly amongst younger demographic groups. 

We have discussed the importance of using technology and social media to support effective learning in the modern world, during the ICT module, and how educators need to be aware of which social media platforms their learners are using. 

This article in the Guardian supports this, and highlights the importance of ensuring that when using social media in education, the correct channel for the target audience is selected.