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On Promethean's Planet
Ian harperWhen 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 deliver on our vision that students will grow up with Alice…from class to class from year to year.
Go to Planet and register – it’s FREE.
Access the additional resources there that outline where we are heading in terms of digital literacy and a platform that provides the basis for language training and ICT education. It is surely a cross-curricular title for the digital age.
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 outcomes need to be dynamic and vivid. They need to leap off the screen. Moreover they need to work across platforms in a virtual student playground. We have yet to embrace the entire learners journey, from school to home to social media on mobile devices and back to school again, but that transformation to student-centric learning is fast taking shape.
Time is a flexible dimension. I must emphasise that, after all this time, we are in the early stages of this considerable adventure. We will be calling for contributions from time to time, making this an ever more collaborative journey. Join us.
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.
Digital literacyon whiteboards
A reading from the screen
experience for the videogame
generationDAVID PUTTNAM
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.
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 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!
A high quality literate
text that teachers can
rely on
“”
Bill BoydLiteracy Advisor
I’ve talked at length, and on many occasions, about children
and young people needing to be smarter, more adaptable,
better prepared than ever before. I’ve talked about the need
to harness the immense power of digital technology in order
to capture the imaginations of today’s students. Brought up
on television and video games, they feel they have to power
down when attending school. That is a problem.
Here is a terrific reading-from-the-screen experience that
talks the language of digitally literate educators. Kids will
read this when they won’t read from books. It’s vivid moving
imagery embracing some of the techniques used in both
film and video-games. It’s authentic rich-media, yet it is
a high-quality text that teachers can rely on. Surprisingly
intimate, the feeling for the characters forms in your head,
just like reading a book, all the more so for those who prefer
engagement with “born digital” material.
The kids will love reading with Alice and, surely, that is the
point.
DAVID PUTTNAM
Comment
Imagine students seeing this pin-
sharp trailer on an ActivBoard before
getting down to reading and creativity
with Alice...
Click to view the trailer
The teacher launches an episode of Inanimate Alice, displaying it on the Promethean ActivBoard. The pages come 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 skills as well as their imagination to solve puzzles, play games and find hidden items all helping uncover what happens next.
Upon completion of the episode, the teacher pulls up an available flipchart from Promethean Planet. Flipcharts provide additional hands-on, collaborative learning opportunities. Promethean Learner Response devices provide for a quick assessment to gage student understanding.
Based on the results of the assessment, 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.
DAVID PUTTNAM
cOLLABORATION
Assessment
Mobile Learning
Engagement
Ali
ce c
om
es a
liv
e - a
use
ca
se
The next day the students are asked to present their findings on the ActivBoard to the rest of the classroom. Examples of developed classwork are available for review.
Teacher Training
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 LaccettiUniversity of Alberta, Canada
Jess Laccetti
USER GENERATEDCONTENT
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 co-
creation inspiring many learners to write
and create. User Generated Content has
enabled learners to participate, grow and
be an integral part of the story.
We are always excited to see
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.
Jess LaccettiLaura Fleming
Media Specialist
WanderingsAndy 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