The pared down version of roomscale VR comes at a cost to the user, I feel. Namely the appliance-like nature of the device so that the mass-produced all-in-one case can provide a three-click platform: turn on, choose game, hit go. The appliance also pares down what the ‘user’ should be able to do. I find that this channels the user into what the appliance’s designers want you to use and how you should use it. Think of it like an IKEA type VR. You shop at IKEA and all you can do is trundle through the alleyways following the arrows pointing you to checkout and exiting with items you never came in for. The format and style of current titles is also of a low poly nature, that to be frank, surely cannot keep going where every title has the same blocky nature.
Read MoreDigital Citizenship - Status Anxiety and Keeping up with the Joneses.
The point to all this is that this episode, the first 15-20 mins at least amplifies the sheer nonsensical aspect to online social streams where they take over every facet of life. When you ask the children: what’s the point to all these streams and posts? They say to talk, to share to let your friends see what you're doing. And this is fine - however when you ask: are your friends there too? Teens tend to get somewhat defensive over this line of questioning. However, this is aimed at years 5 and 6. They half agree thet there isn't any use to this over sharing. And this is key. It's key because it shows us that not only does this open a dialogue as to how to protect young kids I would argue that this type of conversation could go a hell of a lot younger. Maybe not with this kind of material, but with the very concept of understanding consequences of beig suceptible in this way. I mean, we used to talk in the phone when we were younger. Albeit, for hours sometimes. But this wasn’t to everyone all the time with a giant hailer in public. I think you get my drift.
The video I’ve clipped and heavily edited has taken all the errant language out and the ending where it gets very sweary. The assembly also has no reference to the actual programme in case it’s shown at home or parent’s Netflix streams show the thumbnails - hence the name: Status Anxiety.
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Pen Enabled Devices For All?
When I presented with a few colleagues last weekend at FOBIT about the move (in our school at least) from solely typing into a device, that drawing on the screen has shifted from the basic slew of mis-matched jumbo-nibbed styluses we have seen in the last few years (both passive and powered and not including Wacom slates) to a fully functioning, Wacom precision input, we were heckled with a range of counter arguments. All of which, come from a place of either: my school would never allow this, an iPad can do the same thing, we want typing only and not reverting to old-school analogue methods, staff need to type and not write and, as our CEO had talked at length about our school’s ethos of using technology as a 1:1 school to harness future uses, we were told that we contradicting each other. The mentioning of change conjures funny reactions in the most unusual places.
Read MoreUsing Flipboard to teach Minecraft and other things
The nice thing about Flipboard is that the people you follow in your network of teachers et al are can now be followed on Flipboard. Many of these people make smaller curated magazines and some with original content of their own. This content can be drawn from all over: other social areas like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook etc and individual URLs.
It's this custom URL addition that makes it really handy for a teacher to build their own magazines for any topic they desire. Flipboard has its own online editor at editor.flipboard.com where you sign into a 'dashboard' of sorts and rearrange tiles on the page. The tiles being the pages of your content.
The real beauty of this is that you can do this live while the students are in front of you. It's a bit like Nearpod except the presentation is a bit more organic that Nearpod's ultra linear feel. The tiles you can see below are in lesson format. The '1' you see is the introduction to Ancient China topic and the inventions the Chinese founded many moons ago. These lesson pieces can be swapped out to suit the classes or the students you are aiming it at. You could divide this up into different magazines for groups or even as a research exercise prior to the topic.
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