2nd – 6th July at Magna Rotherham

Yes that’s right – free, which is why there’s not much time get book your places. This is a national event with schools from all over the country taking part but as it’s in Rotherham, we’d like to make sure that YHGfL schools make the most of this fantastic opportunity. Sign up for as much or as little as you want. Take your pupils or just go yourself, it’s all free and runs over 5 days so loads to choose from:

• 5 days of hands-on interactive and inspiring workshops and lectures from leading figures in education and industry.
• Fully inclusive workshop schedule – from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 5.
• A fully engaged curriculum – Coding/Programmer/Computer Science, Art, Maths, Physics, English, Drama.
• 750+ workshop places and 2000+ activity places – applications encouraged from schools across the country.
• 250 CPD opportunities for teachers and educators to develop existing and new digital skills taking game creation back into the classroom.
• Industry-lead careers surgeries, vital advice and guidance for schools and young people.

For every you need to get the most out of this event, visit the website or download the Planning Your Visit document. They’ve even done your visit risk assessment for you!

http://www.gamesbritannia.com/2012/assets/planningyourvisit.pdf

http://www.gamesbritannia.com/2012/index.php

Tickets for workshops, talks and for entry into the REPLAYED arena are now available to Games Britannia registrants on a first-come-first-served basis.

Additions To The Schedule

Games Brittania are delighted to announce that Alex Warren will be delivering two Creative Writing/Literacy/Puzzle Solving workshops using Quest his free Text Adventure creation tool, and Bruce Grove, the General Manager of OnLive UK will be talking about the future of gaming – specifically cloud based systems that are set to revoluntionise how we play videogames at home and on the move.

Star Wars videogame writer comes to Sheffield

A Sheffield Hallam University graduate who now lives in Austin, Texas, is returning to the city to pass on her experiences of working on one of the world’s largest multiplayer online video games.

Jo Berry, who studied a master’s in creative writing at Sheffield Hallam, is a writer on Star WarsTM: The Old RepublicTM, a ‘massively multiplayer online role-playing game’ based in the Star Wars universe.

For more information and to book your free places:

http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/org/1178088293?s=7706373

Are you starting to hear things about Kodu? Interested in finding out more? The Microsoft Schools UK blog has some case studies, stories from teachers and links to the free download.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ukschools/archive/2011/05/11/kodu-bringing-fun-to-learning-in-the-classroom.aspx

If you’re a YHGfL member don’t forget you can request a free online training session to get you started on Kodu. Simply email us and we’ll make all the necessary arrangements.

contact@yhgfl.net

UK’s founding father of interactive entertainment to open videogame festival

The co-author of the Livingstone-Hope Next Gen report in 2011, which prompted the government to address ICT in schools, will officially open the Games Britannia videogames education and careers festival in July.

Ian Livingstone OBE, co-creator of the Fighting Fantasy series of interactive adventure books, has given the festival organisers the go-ahead to run a Fighting Fantasy themed workshop. The session, which Ian will help facilitate, will show children how interactive fiction can bring the art of story-telling to videogames.

Ian said: “Interactive fiction is becoming more prevalent in games as players look for deeper, more engaging story-telling and increased scope for decision-making.

“The Games Britannia festival will give children a real look at how videogames involve writing skills and story-telling to create interactive fiction. I hope the Fighting Fantasy workshops will promote a passion for literature and encourage sometimes reluctant readers and writers to …read and write!”

The Fighting Fantasy series of workshops will showcase a new interactive fiction tool, created with writers and schools in mind and completely free of charge, by new creative start-up company inkle

Created by a pair of former videogame developers, Jon Ingold and Joseph Humfrey, inklewriter requires no set-up, no programming and no drawing diagrams – and it enables young people to write and share interactive literature.

Co-creator Jon Ingold said: “Before founding inkle, Joe and I both worked in the videogame industry and we know first-hand the importance of events like Games Britannia, to get kids thinking about how games work and how they’re made.

“It’s a real treat for us to be involved, especially in collaboration with Ian and Fighting Fantasy. We can’t wait to see what the students make with our inklewriter tool!”

Ian Livingstone will also be showcasing his brand new Fighting Fantasy title at the festival, called Blood of the Zombies.

The videogames education and careers festival will take place from 2 to 8 July at the MAGNA Science Adventure Centre, and will celebrate the strength of the UK industry and inspire the next generation of British videogame talent. The festival includes Games Britannia: REPLAYED, which opens the Games Britannia doors to the public for a weekend of games-based learning and entertainment.

Games Britannia, incorporating Games Britannia: REPLAYED, is organised by a partnership including Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, Sheffield Hallam University, Brinsworth Comprehensive School Academy Trust, Replay Events and UK Interactive Entertainment, and is backed by industry companies including Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

To find out more about the festival, visit  www.gamesbritannia.com/2012/

Some Spaces Still Available BOOK NOW

29th February 2012

Scratch is a very versatile free programming tool, which can be used to create animations, games, music and art. In this online workshop, you will learn how to use Scratch to produce a short animation and you will look at how the software can be used for more complex, interactive animations too.

Starting at 4:00 this session will last approximately 45 minutes and be conducted through Adobe Connect. All you will need is access to a computer and a set of headphones. If you aren’t sure what to do we will happily run a quick test session with you first.

Click HERE for further  information and the booking form.

29th February 2012

Scratch is a very versatile free programming tool, which can be used to create animations, games, music and art. In this online workshop, you will learn how to use Scratch to produce a short animation and you will look at how the software can be used for more complex, interactive animations too.

Starting at 4:00 this session will last approximately 45 minutes and be conducted through Adobe Connect. All you will need is access to a computer and a set of headphones. If you aren’t sure what to do we will happily run a quick test session with you first.

Click HERE for further  information and the booking form.

Friday 10th  Febuary 2012

A beginner’s guide to using animation in the classroom. A tool for learning or just a gimmick? Digital media is increasingly becoming the buzz word in education and many schools are looking at animation as a part of the creative curriculum. In this hands on workshop find out how animation can be used across the curriculum for communicating ideas and reviewing learning. Learn about the top tips, tricks and free resources available to successfully use animation across the curriculum. The morning session will focus on freely available digital animation tools and websites. In the afternoon delegates will look at simple 2D stop motion animation.

Who should attend: Primary Teaching Staff

Venue: YHGfL Seminar Room , Scunthorpe

Click HERE to link to the booking form and cost information

The University of Manchester have just launched their annual  animation competition to inspire the next generation of computer experts. Now in it’s fifth year the competition gives youngsters the opportunity to win some amazing prizes in return for creating a short animation of 1 minute or less.

To enter, pupils must create a standalone animation using Alice, Blender, Scratch, Flash, Serif DrawPlus, Swish Max 4, or KoolMoves that is no longer the one minute in duration. Alice, Blender and Scratch are freely available and the others offer the ability to download a free trial or purchase at a discount price.

Entries, which must be received by Friday 23 March 2012, can be submitted by individuals or teams in four age categories: aged 7-11, 11-14, 14-16 and 16-19.

They will each be reviewed by a panel of judges. And the shortlisted winners will be announced in May 2012.

For further information or to register visit the Animation 12 website

http://animation12.cs.man.ac.uk/

The quality of freely available drawing tools on the web never fails to astound me and Odosketch is no exception. The site offers users the chance to create a sketch using watercolour like pencils on a simulated sketchbook background.
Once started you will be provided with a set of brushes that vary in thickness and colour, simply select one you like and start drawing. As with real watercolour the colour gets darker as you add more strokes. If you have registered to use the site you can then save your image and share it with others. The image is then played back to you from start to finish. Each piece of work comes with an embed code, this means you can put the video of your work being produced on a website or blog.
How can I use Odosketch to enhance teaching and learning?
Browsing the art created on Odosketch is a great way to introduce your pupils to discussion around digital art. Ask your pupils to find their favourite image and then share it with the rest of the class. Replay some images and discuss how the artist has built up the sketch. Why not set pupils the task of comparing with other online graphics tools and commercial packages to compare and contrast. You could also use this tool to create quick animationsto tell a story.

Finding audio files for school work can be time consuming and dissatisfying. Whilst we can’t give your pupils access to the latest chart hits (not without paying hefty fees) there are a number of great sites that can be used to find creative commons licensed music. The creative commons license is not copyright free it simply means that the original creator is happy for you to use their work under certain conditions, usually these conditions relate to non-commercial use and credit being given. For further information about creative commons visit http://creativecommons.org/

Useful Music sites

Audio network

http://audio.lgfl.org.uk/ YHGfL member education users have FREE access to the same high-quality music resource that is used by professional film, television and media producers. Just right for ICT and digital video projects across the curriculum. Works for Primary, Secondary and FE.
The service enables the FREE download of Audio Network music files for use in school and college projects including ‘synchronisation’ use in audio-visual productions together with general guidance on music copyright.

ccMixter Music Discovery is a Creative Commons licensed site containing thousands of audio files for use in videos, podcasts, school projects, animations and much, much, more.  Users are free to download and sample from music on this site and share the results with anyone, anywhere, anytime.