I think I’ve finally figured out a problem that’s been really bothering me for a while.

Ken Robinson, in his book, The Element, explains that to find your ‘element’ and to be happy, you need to find your passion and be good at it. You also need to have the opportunity to make it happen and the right attitude, i.e you need to want it to happen. I really like this thinking and it’s something I’ve encountered a lot recently in various forums, especially in discussions around passion and happiness. I am a big believer in people doing jobs that makes them happy. I love my job and my own work in education often entails encouraging teachers and young people to focus on things they are passionate about.

What was bugging me, however, was that a lot of people, particularly young people, would argue that they are in ‘their element’ when playing computer games, watching films or TV or spending time, (a lot of time) on Facebook. Clearly most young people are passionate about this stuff and are very ‘good’ at them. But is this really enough? Should someone stop them and encourage them to do other things as well? Or should we all just relax and they can go on to get a job that sustains their basic needs and allows them to spend their free time doing what they’re passionate about? Even if it is leading a group of comrades to a raid in World of Warcraft, surfing the web or chatting with their friends on Facebook? I wasn’t sure..

A lazy option may be to say to young people “stop wasting your time on video games and do something useful”. But I guess that’s like saying “eat your vegetables” without explaining that they provide a good corner stone to a balanced diet. There has to be something deeper, a bit more of an open dialogue about it.

I think part of the problem with spending excessive time on WoW or FarmVille or Facebook or Friends re-runs or listening to podcasts is that too much of anything will overwhelm your brain. The brain will be constantly on the receiving end of information and doesn’t have any free cycles to spend on thinking. A lack of thinking results in drought of new ideas.

The crux of it, is that video games and films are entertainment. Entertainment is about consumption. Facebook is about communications as well as consumption. What’s missing here is creation.

Communication versus consumption versus creation. Those are the three main ways one can spent time. (Sleeping, by the way, I think, fits nicely within creation unless, of course, you’re a sleep talker.)

We, young and old alike, spend too much time consuming information and as a result, our brains don’t have enough free cycles to create anything new. Why is it important then to create something? Couldn’t we just concentrate on being really good at consuming or communicating to bring us happiness? Well, I believe that you get a more fulfilling sense of achievement when you’ve created something. (Trust me, you’re still consuming entertainment when you’ve ‘created’ a level 85 Paladin.)

But it isn’t about creation being the one important part here, it’s about the balance of all three. Communication and consumption and creation. They form a circle where each part feed to and off each other. See Kirby Fergusons series ‘Everything is a Remix‘. Creativity and creation don’t exist in a vacuum. Consumption and communication is needed as well.

Why is it difficult to stop consuming and start creating? Two reasons stand out for me. Those creating content for consumption, whether it be Blizzard making Diablo III or a Hollywood studio making the Jason Bourne series, are very very good at what they do. The second reason is because of that prevailing human trait: laziness. It’s just so easy to continue with old customs of crashing on the couch and switching your brain off. It is easier to receive than give.

(I wrote about social games and the sense of achievement as a response to a BBC programme on Facebook. It’s related, so have a look at that as well.)

Jane McGonical argues that skills learned in video games can be applied in the real world. It’s a very positive and inspiring talk and I’m not arguing that you can’t transfer these skills but how often does that happen, really? She does say that the benefits of video gaming to the human psyche start to disappear pretty quickly after 21 hours a week. Perhaps that would be a good limit for over all consumption per week? Gamers, like all of us, need to find opportunities and time to apply those learned skills, otherwise I believe they’re being wasted in pure consumption.

It’s time to switch off and switch on. Let’s all give our brains some space to breath. Let’s also open these conversations with young people in schools and help them participate in the design of their own education. Let them become future builders who question and discover their own passions and then make them happen in the real life.

Apple had their now annual iPad event in San Francisco yesterday. Here’s three things that came out that I think are brilliant for education and schools.

1. With the last two iPhone announcements, Apple has left the previous models for sale with a reduced price. This time around with the iPad, they’ve left the iPad 2 for sale at a lower price point of £329. (Pretty good discount, especially if you’re equipping say 1000 pupils with them). At the moment, I think the iPad 2 is just fine for education settings where the saved money is better spent on (e)books, apps and other content. I would still recommend teachers being issued with the latest and greatest model as that does future proof it’s use for an extra year.
2. Apple Configurator is a new piece of software from Apple that allows administrators to update, install apps, do backups and, yes, configure up to 30 iOS devices in one go. This will save a ton of time and releases the individual teacher from having to do any of this.
3. New Apple TV (£99) and a tiny detail in its settings. This would easily be missed if you weren’t looking for this. In our Blue Sky Classrooms project, we’re using Apple TV to enable teachers to be wireless and mobile in the classroom. Up until now any iOS device (that’s capable of doing this) could use AirPlay to stream the screen or photos or video to any Apple TV on the same network. No password required. This is obviously an issue if you have a large network accessed by both teachers and pupils; it’s only a matter of time when someone ‘accidentally’ AirPlays something undesirable. Apple TV now has the ability to password protect AirPlay. Fantastic.

Extra bonus:
If your school is looking at doing something with iBooks Author, there’s an update for that to support the Retina display. You should also check out Tumult Hype. It’s a very very powerful HTML 5 authoring tool that can now also export in iBooks Author widget format.

More on TEDxLondon’s Flickr page.

TEDx London Education Revolution Photos by Kristian Tapaninaho is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at suklaa.org.
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Social Network – Cyber Bullying

Robot Bully

Armadillo

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Project Title: ‘Girly Girls and Macho Men’
School: The Billericay School, Essex
Funding/Organisation: Royal Opera House Creative Partnerships

Suklaa Role: Project Manager/ Creative Practitioner/ Documentation
Description:
 This gender intervention project was designed as creative approach to tackling a real issue within the school. Staff noticed that certain groups of both boys and girls were not achieving what they were capable of. When interviewed the groups of girls told us they found it difficult to think of people they are inspired by. This sent alarm bells ringing! We must find inspirational women for the young people to engage with! This project is completely collaborative and is co-designed by young people, staff and creative practitioners who are unpicking gender stereotypes and issues of masculinity and femininity. The girls project was launched when the girls were picked up in limos and driven to a country house to look at how women are portrayed in the media and explore their intelligences. The boys launched in West Ham United Football Club where they toured the stadium and found out about the multiple roles men play within the business. This aspirational project will link with various businesses and professionals from multiple industries. We don’t know quite what the outcomes will be but hope the girls who design, organise and host a conference full of talks by inspirational women and the boys will go on to write, produce and star in a piece of theatre that explores what it means to be a man. Watch this space for updates!

This project was part of the Future Creative managed Creative Partnerships Change School Programme.

How to use Kodak Zi8 cameras.

Click here to watch: http://suklaa.s3.amazonaws.com/perm/how-to-use-kodak-zi8.m4v.

Review of our experiences in out ICT Twilights.

Click here to watch: http://suklaa.s3.amazonaws.com/perm/teachers-experiences-of-ict-training.m4v.

Learn connective words *AND* how to wash your hands!

Click here to watch: Connective words plus how to wash your hands.

How to tie your shoe laces

Click here to watch: How to tie your shoe laces.

Simple Multiplication

Click here to watch: Simple Multiplication.

Quick intro to speed stacking

Click here to watch: Speed Stacking

How to use a badge maker

Click here to watch: How To Make Badges

Use clay, make a thumb pot.

Click here to watch: Thumb Pot Video

More coming later this week!

Photographs of dancer Jia-Yu Corti’s performance for use in promotional material.