Twitter to be taught at Schools

The Daily Mail is alight today with a story that “Ed Balls will today defend plans to teach primary school children about Twitter and Wikipedia while slimming down content in key subjects.

The earlier children learn about the internet and new technology the better, the Schools Secretary will say, or they will remain in the ‘technological dark ages’.

History and geography will be named ‘historical, geographical and social understanding’ in a new primary school curriculum.

Leaked draft plans, drawn up by former Ofsted chief Sir Jim Rose, show that primary teachers will no longer be required to cover the Romans, Vikings or Tudors in history and could drop both the Victorians and the Second World War.

However, the draft syllabus for English stipulates that ‘media texts’ and ’social and collaborative forms of communication’ should be covered alongside traditional works of literature.

These should include ‘emails, messaging, wikis and twitters’.

Wikis, as in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, are sites that can be altered by users.

Twitter is the social networking phenomenon that requires users to post ‘ microblogs’ just 140 characters long.

Mr Balls will tell the Association of Teachers and Lecturers’ conference in Liverpool it would be ‘ nonsense’ to suggest children would learn about Twitter instead of the Tudors and that good teachers can ensure children learn about history and new technology.

‘Of course children should also learn about new technology. In my experience, the earlier they do so, the better,’ he will say.

‘In the same way we have a duty to ensure our children learn about history, we also have a duty to make sure they are not left in the technological dark ages – I believe good teachers are more than capable of ensuring the two things run alongside each other.

‘The modern world and the way in which we learn and absorb knowledge has changed radically and I suspect it will continue to do so.

‘We need to prepare our children and young people not just with knowledge but also with the skills to find information.’

But critics warned against draining lessons of academic content and said most children were accustomed to using modern media at home and needed no encouragement at school.

In his speech to ATL’s annual conference in Liverpool, Mr Balls will say children will be taught ‘a broad chronology’ of historical events such as the War of the Roses and industrial revolution, as well as making in-depth studies.”

Although the tradaitionalists may jump on the bandwagon, this is about more than simply “teaching twitter”.  Social Media networks are the communication method of the futre.  Schools have always been there to teach children the skills that they need to cope with life in the world, in the past this meant learning facts and information, but for the 21st century we have to ask ourselves why we need to “learn” the facts and information when we have permant access to a whole plethora of information on any particular topic.  Not simply the text book facts, the history of WW1 condensed into a simple list of battles and generals, but instead personal accounts and stories, maps, photosgraphs, images, the stories from the other side too, not simply the world according to UK historians.

It has been said many times here and elsewhere, that the challenge for teaching in the 21st century will be teaching children how to sort, sift and rate information.  What is fact, what is opinion, what are ravings by a madman with a grudge?  What is authority and what is unreliable.

We cannot assume that children will “abosrb” this information simply by using PCs at home.  Anyone with teenagers will know that some of the television soaps  almost become a living part of teenagers lives.  We see that reality TV has blurred the lines totally between fact and entertainment.  A new tv/film genre has been created, the docufiction.

20 years ago there was a similar outrage, as maths teachers decided to teach children how to use calculators.  Stating that yes, in reality, as soon as children had left school they would never use a slide rule, or long division, but that those academic principles should still be taught.

Frankly, I personally don’t feel that the world is a poorer place because children now work out Pie using a calculator.

Teaching social media isn’t about switching on, logging in an typing.  Its about teaching the awareness, of communication styles and skills, about gathering  and assessing information.

After all, isn’t the Social Media simply the debating societies of old?  And where as the debating societies were restricted to the priviledge few at universities and private schools, and also with the confidence and skill to talk in them, social media is open to all.

And that, we feel, is no bad thing.

WoW Players need not apply

The job market at the moment is tough, and it seems tougher for some people than others, and in particular World of Warcraft players seem to have been singled out.

Gamesindustry.biz reports today that employers are specifically requesting recruitment consultants not to send them World of Warcraft players.

The post, spotted cites a recruiter working in the online media industry as saying that employers think WOW players are too sleep-deprived and distracted to be effective in the workplace.

“Employers specifically instruct him not to send them World of Warcraft players,” said the poster. “He said there is a belief that WOW players cannot give 100 per cent because their focus is elsewhere, their sleeping patterns are often not great, et cetera.”

This seems to fly in the face of many recent articles which focus on the positive of MMOG games such as World of Warcraft, where the skills necessary to persevere and suceed in the game are the same types of skills that can develop a hardworking and diligent employee.  Infact President Obama’s cabinet advisors even include WoW players.

But in the meantime, unless you’re after a job leading the country, it may be best to keep World of Warcraft off your CV.

Starting a Business in a Recession

2009 looks set to be one of the most challenging years in recent history for small business owners.

When large, established, household names struggle to survive in the tough economic climate, we ask is it harder or easier for the small businesses.

Recessions frequently result in a burst of new small businesses, as those with redudancy settlements take the step to start up their own business, something that they’ve maybe wanted to do for years, but been too cautious to do, preferring the security of the monthly pay check to the uncertainty of the new business start up.

Over the next few weeks we will be running a serious of posts about the issues that face small businesses, and in particular those trying to start and trade through a recession.

A business that can survive and grow in a recession can cope with anything, and some of the UK’s small business are best placed, with their flexibility, and “can do, will do” attitudes.  We look forward to bringing you some of the top tips, advice and stories.

Business Education Needs to be More Inspiring

An Offsted report published this month describes “too much” of secondary school business education as “uninspiring”

Offsted based their report on the inspection of 118 secondary schools between 2004 and 2007.    The report shows that there are widely different methods used for teaching economics and business studies, and that these achieved widely differing results.

Characteristics of the weaker lessons included too much talk by teachers, closed questions and the overdependence on worksheets.  An recurring theme throughout the report was that there was too much emphasis on the descriptive work, and not enough on evaluation and analysis.

The report also raises the issue that students are sometimes disappointed by the lack of pratical aspects to the courses, and specifically mention not enough, if any, time spent with local employers and businesses.

We, at Fantasy Couriers,  believe that Economics and Business studies has the potential to be one of the most engaging and interesting methods of teaching students.  Business studies courses and activities give students the opportunity to take skills that they have learnt from other subjects and to apply them in a practical environment.

For example, algebra and equations make for some pretty dry maths lessons. Students are frequently unable to properly grap the principles behind algebra because its a concept.

But if you take that concept, and drop into an environment that the student can understand and internalise, then suddenly principles stop being concepts and start becoming tools.

For example get students to apply the concepts of algebra to work out a cost price for a product, or a break even sales level.  How many units do you need to sell at what price….., is a much better springboard for discussion, involvement and understanding than “if a+b=c and d+e=f , then….”

 

Finance and Business is the most common post school application of maths and numeracy for most people, with the exception obviously of those who develop the skills further into higher education, and the sciences.    So why wait until children leave school for them to discover this, lets teach them to apply their knowledge, and how to use it everyday in a practical way.

Discussions here centre on the use of Maths, but this could be equally applied to many other cirriculumn areas.  For example Art & Design, there are a small percentage of people that are able to use their Art & Design skills to build careers in Art, Architecture, Fashion and the literay world.  But a far larger percentage will use their Art & Design skills in a busines environment.  Designing websites, advertising & marketing materials, business documentation, manuals etc.

We at Fantasy Couriers believe that we should not think of Business Studies as a subject on the curriculum, it is instead a vehicle which can take the theoretical learnings of other subjects and show how these subjects have a real practical and modern relevance to everyday society, and our economy and world as a whole.

Business is the thing that keeps the world turning, and the current economic crisis has demonstrated clearly to everyone that business in America affects household happiness in the UK, and it is vital that we teach our young people to understand this.

A full version of the Offsted report can be found here.

Is the Games Industry Recession Proof?

As the Christmas Clamour to buy the “must have” video games and consoles starts, we ask, is the Games Industry recession proof?

Sales of Games and Consoles in October 2008 were the highest yet, at $1.31bn, and the release of the World of Warcraft extension pack resulted in 2.8m units being sold in the single first day.  It sets the scene for a market that looks set to survive the recession well.

Video Games are the New Cinema

This recession is frequently referred to as the “worst since the great depression”, and the 1930’s saw the movie industry excel, producing some of the largest and grandest productions, including some of the huge musicals.  Cinema was seen by the masses as a cheap form of escapist entertainment, and video games are being perceived as this recessions answer to the movies.

Games Console Sales Increase

The games industry reported that 46% of Americans were intending to buy a games unit of some kind on the day after Thanks Giving.   And the Nintendo Wii looks ready to sell out again in the UK for Christmas, with over 330,000 units being bought in the UK last month alone, substantially more than sales of the Xbox and Playstation combined.  Nintendo say that they are increasing supply by 50% over the last two months of 2008 to ensure that everyone who wants a Wii will be able to get one.

Some analysts are arguing that this Christmas may see the Wii at saturation point, and that this could bode well for the xbox and playstation who are targeting themselves at the less family orientated markets, and combine features such as Blue-ray players.

Stocks and Share Prices

So is the high street activity reflected in the share prices.  All of the major Games manufacturers and suppliers have seen their share prices knocked, but most have only fallen in proportion to the market wide fall of around 33%

EA saw the largest drop, with their share price falling by around 50%, this reflects concerns that even though video games are a good form of cheap escapism entertainment, the full retail price of the games at between £30 and £50 is still a large amount for people to find when times are tight.  The market anticipates that there will be need to be some discounting on the prices of the games to encourage players to keep buying new games.

The evidence is that the games industry looks set to ride the recession out well, even factors such as the cold weather mean that cheap indoor entertainment is what families are looking for, and in a recession giving the public what they want is key.