In part one of this piece I listed some of the powerful teaching and learning traits embedded in good digital games. Now, what happens in the case of GTA IV where we have good learning, with bad content? I'm afraid there are more questions than answe...
I'm fascinated and challenged by Grand Theft Auto (GTA) IV, the new, extremely violent, extremely popular video game. I need to tell you why in two parts. The first part describes the exciting potential of digital games for learning, listing a number...
There is unanimous agreement that South Africa's education is in crisis. What we can't agree on is how to fix it. It seems that everyone has their two cents' worth of wisdom: "What we need is ...", "It's time to ...", "The thing is ...", "You see, if...
What do Marilyn Manson, the Testical Festival and Queen Elizabeth have in common? They're all on YouTube. No longer only the domain of the cute, the weird and the insanely boring (think family holiday videos), YouTube is becoming a platform for infor...
For many fans of Harry Potter, the last book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, does not signify the end of the story. There are thousands of young people who write their own additions to, subplots within, and alternative endings o...
MXit, the very cheap, very popular mobile instant messaging (MIM) application (that is actually a lot more), is coming of age.
To clear the way for the rest of the discussion, I am aware of the dangers and risks of MXit: addicts -- teens and work...
danah boyd (she insists on the lower case) is one of the world's leading experts on social networking sites (SNSs) such as MySpace and Facebook. She is a PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Fellow at the Harvard Berkman Centr...
South Africa's educators are severely stressed. In the classroom they face potential violence, dismal working conditions and massive workloads. Cases of educators being assaulted are becoming more commonplace. According to the Sunday Times: “The bi...
Steve Vosloo is the 21st Century Learning Fellow at the Shuttleworth Foundation. He is a past Digital Vision Fellow at Stanford University, where he researched youth and digital media. He blogs at vosloo.net.
