Aiming For Gold (2010)

by Pumpkin TV, interactive design and production by Patti

The project was nominated in the Bett Awards 2011 for learning and teaching tools.

To view the project sample visit: http://www.pumpkintv.co.uk/aiming-for-gold

'Aiming for Gold' is an interactive video resource for geography classes at KS3 level, related to hosting the 2012 Games and urban changes in East London.

It can be used in three different ways: as an interactive game in a classroom, in self-studies, and as a resource bank for teachers.

The approximate time of the experience is two hours, which includes one hour of total video divided into twenty short clips, six interactive activities, animations and additional resources.

Each section of the game can be accessed through a sub-menu. An additional resource bank index contains links to all video clips, activities and other resources, including pdf documents. The index presents a collection of images representing each clip or resource, with a content description that appears on mouse roll-over. The aim of the menu is to provide a helpful tool for teachers, so they can know the content without watching the whole program, or chose the most relevant resources.

The game was created after five weeks of research on interactivity in a classroom. According to the research, the first problem was that schools were provided with different levels of technological resources, ranging from interactive whiteboards, a computer per person, to no PC in a classroom. The idea was to create a universal product, for use on both interactive whiteboards in self-learning, and on PCs. Another point of the research was video watching in a classroom. Most teachers showed videos in their lessons, mostly short, no longer then 4 minutes (most teachers admitted the pupils lose their concentration when a video is too long). The problem with video was that it was very difficult and time consuming to find one relevant to each lesson. The idea was to provide a collection of short video clips with a description of each. Lastly, teachers were seeking open discussion-based and role-played activities to engage the pupils. A simple alternate reality game was an excellent solution for their expectations.

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