Wii Learn

I recently prepared a presentation for work about how the Wii could be used to complement learning within a special educational needs setting. It was meant as showing that IT for leisure activities doesn’t purely revolve around.  Here is a piece that has sort of spun from that presentation.

Great Article ALERT!

Games based learning is the future and I’m not the only one who thinks so, check over at the Learning and Teaching Scotland website for an excellent article about using Professor Layton in the classroom:

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/sharingpractice/p/professorlayton/introduction.asp?strReferringChannel=search&strReferringPageID=tcm:4-615801-64&goback=%2Egde_155852_member_28610789

Mario played using your eyes and its useless!

The clever folk over at Waterloo Labs have devised a way to control Mario using your eyes! Yep you heard right eyes, but also you’ll have read the title and know it obviously doesn’t end well.

Spread the Word!

Ok so here is a very opinionated post and a slight depature from trying to inform and provide advice to pondering on why making games more accessible to all does not appear to be the pressing matter you might believe it to be.

World’s Cheapest Computer Revealed.

The Indian Government has unveiled a prototype of what they have branded the cheapest computer ever. The project has been part of a drive towards getting cheap affordable computers to the masses with the ultimate aim of improving India’s literacy rate.

Guitar Hero Accessible for ALL!

Subject: Guitar Hero Accessible for ALL! Game controllers are always getting more and more complicated and with new games often comes new controllers as is the way with the Guitar Hero series which has guitar and drum controllers that may not be useful to people with physical difficulties. However a company known as Enabling Devices has come up with this solution:

The device itself can be bought here:   http://enablingdevices.com/catalog/toys_for_disabled_children/adapted-games/g…

Games as Learning WORKS!

I’m writing an article at the moment where I explain my methods using games as a learning tool. In the mean time why not read this?

http://www.bitmob.com/articles/demons-souls-is-teaching-me-job-skills

Company View- Inclusive Technology

There are many companies that provide excellent solutions to the accessibility problems faced by many people today. However none seem to offer quite the abundance and quality of products that Inclusive Technology are able to offer. They not only create their own unique products and resources but also sell and distribute many products from other companies. With exciting products such as the Intel Reader, Cam On, Tuff-Cam all available to buy through both their catalogue and online.

Inclusive Technology are currently in their tenth year having been set up as a division of a now defunct computer games company.Since those days their numbers have swelled to 30 and they are now of the top providers of assistive technology.

Inclusive Technology pride themselves on their range of software with the Switch It and Choose It ranges being of particular interest. Along with plenty of others some of which we hope to cover in the future on this site. They have put a lot of money to software development and definitely are reaping the benefits with a ever widening portfolio of software.

Where Inclusive Technology arguably have their greatest innovations is in terms of their hardware, truly making devices that are accessible for all through clever implementation of design choices.

One new product of particular interest is the Inclusive Tilt and Touch Plasma. Using the latest in multi touch screen technology coupled with the excellent bright high quality image provided by a Plasma (carrot extract and all, oh that’s LCD screens, seriously look it up) screen.

Inclusive also offer the larger slightly more restrictive Smartboards. Whilst Smartboards are fantastic they do have their drawbacks. Two versions of the Smartboard are currently available, the wall mounted projection version which has the obvious problems caused by shadows of the user. The come in two varieties Where the Tilt and Touch Plasma really comes to life is just how mobile it is and how versatile it can be. There is also the excellent Inclusive One Touch PC, which we will be covering more in depth at a later date.

Suffice to say Inclusive Technology have certain found their niche and will continue to provide their services and products to people with learning difficulties for many years to come, whilst also managing to appeal to a broader audience who may have interest ergonomics, communication aids or independent living. Hopefully they continue their great innovating work along the way.

For more information on Inclusive Technology visit http://www.inclusive.co.uk They attend a number of events up and down the country to showcase their products which is highly recommended. Keep an eye out here for future video features and reviews of their products.

What can Motion Controls do for disabled gamers?

When I ventured back home a couple weekends ago for my mother’s birthday, I realized two things. One, I’m pretty sure my mom needs a Web site to start selling her magical barbeque. Two, I was completely taken aback at my sister’s Wii Sports Resort skills.

Spicy Nodes

Just randomly messing about with spicynodes.org to test out a few ideas for interesting ways to display information in an easy to read accessible manner.

  Check it out:

  http://www.spicynodes.org/a/6239be1b123061a3761521ce66b20f2b

  This is something I am going to build on over time and hopefully build into something that works.