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Today the objective of the immersion session was for all students to complete their ideas boards and level designs and begin to explore and create on the MyMoon section within Little Big Planet. I had prepared this session to allow as much time as possible to each student to use the PlayStation 3 consoles on their own, as while previous immersion sessions highlighted great creativity and collaboration, the deliverables were inconsistent and did not match students’ plans. The collaboration time was important however as it increased confidence in using Little Big Planet and in helping each student become more socially interactive. I am now confident that they will ask each other for help when they need it, and have developed key areas of knowledge which other students will tap into when necessary. I expect this collaborative learning and disemination to continue as the project progresses.
Due to absence each student had one period (55mins) each to develop their level building skills on the PS3s. This was excellent immersion time with lots of problem solving (how do I build a smooth ramp?, how can I make my wagon move by itself?). When faced with these problems the students showed resilience and perseverence and the majority of the time solved these problems by themselves.
Rough level designs were expanded during this creation time when it became clear more detail or skills were required. One student with a particularly complex design found it difficult to create a lift mecahnism and so, after discussion, revised his design. I also took the opportunity to spend time with a student who had recently joined the class to develop their skills and experience of Little Big Planet.
All students completed a Google Form survey about console usage and their experiences with the Little Big Planet project to date. This served as a validation of my own formative assessment of the skills they have developed over the sessions so far. I intend to use Google Forms to continue to record their progress and feelings about the project which will impact on the learning and teaching strategies I use with them and provide the students with a wealth of information they can use to document and evaluate their multimedia project when it is complete.
