Immersive Education
Donna and Gary Burton-Wilcock run Immersive Education, developers of Kar2ouche, MissionMaker, MediaStage and Krucible. Donna taught English for 12 years and has worked as the Senior Editor and Writer for an open learning company. Whilst studying for a DPhil at Oxford University, she taught trainee teachers before being co-opted onto an Intel funded project looking at the impact of computer gaming in education. She subsequently managed Intel’s education programmes in the Northern European Region which included developing and implementing the UK version of the Teach to the Future programme. Gary taught Physics for 7 years before moving into engineering in technology based companies. Ten years as Technical Director with a small engineering company, was followed by ten years project managing international teams working on computer based development for Kraft foods. He now manages all of the software development for Immersive.
Donna and Gary’s initial interest in the potential of technology to enhance learning began in the late 1980’s when they ran an authority-funded project to raise the attainment of young people identified as unlikely to achieve any GCSEs within the traditional secondary school system. The resulting group of students experienced a range of challenges from the behavioural and motivational to some severe learning difficulties. Later when given the opportunity to work with game developers and artists, it was the potential of multimedia and interactive approaches to engage and provide alternative modes of communication that lead the thinking. Both Donna and Gary continue to work with young people in order to inform their understanding of the problems children encounter with school-based learning, particularly literacy, and to assess how technology can help enhance the skills they need to function effectively and participate positively in everyday life.
See also this article on Immersive Education's Kar2ouche and SEN.
Young offenders and ICT
Editor adds: read this fascinating case study on young offenders reformed using Kar2ouche. You can also download a report on the same study from MirandaNet (Word 42 Kb).
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