My Gaming Opinion

Gaming, Like alot of things in life, can be a good thing in moderation. Many people can spend far to much time and get involved to deeply in gaming. I recently saw a video on the Internet about two grown men fighting over the last copy of GTA V. I do enjoy gaming but i have never been that excited about it or good at it. i do think that gaming can aid in many skills that are important in your everyday life, such as reaction timing, creativity and of course computer skills. I think that the air force train new pilots on expensive simulators, similar to the ones that people like you and me can buy, i am sure that there would be some research somewhere that shows that computer games as help greatly in areas such as these. The gaming market is worth a great deal of money, and is a good boost to the economy, “Grand Theft Auto V” had raked in over $1 billion in sales within three days of its release. Along with be a good way for many people granted most men still some women to relax. You can't talk about gaming with out mention the thought that many people have that computer games are bad of kids manly because of what they see on the computer screen. 'brainwashing'.

Educational Futures

Education Futures (Learning Environments)

So it’s been a little while since the last blog, but I am back and ready for what could be my last ever year at Swansea met or more correctly University of Wales Trinity Saint Davids Swansea. I am interested and excited for the module, ICT is changing and growing and is only improving, the uses for ICT in the classroom as many positives and very little negative, I strongly believe that one day ICT will engage and motivate pupils to the extent that children will be begging their parents to stay up later and play one more maths game, so in my opinion ICT will play a major role in the future of education.

Mandy also posed this question:

'Over the last decade there have been vast changes in the way we live, learn and work, and with the advancement of technology and new learning tools, these things will continue to evolve. Today’s learners need new skills to survive and thrive in the future. Education should combine practical, intellectual, and social skills as never before'. What do you feel about the statement above? What does this mean for learning environments? How has technology impacted teaching and learning?

I think I have already started to answer the question in the first part of my blog. I agree almost 100% with the statement above it is no longer just good enough to teach pupils the basic subjects’ math, english and science. The world today is changing rapidly with the help of ICT people’s needs and wants change as the world grows and evolves to keep up with the needs for the population. The working world changes, old jobs are being replaced by computers and robots therefore what children learn needs to evolve as well. Complete new job titles and sectors are being created every year to supply the need of the world which means schools/teachers are educating pupils for jobs that have not even been created yet. What the curriculum and to some extent the foundation phase are placing emphasis on is the importance of teaching transferable skills. This seems to be the key word for CV’s and employment transferrable skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, social skills and teamwork are just a few.

There is a strong argument that computers and robots are taking all the jobs but what is not mentioned is that the robots need to be built designed and maintain there is currently a massive short of engineers and not just in the country but throughout Europe, the key to having a successful future is to have successful engineers.

Research Project

Throughout this project I have tried to recreate the idea of a personal ‘sense of place’. For me this is Cornwall. As I live by the sea in Cornwall it was best for me to consider working with that idea in mind. I started looking at harbours and then moved onto to coastal landscape views. After this I explored the idea of beach sports, in particular surfing because as a child I spent much of my time learning how to do this popular sport. I have been trying to capture the movement of the surfer and the waves. In order to do this I brought in the concept of mixing paint with sand sourced from the beach in question. That I believe gives a sense of depth and motion, along with a physical element of the beach.

Julian Beesley who captures landscape views of Cornwall where land meets sea.  He manages to create captivating images with watercolour because they show ‘natural simplicity and surprising versatility’. This is reflected in my work with proof of me experimenting with watercolours.

Other artist I have looked at is Paul Williams. I looked at his work because he uses an unusual technique that involves sketching with inks and charcoal and finishing off with thin layers of oil paints. Although I have not used this specific technique in my work, it influenced me to use the idea of a build of materials.

I also used ideas from the artist Steve Slimm because he inspired me with his words ‘what is art anyway? Giving form to that creative urge which constantly seeks expression and painting is one of several ways it emerges. For me painting involves shoving it around or letting it flow until it pleases me’. This has enthused me because I feel a similar thing for art. He mainly uses oil and acrylic which creates a more abstract concept which in turn showed me a different take on how to capture landscapes.