Better late than never September 26, 2008

4 and a half months late, but you can view the final project at:

www.jessmistry.com/explorephonics.htm

In the mad rush to get the project complete, and it was literlly down to the last few hours, I never followed up with an update. Well I have my results and managed to get a 2.1 for my degree – it was the dissertation that didn’t make the grade to the 1st. Never mind. On better news, my project was put forward into the Europrix competition – found here and out of 338 entries from 28 countries, my project was awarded the quality seal with 55 other entries 🙂

Nearly done May 2, 2008

Three years of uni is nearly over…well in about 2 and a half weeks and then I get to sunny Spain. My project is nearly done. I’ve templated a lot of ActionScript stuff for my different game levels which has made it more easier but am now finding the design work a little tedious. Some levels are more inspring than others. For example I’ve just completed a Haunted House level with ghosts and zombies, or should I say singluar, a ghost and a zombie, but now I’m not inspired to do a supermarket level – woo(!).  

You can still check out my work in progress on www.jessmistry.com/PSP.html

Got quite a list of work to do but that’s just the faffy bits of presentation. Hopefully I’ll get the main bulk of the games done by Sunday.

Next post will be when I’m done I guess!

Major Update April 9, 2008

General

Well I realise that it has been some time since I’ve written in here. I did think about it once or twice, but as per usual and everyone’s excuses, I’ve simply not anytime at all. On other things, we had a fund raising night for our graduate show at Consortium in Bournemouth town. It was a great night, but got the feeling that we didn’t raise a lot of money for it as it mostly just us IMPs that turned up, despite mine, Evie’s and Olivia’s best efforts of flyering for the event during the day.

Dissertation

The dissertation was written, checked, bound and handed in on time, which was a relief. It went okay, I guess, and I did enjoy writing it towards the end and found out some cool stuff about user-generated content (which is what is was about). Glad it’s handed in. Though I would have liked to have had more time on it. Never mind.

Major

It’s been two weeks since I’ve handed in my dissertation and about a week since I’ve started my major properly. Just to refresh, I’m creating an interactive learning tool in Flash to aid children in learning to read using synthetic phonics (a proven successful method, and is taught across all schools). I’m developing it for the PSP and Online, as well as having an information site to host it on. Sounds like a lot, but I’m happy with my progress in a week. I’ve uploaded here if you want to check it out: http://www.jessmistry.com/PSP.htm. It’s changed quite a bit since my prototype last October, for the better I hope. ActionScripting isn’t as much of the pain in the ass as designing for the small screen is on the PSP and keeping all the vectors optimized so it keeps the file size down. Anyway, I better get back to it, and I’ll do my best to keep this updated!

All done for the minor December 6, 2007

Minor and Major

After weeks of preparation I have finally done my minor presentation and it went really well. The countdown before then didn’t go to well, and the 10 minutes before I had to go in was torture! I was actually feeling sick, but thinking to myself don’t be so stupid 😛  Hopefully we will get verbal feedback next week, and marks sometime after Christmas.

Woo hoo!

With 10 minutes to spare November 30, 2007

Minor and Major

I just had 10 minutes to spare to get my work in on time before the 12.00 cut off point when you then get zilch. I’ve never been that close to a deadline before, ever! It wasn’t nice, and I don’t plan to do it again either. It’s not like it was a rush job or anything, I’ve been working solidly for about 3 weeks prior and just the normal amount before that. Anyway, I’m proud of my presentation I just hope my nerves don’t get the better of me on the day, which is this Thursday so at least I got plenty of time to practice.

General 

We all had a really good lecture last Monday with a chap called John Bowmer on presenting with confidence. He made us think about how we were feeling inside and how to think about it differently, and be more confident. It’s hard because we’ve only got 10 minutes to present, and there’s a lot of information to portray even without the waffle, but at the same time you have to speak clearly and be very articulate. This is definately one of my weaker points. I’ve been told I can hold myseslf well, but what comes out of my mouth is just nonsense words let alone sentences. I’m in two minds about learning my presentation, one is just to memorise key points that are guided by the presentation and then take that as a cue to talk or memorise exactly what I’m going to say. There’s pro’s and con’s for each; the first one is that if I memorise key points then it would sound as if I’m talking more naturally, but cons are that I could waffle too much and go over the time limit. The second one is that if I memorise the whole thing then I know how long it’s going to take and structure my sentences so that they make sense and also I wont miss out any key bits of info. The down side is that I would easily forget my place, and also be obvious that I am reciting lines. Just going to see how practise runs go I guess. I’m practising presenting in front of friends, family and work collegues so that should give me enough practise and hopefully constructive crisitsm to work on before Thurs.

Just a tad disappointing November 21, 2007

General

Big yawn, god I’m so tired. I’ve been constantly working for the past few weeks or so (both uni and part time) and some days, or should I say weeks, are just not as productive as I would have liked. I mean I’m working but just not getting work done if that makes sense. We have a hand in next Wednesday and I’m pretty much done on Prototyping and Presentation just need to do a few tweaks and production brief write up. So that doesn’t seem too bad but I wanted to present my idea before then to work colleagues so I could change it if need be but I have work tomorrow and I’m not ready for it, plus I’m shattered from staying up til 5am last night/ this morning trying to finish off and then up again this morning. Eugh.

Minor 

My minor’s been on hold for the past week while I’ve been putting together my prototype, but I think it will be okay since I got a basic structure for it from my seminar presentation. Got to do the faffy bits like level plans and and production plans and production briefs. Could really do with this weekend to do it but it’s my aunts 40th up in Manchester, so no can do.

Major

I’ve just finished a prototype of my virtual learning environment and tested it out on my little brother. Unfortunately although he could navigate around it etc he just didn’t seem that excited about it. I’ve posted the video on YouTube (click here) to see for yourself, but be warned the sound can get a tad repetitive and its 5mins 30 secs long. At least I know what to do to make it better, though don’t think I have time to change it by next week. I am pleased with it, but I know its not complete i.e. things to change in it would be more sound, more obvious places to click, more things to interact with , praise and congratulations to encourage, something to aim for like what happens when you collect all the letters. I mean the last two I already knew about before the testing but haven’t had time to fit it in.  It’s hard because it’s not supposed to be designed as a game, but keep it interesting enough so kids can learn; so finding the balance is really essential. One thing that this initial bit of testing has done is that it’s made me realise that parents really do need to sit down with their kids to use this so that they can encourage them with the learning part or else kids will just get bored. Anywho…onto dissertation talk.

Dissertation

It’s just not happening, yet.

Prototype Pt.3

Prototype Pt.2

Prototype pt.1

Market Research November 4, 2007

Minor and Major

I’ve just finished the main bulk of my market research which largely included going off on a tangent after clicking link after link after link. I can’t believe there is so much stuff out there about children not knowing how to read properly and the huge debate about using synthetic phonics against other methods of reading. I was half thinking about changing my dissertation, but a) I think it might be too late b) I can’t relate it to media theory let alone my media theory options c) I suppose it can make my production analysis sound extra good, give me something to write 5,000 words on anyway. I’ve uploaded my findings and all the links that I have been sifting through, just in case someone may find it of use. Click here for findings. The worrying thing is, I planned out what topics I need to cover in my minor presentation and there is no way I can fit it all into 10 minutes.

On other things, my production schedule has gone out the window, but I figure it’s okay until I’ve finished my research. My project has changed because of the research, which is a good thing I guess. I’m still creating a virtual environment where children can explore and find synthetic phonics that are hidden around, but I’m not going to develop it for a games console anymore. Two main reasons. Firstly, there was initial debate as to whether to develop it for mobile, PlayStation Portable or Nintendo DS. Mobile first went out the window because of the tiny screen. Then there was PSP vs. DS. From a practicality point of view, the PSP had an advantage as my little bro has a PSP and plus the university has a PSP. However, the educational environment is so much better suited for the DS, with the Brain Training software and plus it has voice recognition in it. Which leads me to my second point, I could actually do my original idea with the voice recognition. However, with the research I have done I cannot justify why I should develop it solely for the DS as it cuts my reachable audience down conciderably. Plus, a lot of things in my research have come to my attention that makes me think that I should spend more time developing the online platform. Methods of teaching children to read is such a heated debate at the moment, that I think that it would be pointless to try and rush through two platforms and not get my environment right….which would make the environments worthless; thus defeating the whole idea. Also I just don’t think I have enough time to do both.

I’ve planned to meet the head master of my local primary school on Wednesday to talk about how they teach synthetic phonics in class and how and why it’s effective (or not). I’ve also asked if I can sit in on a phonics session in the Reception class for 20 minutes which will hopefully show me how it all works. Hopefully I’ll be speaking to the parents to see if they think my idea is going to be worth it, because in theory it will be something that they use with their child at home. Plus I’m sending round some email questionnaires to primary schools around England and synthetic phonic leaders, basically asking them about synthetic phonics and getting feedback on my idea.

General

I think I’m coping okay so far with this year. I seem to be on top of things which is good, though I should be spending more time on my dissertation than I am. The weeks are flying by already. Our seminar has moved permanently from a Wednesday to a Monday so I only really have to go in on a Monday now which is great. I means that I can have solid days of doing uni work.

Right, must get back to it!