David Blunkett MP attends CCTM event

Former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions David Blunkett attended a presentation ceremony held at London Metropolitan University last week, where former educational service BBC Jam was presented with two pioneering computer programmes for children with disabilities.

The projects were developed through an innovative collaboration between 2Simple Software, Genesis Media and GameLab London, an enterprise and action research initiative of London Met's Department of Computing Communications Technology and Mathematics (CCTM). The project was led by GameLab London.

The programmes were officially presented to the BBC by CCTM Principal Lecturer and Director of GameLab, Martin Wright (pictured top, right), at a celebration ceremony held at London Met's GameLab premises.

In attendance were members of Shoreditch Consortium and CCTM, BBC accessibility editor Jonathan Hassell (pictured top, left) and family and friends of those who had featured in an 88 minute video produced for the BBC by Shoreditch Consortium, which features as part of the on-line resource. Also present were pupils of Dorton House School, a school for the blind. These children were involved in the initial trial of the Blind maths project. Ruskana Khanom, a blind A Level student who was involved in the My Future project and hopes to become a lawyer, spoke at the event and said, 'I am proud to have been able to help inspire children into higher education.'

The innovative special learning resources, entitled My Future and Sos and the Big Maths Adventure, were developed over 18 months and were designed for children with disabilities. My Future is an independent living project aimed at 14-16 year-olds and Sos and the Big Maths Adventure is an interactive maths programme targeted at blind children aged 5-11 years old.

Martin Wright said: 'As I am sure you’ll realise this is a huge collaborative achievement. I would like to express my personal and heartfelt thanks to everyone who has worked on these projects and all our advisors. Every so often in life, you get a chance to work on something that is not only tremendously exciting and innovative, but has the potential to make a profound difference. These projects along with our earlier Deaf project with you will do just that.’

David Blunkett MP, who himself was blind from birth, gave a key speech at the presentation. Addressing the 80 people in attendance, he said that using technology imaginatively by utilising different forms of sound and experience was a great way of inspiring all school children.

‘These projects open up vistas to people who had before been told they should settle for something less. We know our basic limitations, but our aspirations and imaginations lift us beyond them. Just as the eagle flies when there is wind under its wings, we too can achieve our goals, with people behind us.’ Mr Blunkett concluded by saying, ‘This is the cutting edge of what people might take for granted in the future.’

Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, Brian Roper, who also spoke at the official presentation said the University was extremely proud to be involved in such an excellent project: ‘The projects we’re here to celebrate this evening bring together values at the heart of the University’s mission- combing inclusion and enterprise. We take inclusion seriously in all areas of our work to meet the commitment of Higher Education in all sections of our community. This project is a demonstration of how our University tackles issues of community and diversity.’

Jonathan Hassell from BBC Jam, which was disbanded in March 2007, after concerns were raised about its impact on the private sector, asked the audience to write to the BBC Trust to help the projects reach their intended audience of young, disabled learners. He spoke of the ‘obvious need’ to inspire young people with disabilities to gain access to the curriculum in a way that they would enjoy and would allow them to explore their dreams.

‘Old and new ways of learning have been used to employ auditory, tactile and kinesthetic ways of understanding shape. This has been a huge collaborative achievement and we have the potential to make a profound difference,’ said Jonathan. He continued by thanking London Met and and the team here at Shoreditch, who have conquered innumerable technical, creative, and project challenges with real flair, and have been an absolute pleasure to work with ‘Their combination of relish for undertaking innovative research and development, and the commercial focus to make compelling products out of that R&D, has been invaluable to the BBC. I think they're a fine example of the great things that can happen when Higher Education Institutes combine with commercial partners.’

GameLab London is the major shareholder of Shoreditch Consortium, which is a preferred supplier to BBC Digital Curriculum, a division of the BBC established to provide interactive learning materials free to homes and schools over the Internet.

GameLab London is based at the University's digital media innovation centre in Shoreditch. It acts as a link between students, staff and industry in digital media practices with particular emphasis on the application of gaming to education and training.

29 January 2008