From 2011 to 2015, teacher librarians, Cathy Oxley, Anne Weaver, Sue Miles, Kristine Cooke and Melinda Egan, set out on a quest to improve fantasy writing for 13 and 14 year olds. They armed themselves with a collaborative wiki and an author with magical writing powers. In 2015 they bravely assaulted the mysteries of augmented reality, immersive experiences and mobile technologies. Their schools were close to Roma Street Gardens in Brisbane; the perfect place for a quest where student warriors, could battle dragons, giant spiders, quicksand and other perils. The goals were many: •To enhance the writing process through collaboration. •To improve narrative writing, especially character point of view. •To explore effectiveness of technologies. •To improve editing skills. •To publish in authentic contexts. 1
From 2011 to 2015, teacher librarians, Cathy Oxley, Anne Weaver,
Sue Miles, Kristine Cooke and Melinda Egan, set out on a quest to
improve fantasy writing for 13 and 14 year olds. They armed
themselves with a collaborative wiki and an author with magical
writing powers. In 2015 they bravely assaulted the mysteries of
augmented reality, immersive experiences and mobile technologies.
Their schools were close to Roma Street Gardens in Brisbane; the
perfect place for a quest where student warriors, could battle
dragons, giant spiders, quicksand and other perils.
The goals were many:
To enhance the writing process through collaboration.To improve
narrative writing, especially character point of view.To explore
effectiveness of technologies.To improve editing skills.To publish
in authentic contexts.
1
They knew the prize was worth fighting for because it would
achieve many treasures of the Australian Curriculum English
area.
2
They armed themselves with evidence-based practice. They
searched high and low for feedback using survey weapons. They
examined writing crafted by students on the wiki. Their quest was
challenged by Quality Teacher Program action inquiries.
https://readingpower.wordpress.com/2013/05/10/collaborative-writing-inquiry-2013/
3
These early quests concluded that collaborative writing via a
wiki and supported by an author, improved student writing compared
to traditional teaching methods.
In 2013, the teacher librarians were inspired by Lyndell Sellars
and Peter MacGregors innovative Year 8 Fantasy Adventure Writing
Camp at Malanda:(a joint initiative of Malanda SHS and Tinaroo
Environmental Education Centre:
https://tinarooeec.eq.edu.au/Programsandactivities/Ourprogramsandactivities/Pages/Year-8-Fantasy-Writers-Camp.aspx
)
4
One of the teacher librarians battled the Harvard School of
Education, Visible Thinking Program and encountered Tim Rylands,
who incites creative writing through the app Epic Citadel.
5
Attendance at an Augmented Reality workshop led to inclusion of
apps such as Aurasma and Anomaly. Research was undertaken into
online, video and board, role play games. (See:
https://readingpower.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/draft-immersive-fantasy-writing-quest/
The teacher librarians armed themselves with modern learning
theories of constructivist and experiential learning, social and
collaborative pedagogies and game theory. They googled widely and
set off on their journey.
