liam | Liam O'Donnell

Patterns holds promise for gaming educators

by liam | Oct 14, 2012 | education, gamebasedlearning, gaming, Teacher's Guide, video games

Earlier this month, Linden Lab released a very early beta-version of their new sandbox game, Patterns. Clearly inspired by Mojang, Patterns takes the block-building structure Minecraft and adds two very interesting elements: triangles and physics. I downloaded the...

Talking Power Play with Diamond Willow Award readers

by liam | Sep 30, 2012 | education, literacy, writing news

I’m incredibly honoured that my graphic novel Power Play is nominated for a 2012 Diamond Willow Award. Being one of the amazing “Tree Awards”, the winning book is chosen by the most important judges of all: the reader! Over the next few weeks,...

Judging the Skerries Soundwaves Minecraft Competition

by liam | Sep 18, 2012 | appearances, education, gamebasedlearning, gaming, media, video games, virtual worlds

One look at this blog and you’ll know I’m kind of into Minecraft. But who isn’t these days? Seriously, mention it to a group of under 15s and guaranteed you’ll start a conversation about the best mods, servers or builds. So, I was totally...

Talking video games, learning & Minecraft gardening on CBC Radio

by liam | Aug 14, 2012 | appearances, education, gamebasedlearning, gaming, literacy, media, video games, virtual worlds

Last month, I was contacted by the good folks at CBC Radio One to talk about how I use video games with students to help with their literacy and language learning. It was for a new show called Babel and the results of our interview were broadcast yesterday....

GamingEdus Open House & Minecraft Mayhem at Academy of Impossible

by liam | Aug 9, 2012 | appearances, gamebasedlearning, gaming, literacy, media, video games, virtual worlds

August is shaping up to be a busy month for the GamingEdus, the collective of gaming teachers I belong to. We have two big events for educators curious to learn more about using video games like Minecraft with their students. GamingEdus Server Open House Event If...