liam | Liam O'Donnell

YES Mag features my video game math lessons

by liam | Jul 22, 2008 | education, gaming, literacy, virtual worlds

Last March, I wrote the post Levelling Up: two-digit math in kids’ video games, about how I used experience points and coins in kids’ mmos like Runescape and virtual worlds like Club Penguin to teach my Grade 5 students two-digit math. Writer Cora Lee and...

Writer emerges from Azeroth with news

by liam | Jul 21, 2008 | comics, education, gaming, life, literacy, media, virtual worlds, works in progress, writing news

Ok, so here’s how it goes: Writer announces that he’s delving into World of Warcraft, purely for research purposes 😉 and doesn’t blog for nearly a month. A classic case of gamer widowhood? Not really (honest!) I have been busy and there is much to...

Max Finder wins 2nd Distinguished Achievement Award

by liam | Jul 2, 2008 | comics, education, literacy, writing news

Not only was yesterday Canada Day, but it was also the day I learned that Max Finder Mystery Collected Casebook Vol. 2 won a 2008 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers in the United States. This is the second year in a row that...

Smashing beasts for Science

by liam | Jun 22, 2008 | education, gaming, literacy, media

To celebrate my recent completion of my Bachelor of Education from OISE/UT, I decided to have a little fun and re-open the World of Warcraft account laying dormant on my hard drive. Part of this decision was to kick back and have some well-deserved fun, but it was...

Why the proposed copyright law is bad for you (and me)

by liam | Jun 15, 2008 | literacy, media

I’m running out the door to sign at Book Expo, but I have to put up this assortment of voices denouncing Bill C-61, the new copyright law proposed by the Conservatives earlier this week. Overall, I agree that it’s bad for Canadians and fantastic for...