gaming | Liam O'Donnell

Teacher’s Guide to setting up a Minecraft server at your school

by liam | Mar 31, 2012 | education, gamebasedlearning, gaming, literacy, media, video games, virtual worlds

In early 2011, I set up a small multi-player Minecraft server in my school library, using school computers. In early 2012, I set up a second multi-player Minecraft server as part of our much larger Multi-School Minecraft Server Project, a single server hosting 30...

Messy learning with Minecraft

by liam | May 23, 2011 | education, gaming, literacy, video games, virtual worlds

It’s barely 9:15 in the morning and already two students have fallen down a mine shaft, one burst into flames when he swam through lava and another just killed his best friend with a pork chop. It’s going to be a messy morning but one packed with learning....

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...

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...

First impressions: Wizard 101

by liam | Jun 13, 2008 | gaming, media, virtual worlds

Last night, I got my beta invitation to Kingsisle Entertainment’s new mmo for kids: Wizard 101 and although I’m still a mere Novice Conjurer who hasn’t explored much beyond Unicorn Way, I am impressed with the game so far. Wizard 101 answers the...