Update on the Lab - and our first Lab mentor meetup

It's been quite a while since we've posted to this blog.  Over the last year the board for The Lab Network (our not-for-profit company overseeing all Labs around the country) has been busy finalising a bunch of stuff, such as creating policies, manuals, videos and other templates for Labs around Australia. There are now 14 Labs around the country, with more on the way and even more interested...hence us getting things underway for the next phase of the Lab's growth.

Some main things to mention are:

• we now have a paid coordinator on board to manage all Lab-related communications and queries. His name is Alan Morgans, and he can be reached at: alan@thelab.org.au 

• We've been successful in a Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation funding bid to create a pilot for a purely online version of the Lab. Here we'll be working with remote and isolated Victorian young people, as well as members of the Brisbane School of Distance Education.

• This week we held our first-ever Lab mentor meetup, this time with mentors from around Melbourne and Geelong. It was a fabulous night, with 10 mentors taking part. One of our first actions will be to create a private online group for mentors around Australia to share ideas and swap notes. More on that soon. Here's a photo (and more to come soon from us...) :)

Additional Monday evening GamePlay seesions at Footscray Community Arts Centre during Term Three

For all Melbourne Lab folks and friends:

Letting you know there will be some additional Monday evening 'GamePlay' workshops taking place during Term 3 at Footscray Community Arts Centre. Bookings are now open and are available to anyone, to tell your ASD and non-ASD friends. 

These sessions will be run by Footscray Community Arts but sessions will be led by The Lab's tech mentors.

Gameplay (advanced):

http://footscrayarts.com/event/gameplay-advanced-term-3/

Gameplay (intro) – starting your own game from scratch (more for beginners):

http://footscrayarts.com/event/gameplay-intro-term-3/

From the Guardian: Me, my son and Minecraft

'One of the things that's so appealing about Minecraft is that there is no obvious start and end; it's a game of infinite possibilities, which is presumably why it's often compared to Lego'...


http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/mar/08/me-my-son-minecraft-blocks-game

Coderdojo - remind you of another project?

Have just found out about Coderdojo, described as"a global network of self-directed hacker schools for kids". Sounds vaguely familiar....

http://boingboing.net/2014/03/04/coderdojo-global-network-of-s.html

Nice story in the Age today about the Inside the Brick lego club

Read about the excellent Rob Deakin and his Inside the Brick Lego clubs in this newspaper story today. It's sure to be of interest to lots of Lab parents:

http://www.theage.com.au/national/health/fairfield-lego-club-inside-the-brick-helps-children-with-autism-to-build-bridges-20140222-3391h.html

Melbourne families - note from Paul Staubli about The Global Game Jam (GGJ), the world's largest game jam event

Hi everyone from Paul.

Evelyn, a psychologist who works in schools with several of our kids from the Frankston Lab and also comes along to the Lab to help out, has recommended this event:  The Global Game Jam (GGJ), the world's largest game jam event. Teams compete all over the world to make a videogame within 48 hours.

It’s linked to the International Game Developer’s Association of which Evelyn is a member. Last year 309 locations in 63 countries created over 3000 games in one weekend! Of those, 130 jammers in Melbourne made 38 games.

For the first time, the public can get along on the afternoon on the final day (Australia Day) and see/play the games made over the weekend.

Evelyn’s message:

Here’s the link to Melbourne Global Game Jam - First Play Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1408809242696704.

It would be good if parents and kids want to have a look at games made over a 2-day period and chat with game developers a bit more (they'll probably be exhausted though because most of them would've worked for 2 days straight with limited sleep). But it would be still be good exposure to the games industry I reckon!

The registration link is for parents who are interested: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/melbourne-global-game-jam-first-play-tickets-9925667940

GGJ brings together thousands of people for a weekend of collaboration and creativity :

24-26 January 2014

Melbourne House, Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE)

Level 8, 14 Queens Road

Melbourne VIC 3004

Australia

Perhaps those from individual Labs interested in attending could meet up or go together. (email: staubli@bigpond.com)

My fireworks Mario game inspires an idea?

Hi guys it's Bailey! It's been awhile since my last blog but I was meant to show you the updated version of my fake Mario game, here it is along with some extra artwork made in fireworks at the same time.
                                                           

And now that's it's been 2 to 3 years since I can up with the idea and now Nintendo has surprised me. Nintendo have now released a new Mario game called Super Mario 3D World which very much like my game is a Wii U game, has 3D multi-player and even features the return of Princess Peach. There are some differences though such as that it's a 3D Land sequel rather than a game of collecting power stars like Galaxy and 64, and that Yoshi doesn't have an appearance. The cover of the game is also similar.    

So either it's a coincidence or Nintendo are mind readers :3



HAPPY NEW YEAR! - Bailey

Article on Susan Boyle revealing she has Aspergers, plus a helpful site for those entering tertiary study from the Olga Tennison Austism Research Centre

Hi Lab folks - last week of the Lab year, once again (and how quickly).

In case you're interested, here's an article from the Guardian that might be of interest:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/10/susan-boyle-singer-aspergers-syndrome-late-diagnosis

Plus here's a useful guide from OTARC for young people with autism entering tertiary study:

http://www.latrobe.edu.au/otarc/your-questions-answered/support

Have a brilliant, safe and fun and holiday season!

Stefan

Some great news on Frankston Lab

Some good news to share - our intrepid Paul Staubli has not only got the Frankston Lab going, but has managed to secure a year's funding. That is so very awesome :) More soon...

The Maidstone Lab is moving!

Some good news - we've just had confirmed that The Maidstone Lab will be moving to a brilliant new location at the Footscray Community Arts Centre next term, after the Centre approached us about hosting The Lab recently.

It's a fabulous space with a cafe, good parking, nearby train and a grassy setting by the Maribyrnong River. Footscray Community Arts Centre runs a broad range of programs for all kinds of people, and it will be great for The Lab to be part of that community. Centre location details are here:
http://footscrayarts.com/contact-us/how-to-get-here/

Besides the opportunity to move to such a good new location, The Lab's decision to move from Maidstone is connected with Dale's business. Oztron doesn't really need the big space to do their software projects, and the rent keeps going up, meaning that it has become increasingly less viable lately to keep running The Lab there.

Everything else about The Lab will stay the same - fees, processes, session times etc.

We have just found out and will be working out other details in the next week. But we did want to let people know asap in advance of planning for the next school term, so you can make an informed decision about that. Soon we'll send parents the payment forms for the new term for the Lab at the Footscray Community Arts Centre.

Best,

Stefan and Dale