Winter Hackathon goes really well – 15 teams created apps from 10am on Sat 28th to 5pm on Sun 29th Jan 2012. Prizes from Pearson, Blackberry, InMobi, Microsoft, Marmalade, Serious Games Institute.
Packed house of 60+ hackers at Central Working:
Winter Hackathon 2012 – Coding Session
People learn more when they play.
They remember more when they do.
They engage more when they share.
So why is most learning so ineffective and boring?
Christmas is a time when our lives are filled with ‘Games’ and ‘Stories’. Our TV’s are packed with stories, both old and new. We gather together with our families and play games, like Charades. Asking such questions like is it a Book, Movie or TV program. Our DVD’s come now with software that un-package the movie so that is can be played on multiple devices such as iPad’s, iTouches, iPhones, or even on your Laptop. Books can be played on Kindles, iPad’s, and read the old fashioned way on stuff we call ‘paper’.
Whichever medium we experience these Stories there are ‘Seven Basic Plots’;
• Overcoming the Monster
• Rags to Riches
• The Quest
• Voyage and Return
• Comedy
• Tragedy
• Rebirth
One theme that resonated this Christmas was the Hero’s Quest or Hero’s Journey. A hero is faced with a challenge and has to overcome various obstacles to achieve some goal. The focus is the achievement of the goal or objective and this can be in this world or another.
Joseph Campbell’s used the term monomyth, when referring to the hero’s journey and this was described by Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949).
Campbell held that numerous myths from disparate times and regions share fundamental structures and stages, which he summarized in The Hero with a Thousand Faces:
‘A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.’
This can be broken down into various Acts and Stages as shown by the following diagram:
What was also evident this Christmas was the Quest theme was being used not only in movies, but also in games, as we see below:
Questing in Role-Playing Games: the basic PLOT……
The quest in a role-playing game may begin with setting the objective of finding a lost artefact, or treasure, or some form of knowledge. This artifact might be in several pieces, and to collect the various components results in overcoming one or more challenges by the hero.
By designing the quest around specific challenges, various skills may be taught, improved, honed to excellence etc. thus a carefully designed quest may allow the heroes to shine and show the qualities that make them heroic or just improve them. Basically certain traits can be built into the game structure so that the architect of the game can teach the player or hero to learn through participating in the role-play and thus attain certain skills or improve those skills.
A Few Examples:
The Hobbit, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Indiana Jones series, etc.
The basic quest story can be broken down into a series of stages:
1. The Call – the hero has a calling from someone or due to an event that must result in a long difficult journey to achieve some sort of goal or objective.
2. The Journey – the hero sets off (with or without companions) on a long tortuous journey encountering a series of trials, challenges, or ordeals. For example, battling monsters, dealing with temptations, travelling between two different kinds of opposites or worlds.
As part of the journey there must be capture or daring escape’s, hospitality or life threatening ordeals, helpful advice or cunning trickery, wisdom or guidance and other themes can be built into the storyline to enhance the skills that want to be transferred to the hero.
3. Arrival and Frustration – the hero sees the goal, can almost get there but then new barriers, or obstacles or challenges arise that block him or her from the goal. At this point the hero is often at a low ebb and must dig deep to summon the strength to overcome these last challenges to reach the goal.
4. The Final Ordeals – here the hero has to undergo a series of final tests or challenges, or tasks to prove that they are worthy of the prize, be that an artefact, treasure or knowledge. There may be a guard or monster to the artefact which requires a battle to overcome them to release the prize.
5. The Goal – the hero finally overcomes the last obstacle in a death defying feat and wins the prize, or secures the knowledge, and lives happily ever after…..
So this structure within the role playing game has the capability to be designed in a way to teach certain skills or hone certain characteristics and in a highly effective way:
Which is why we are leading with the following messaging in 2012:
Learning via games:
Engages our curiosity
Encourages active decision making
Taps into deep human needs for challenge and mastery
Connects human desire for novelty and reward
Breaks learning up in to bite sized chunks
Activates more of our brain than traditional learning methods.
This ‘youtube’ video gives a very pictorial representation of the Hero’s Journey from a Joseph Campbell (sort of) perspective using Star Wars, Harry Potter and clips from the Wizard of Oz to highlight key points – the author of this video accentuates 5 key themes:
Here is a copy of our recent shareholder presentation.
This is a great advert from Kaplan University!
And one of the most inspiring videos I have seen on how the Digital Evolution will help talent learn anyplace, anywhere, at anytime.
Welcome to the ‘education’ revolution!
INTELLEGO HOLDINGS PLC (‘Intellego’ or ‘the Company’) – Acquisition of Digital Learning Marketplace
The Board of Intellego, the AIM traded digital learning business, is delighted to announce it has entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding (“MOU”) to acquire an investment in the Digital Learning Marketplace (“DLM”) project from Milamber Limited. There are two phases; development and commercial exploitation.
Development – the DLM is being built as a revolutionary new learning platform intended to allow Corporations, SME businesses, and professionals to access their day-to-day and future learning requirements with the goal of helping them improve their business performance. The Directors of Intellego believe that the DLM will be the first source of truly personalised learning giving users the ability to create their own focused courses in affordable blocks, built from materials supplied by a diverse range of providers. It will enable the owners of learning content to trade and monetise their learning assets. Participants in the project include Pearson Education (19%) and Ashridge Business School (6%). The DLM is designed to have global appeal, with engaging content available in small “bite-sized” units that are easily accessible, and affordable.
The Consortium partners will (pro rata to their respective interests in the project) receive a £740,272 grant from the UK Government’s Technology Strategy Board (TSB) (“Grant”), such is the importance of digital learning to the future education needs within the UK, to provide funds to help the Company finance the development of the DLM platform. The Consortium partners have agreed to match-fund the Grant giving the project a total investment of £1,498,224.
Commercial exploitation – the DLM is expected to be fully operational in 2013, in the interim there will be limited scale commercial trials and testing.
The proposed arrangements comprise an initial investment of up to £160,000 to secure a majority interest in the project during the two year development stage followed by Intellego’s option to maintain this interest into the exploitation stage. If for any reason Intellego decides not to exercise the option then Milamber has undertaken to buy-back the Interest from Intellego for an amount equal to Intellego’s investment save for the first payment of £40,000.
Milamber, in which Andy Hasoon is a 21% shareholder, (Intellego’s CEO and Director) owns a 6.86% interest in Intellego (40,000,000 ordinary shares of 0.05p). Accordingly, the transaction is a Related Party Transaction as defined by the AIM Rules.
The independent Directors of Intellego (being all the Directors with the exception of Andy Hasoon) having consulted with the Company’s Nominated Adviser, consider that the terms of the MOU are fair and reasonable insofar as the Company’s shareholders are concerned.
Angus Forrest, Chairman of Intellego said: “The investment in the DLM is our first major transitory move into being a pure digital learning provider. We are excited by the opportunity, that Andy Hasoon has brought to us, which has the potential to transform Intellego into a global player, and consider that the transaction provides a structured approach for Intellego Shareholders to participate in that opportunity”.
Andy Hasoon, CEO of Intellego said: “As the education market aligns ever more closely with online content and learning, the DLM has created a strategy which will ensure it remains the leader of this exciting and revolutionary step change. We promise our customers around the world that we will provide the most comprehensive, relevant and enjoyable learning experiences available.”
-ends-
For further information:
Intellego Holdings plc
Angus Forrest, Chairman 020 8977 8744
Andy Hasoon, CEO
Beaumont Cornish Limited (Nomad) 020 7628 3396
Roland Cornish
Rivington Street Corporate Finance (Broker) 020 7562 3357
Jon Levinson
Allenby Capital Limited (Broker) 020 3328 5656
Nick Naylor / Nick Athanas
Leander (Financial PR) 07795 168 157
Christian Taylor-Wilkinson
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Intellego
Intellego is a digital learning company which specialises in the provision of productivity improvement, compliance and process change using training to provide the solutions. The appropriate solution may be digital learning or instructor lead, or blended learning a mix of the two, to regulated industries and distributed workforces.
ADL Legal, Irwin Mitchell & Intellego sponsor Autumn Hackathon!
ADL Legal Solicitors are one of London’s leading firms in hi-tech commercial, technology and intellectual property law. Based in central London, the firm was created by Nick Lockett, the first lawyer in the UK to specialise in internet and online law in 1992.
Irwin Mitchell are one of the UK’s most successful and respected law firms with a national network of offices. We pride ourselves on our open and innovative approach and in providing clear and straightforward advice. Above all we are committed to putting you first.
Intellego - People learn more when they play. They remember more when they do. They engage more when they share. So why is most e-learning so boring?
Thanks to us, the next generation of digital learning won’t be dull. Intellego, and our subsidiary PIXELearning, are re-defining management education. Our team of world-class instructional designers and developers are already delivering award-winning learning products, but now we’re about to take digital learning to a far more interesting place.
Using a blend of games, simulations, online role plays, social networking and content from the world’s leading thinkers and writers, we’re taking learners and immersing them in a learning ecosystem that will deliver the most effective training ever devised.
For more information go to:
AGM Statement 2011 and Board Changes
The Annual General Meeting of Intellego Holdings plc, the AIM traded must have
digital learning business, will be held today. At the Meeting the Chairman,
Angus Forrest, will make the following statement:
“I am pleased to update you on the Company’s progress. The previously announced
plan to increase the emphasis on owning and creating its own intellectual
property has advanced with the acquisition of PIXELearning Ltd (Pixel) in May
2011. The aim is to raise gross margins and generate more revenues and
recurring income. In the past four months the balance sheet has been
strengthened as a result of injections of capital and the administration of
Intellego Group Ltd.
Board Changes
The critical feature of any business is its management, and today we announce a
number of changes.
Through the acquisition of Pixel, we were joined by Andy Hasoon who has 19
years’ experience of the learning industry and who will take on the role of CEO
with immediate effect. Andy Hasoon said “I am looking forward to growing sales,
focusing investment in marketing, developing distribution channels and
strengthening our sales force in order to expand the customer base and increase
the sales per customer. In addition to seeking expanding our product portfolio,
we have been evaluating several other acquisitions and expect to make
announcements in the next quarter.”
Other changes are as follows:
Bruce Leith reverts to his role as non-executive Director.
Robert Murphy has resigned as Finance Director and Company Secretary to pursue
his other business interests. The Board of Intellego thanks Robert for his
contribution to the Company over the past two years during the transition stage
as Intellego evolves from a distributor to a publisher and for the notable
achievement of substantially improving the balance sheet. The interim Finance
Director, a non-Board appointment, is Derek Watson FCA.
I remain as Chairman.
Business update
The business is being developed through three complementary services:
1. Gap analysis tools and content delivery systems
2. Learning Content
3. Assessment tools
Pixel has been fully integrated creating new opportunities to incorporate the
latest in serious games functionality into our product offerings.
Whilst we are creating an increasing number of high value opportunities, the
general economic uncertainty has caused delays in customer decisions and sales
have been lower than anticipated.
Outlook
The main emphasis is on growing sales and we are focussing investment in
marketing, developing distribution channels and strengthening our sales force in
order to expand the customer base and increase the sales per customer.
In addition to seeking complementary library acquisitions, we have been
evaluating several other acquisitions and expect to make announcements in the
next quarter.”
PIXEL recently ran a seminar (8th Sept 2011) for our customers at PIXEL and Intellego on ‘Why Serious Games Work’.
I must say the last presentation by Helen Routledge our Instructional Designer Manager at PIXEL was excellent.
With over 70 attendees to the event from blue chip companies the event was a real success.
PIXEL and Intellego will be running more of these ‘thought leadership’ events in 2012.
(‘Intellego’ or ‘the Company’)
PLACING TO RAISE £300,000
APPOINTMENT OF JOINT BROKER
The Board of Intellego, the AIM traded regulatory and compliance focused,
digital learning business, are pleased to announce that the Company has raised
£300,000 (before expenses) through the placing of 150,000,000 new ordinary
shares (the “Placing Shares”) at 0.20p per share (“the Placing”). The Placing
has been arranged by Allenby Capital Limited (“Allenby Capital”) and Rivington
Street Corporate Finance.
The net proceeds of the Placing will be used to continue the Company’s
acquisition policy, which the Board started with the purchase of PIXELearning
Ltd announced in May 2011. The objectives of the acquisitions will be to grow
the scale of the business whilst acquiring IP, profits and generating
shareholder value.
The Placing is conditional on admission of the Placing Shares to trading on AIM
(“Admission”). Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the
Placing Shares, which will rank pari passu with all existing ordinary shares, to
be admitted to trading on AIM. Admission is expected to become effective and
dealings to commence on or around 9 August 2011.
The Board is pleased to announce that Allenby Capital has been appointed as
joint broker to the Company. As part of the Placing, the Company has issued
Allenby Capital with warrants to subscribe for 2,907,233 new ordinary shares of
0.05p each in Intellego (the “Warrants”). The Warrants are exercisable at 0.20
pence per ordinary share for a period of 3 years from Admission.
Following Admission the number of shares in issue will be 581,446,682 Ordinary
shares of 0.05 pence per share. This figure may be used by shareholders in the
Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if
they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in,
the share capital of the Company under the Financial Services Authority’s
Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
