Edutainment

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There still seems to be this Clash of Ideas around the Benefits / Usefulness of Enjoying what you do whilst Learning. The 'Old School' (so to speak), who believe in Repetition of Facts, Dates, etc. are still unwilling to accept that this Method could be useful & lead to Improvement.

As a Counter - Balance, the Software Industry is not all that interested in the Learning side of things. Entertainment Wins & most tend to Highlight the Benefits of Improved Hand - to - Eye Co - ordination as some Justification, when they can even be bothered to Answer a Questions about a Child's Development.

Let's be Realistic here, Fun Sells Games NOT School! There was an Advert, c.2001, which used the example of the Millennium Dome being set up as, 'not fun but educational.' The Person listening to this 'pitch' just says, 'No.' Then another voice comes over to say something along the lines of, 'now that what an easy way to save a lot of money, now here's another way...' This is a good point, even when done humorously, that demonstrates this point quite well I think (for more on my own particular Humour see my Comedy Pages)

This is very much along the same Issues being raised about Children's TV Programs. Too many Cartoons & not enough Culture, Drama &, of course, Learning.

It all tends to end up being the Parent(s) Responsibility (or Fault). 'If that's what the People are Buying / Watching, then that's what we'll give them.' In all likelihood it's a mixture of Both. This puts a lot of Pressure on Adults when Choosing Software for Children. Advertisers & Manufacturers now Target the Children themselves, Bypassing the Parent(s), having Discovered that Children can exert significant Pressure on Adults to Buy things (just go into a toy shop around Xmas & see :-(

When it's working it's a great Program & hours of fun, unfortunately I have had problems with it ever since it was bought (OCT 99).

A very temperamental Program that didn't react well to updates in the Graphics Drivers & DirectX. Earlier CD - ROM's may have a Copyright Protection Error on it (Computer gets stuck on blank white screen) and I had to return it to their Technical Support People for Replacement.

Unfortunately the New One still has the same problem, Emails to their Support People have still had no reply, so I've given it away. Sadly it works on their Computer fine and doesn't show any signs of breaking down (DAMN ;-)

Unfortunately, like the Space Agencies themselves, a lot of it seems to be out of date, in a state of continual change & doomed to oblivion as it crashes into the Earth.

Only for the Real Enthusiast, I think.

There is a Game on there which NO ONE can get the hang of, Adult, Child or otherwise (if you can do it - I don't want to know, got it ;-)

You can connect to Body Online, via the Program, to find out even more about what makes all of us tick.

There is Quiz as well to show us all how little we actually know, or think we know. A Definite Must.

The new DVD 2000 Version is packed full of Stuff, lots & lots of Video Clips, Images, etc. have been added. At present it only costs around £70, a reasonable price considering that the 98 Version was £100+ in some shops.

As far as I can tell it needs Internet Explorer 4 though (I have some strong Reservations about this, read more Here)

There is also an Online Britannica.

Includes Video Clips, Pictures & Sounds, including An Ode to Spot by Commander Data.

It also enables you to Add Your Own Entries. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any Update Packages available for later Episodes, Series, etc. from the Manufacturers. This is a bit of a shame as I would happily pay for the Updates (sad, eh? ;-). The only other option is to buy it again :-(

A Version 3 is now on sale which has a couple more years to the Saga. There doesn't appear to be any Plans to Release a DVD Version which would replace the need to have 4 CD's & a fair bit of swapping around.

What is does is enables you to Load All the Sub Pages and Scroll down them rather than make you wait for the bit I want or, which is even more Annoying, moves on before I've finished Reading it.

If that wasn't enough it has Active Phone & WebSite Links which show up on the Teletext Page, for more Information, Competition Lines, etc. Astounding! It also can Update the Computer's Clock, either by choice or on Start - Up.

Sad at it sounds I've probably spent more time Exploring this than I have Watching the TV.

Very Limited in some areas & an old Program, so there not much in there for today's budding inventor.

A lot of didn't seem to work. I couldn't get all the QuickTime (32 bit) Graphics to work Properly. When they did Work they were reasonably impressive though. Some of the Video Clips were a tad disappointing, despite the good quality.

I needed to Install a 'diluted' Version of Internet Explorer 4 to get this to run, or not as it turned out. It didn't like the fact that I generally use Netscape (for more these Programs click Here).

There were a lot of problems with IE4, it would crash every so often. I also had no success with the Online part of the Program & was unable to download the Updates, or even to access the WebSite at times. So eventually I Uninstalled it. End of Story!