Former teacher Tim Rylands is on a mission to help children and young people to unlock their imaginations so they can "take off on a sea of words". It began at Chew Magna secondary school in Bristol where Rylands pioneered the use of video games as powerful stimuli to encourage pupils' speaking and writing. His work is now known internationally and, most days, involves a bewildering succession of conference key note lectures, teacher insets and school workshops.
Rylands originally hit the headlines because of his clever, oblique use of the role-playing game, Myst, where he immersed children in its detailed fantasy landscapes so that it became a provocation and a scaffold for their writing. But now he says he offers much more than just Myst.
Among his current passions is the Wii simulation game, Wild Earth - African Safari, which encourages creative and discursive writing at key stages 2-3 (£10.39 from Play.com - Nintendo Wii console required). "It places children in role as photojournalists touring the veldt in search of interesting animals and animal behaviour," he says. "They are supported in their various quests by experts providing scientifically accurate explanations of what is going on. "[You should] anticipate frequent discussion of animal spores. There's nothing quite like poo for getting children engaged!"
Rylands tries to extend the Wii experience by sending children on safari into school playgrounds in search of evidence of the "Camelephantclopelicanary" or other outlandish creatures created using the free Switcheroo Zoo website (KS2 science). It encourages children to research individual animals and create habitats for those they have invented. And through Qik software, children are sometimes able to film what they have found and send it back simultaneously via hand-held devices to their classmates on computers for analysis and description.
Moving on to altogether more grown-up immersive stuff, Rylands highlights the stimulus older pupils can get touring the free Fighting Malaria website with its 360-degree tours of a Malawian clinic. It offers various curriculum applications, particularly English and geography, KS3-4.
"I encourage teachers not to introduce games as 'games' and doing the simple thing of opening them up in advance so that nothing interrupts young people's absorption into whatever world it is," he says. "The idea in part is to get children away from issues of plot and focused on place and mood. Once that's achieved, their writing can take off and fly."
For links to an enormous range of games and IT in education tips and teaching advice check out Tim Rylands' blog – "to baldly go": timrylands.com/blog/
Fighting Malaria: fightingmalaria.info/
Wild Earth – African Safari: nintendo.com/games/detail/EOCMwcSLfkoaFB2bzPGKWs9y3vsu3CBA
Switcheroo Zoo: switchzoo.com/
Return to the home page for more on elearning at theguardian.com/classroom-innovation