Futurelab is a charity which looks to transform the way people learn through innovative technology and practice. The theme for their recent Ideas Incubator was 'Informal learning', investigating how young people can recognise and understand the benefits they get from activities outside of school such as a part time job or sports participation.

Our 'Shoutbox' idea won through to the Discovery Stage of the scheme. It's a tool which is split into two parts.  A mobile application allows the user to record examples of activities they do which meet certain categories  such as achievement, determination or discipline. The user can pick a theme for these examples such as sport, work, or community, and they are guided by a character who provides some examples of their own. When ready, the user can upload this content on to an online showcase within a Facebook application, where it is represented by certain objects within a scene relevant to the theme. For example, an image which represents team work in a football match can be shown as a team photo in a sports hall. All the content is also subject to peer review by friends/

During the Discovery Stage we worked with Futurelab to assess the end user's needs, current tools, and also gauged response to a pilot activity. We are particularly interested in what role a teacher could play within the application, and what level of involvement they should have.