The Digital diaries project had been developed as part of a large training materials project for the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, on behalf of the Departments of Child and Family Studies and Community and Further Education (TAFE).  The Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare is the peak body in Victoria for all  non government agencies who provide out of home care services for children and young people in protective care.

The digital diaries are about the thoughts and experiences of young people in residential care who, as well as recording their story,  also participated in the development of the design features of their stories with Design Centre students.

It was a collaboration over a period of 8-10 weeks with one design student being assigned to work one on one with a young person.

The digital diaries create a positive and lasting memory for these young people but most importantly they are an extremely effective training tool for direct carers who work in out of home care settings.

The training materials,  including these AV materials,  will be rolled out across all training organisations who deliver the Certificate IV in Protective Care in Victoria.  They will also be used by the Department of Human Services and placed in every residential care organisation in Victoria.

Esplora was a mobile phone game produced for Thomson Learning by Swinburne University Design Centre.
Esplora was aimed at Years 7 to 7 school children.
The game focus was on correct grammar, in particular matching words with their correct ‘articles’.
The game involved driving a scooter past various obstacles until an article stage is reached and them the player has to name the correct article.
The Esplora game is now being distributed with Thomson Learning Esplora textbooks.
The game can also be downloaded from http://www.esplora.com.au/content/view/40/72/

Kana Chan was a mobile phone game produced for Thomson Learning by Swinburne University Design Centre. Kana Chan was aimed at Years 7 & 8 school children to teach them basic Japanese by hunting for specific Kana that makes up words. The game was design and developed by Swinburne University Design Centre using Flash Lite 2. The Kana Chan game is now being distributed with Thomson Learning Japanese textbooks.