The Power of Digital Story Telling

This TED talk has a nice connection with the historical interviews students did in year one. Providing opportunities for people to tell there stories.

Smith Journal

Smith Journal

This journal and the linked website (above) are well worth a look.  Lots of interesting, and everyday occupations captured in these journals.  Have a look online or check out back issues in the public library.

Try a bit of canine therapy at work

Here's a link to an article and video posted today to the Stuff website about the virtues of having pets at work.

Try a bit of canine therapy at work

The work of Occupational Therapist Grace O'Sullivan

Video from the TVNZ Sunday programme.  Aired Sunday 18th December 2011.

Grace is a renowned occupational therapist in New Zealand.  This video shows her work in Auckland and her occupational approach to dementia care.

Sign Ninja

Here's a site a few of the Dunedin students are going to use when learning sign language as their chosen occupation (click on the picture below).

Sign Ninja is a great way to learn, practice and explore NZSL, the Language of the Deaf community of New Zealand.

The scene is set with a tale of intrigue told about a secret language. This is the little known but true history of NZSL, which was banned, even in Deaf schools, until as late as the 1980’s.

The Sign Ninja player must navigate their way through the NZSL labyrinth to find the Great Hall of Communication.

Play includes the creation of an avatar and interaction with Sign Ninja characters; the Sign Master, the Grammar Guru and the Hand Shaper.

NZSL vocabulary and knowledge is used to unlock doors, earn points, “Thumbs Up” tokens or “Voice Off Shields” along the way. Meanwhile the player will have to face the “Shouters”, noisy characters who don’t know how to use NZSL and are so loud that they are causing the walls of the labyrinth to collapse!

Upon reaching the Great Hall of Communication, players will be awarded belts in a variety of colors to reflect their level of achievement. Players can choose to have their adventures recorded in the Sign Ninja Hall of Fame.

*Works with Chrome on Android phones. Note, not all Android phones are capable.

**iPads/iPhones with iOS 7

Understanding Assistive Technology: Simply Said

Here's a short introductory video to get students thinking about assistive technology and how it can potentially be used to address occupational deprivation.

Occupational Deprivation: Rest home families concerned by cuts

The following story was used as an example of occupational deprivation in Dunedin. Feel free to have a look and post comments. This story is from 2013.

'Families of some of the residents and veterans at Ranfurly are concerned at what they say are cuts to the outings and activities for their loved ones. They also blame the change in management and a change in the 100-year-old culture of honouring and respecting the men and women Ranfurly was set up for.'

Rebecca Wright has the story of the World War veterans who fought for our country.
Campbell Live Clip

60 Minutes Conquering the Impossible

Here is the link to the 60 Minutes story from last week that we discussed in Dunedin in tutorials.  This is the story of double amputees who take on the challenge of climbing some of the highest peaks in the world.  Extreme rehabilitation.

60 Minutes Conquering the Impossible

Knitting saved my life

Here's a video one of our Dunedin students found when they were investigating the learnt occupation of knitting.  A really nice example of a range of meanings associated with the occupation.

Crowd control: How environmental cues and affordance change behaviour

From the program Crowd Control 'Stairs vs Escalator'.  Examples of how human behaviour patterns can be changed by adapting the environment.