BBC Micro 2.0 #ictcurric
I attended Alan O’Donohoe’s excellent Hack To The Future event at Our Lady’s High School in Preston on Saturday with 13 of our students, many of whom are on our GCSE Computing course.
There were many highlights, in particular I should mention Freaky Clown and his tales of a hacker turned good. I won’t repeat his story of hacking a whole country in 7 seconds as that would be bad form, but safe to say it was engrossing stuff and our pupils were intrigued by his story.
I spent a good portion of the day talking with the team from the BBC who were there with their pre-alpha software that was the much rumoured and discussed BBC Micro 2.0. I’ve written about this previously when Keri Facer put out her call for a response on the topic.
I felt a tad smug as my guess that a 2012 BBC Micro project should take the form of a software only programming environment, hopefully outputing HTML5 results, turned out to be pretty close to the mark. Parmy Brar has been the lead developer on the project and kindly talked me through some of his work so far. They have taken Eclipse (something I’d not come across before) and forked it to begin creating a simplified programming environment for children. Programming could be done in HTML or Javascript and the package was being developed to be as forgiving as possible for the amateur coder. In it’s basic mode there are 3 panels, one for coding, a browser to output the code and the final one a project file explorer. As well as outputting complete HTML5 websites, the team have an Android App output that was in semi-working form, and eventually will be looking at iOS output.
Integral to the project are built in lessons that talk you through the basics of programming different projects (akin to taking a course on CodeCademy). Parmy talked me through the back end to this area where he is creating a tool that will allow anybody to create their own help file / course for others to use. If this project is really going to take off this will be crucial as they look to build a large community around the environment. Michael Sparks had put together some exercises for the young learners to have a go at for the day and I saw kids ranging from about 8 to 16 all enjoying their first stabs at programming. Response from teachers seemed a little mixed, I saw many who were as excited as me but I also heard some discussing what was one show as scary looking (these were Heads of ICT!). I think this shows what a long way we’ve got to go on the rebirth of computing in schools and in particular the huge skills gap that we have to overcome. Projects such as this are going to be crucial in skilling up the teachers as much as the learners.
My coding experience starts with BASIC on ZX Spectrums & BBC Micros, takes in a tiny bit of Visual Basic and then stops. My experience of the past month or two with CodeYear do suggest to me that Javascript seems like a great choice of language for us to teach in schools. I discussed this with a few of the BBC team and they were all big proponents of the language, pointing out that it is now ubiquitous across the world and that almost everyone has a device that can and does read it on a daily basis.
More details about the extended BBC Hello World Project should be up at http://www.bbchelloworld.co.uk/ soon (it was online this morning but has disappeared again at the time of writing). I’m excited to see how this one develops.
Bravo Mr Gove #schoolstech #ictcurric
Unless you’ve been living under a rock today I’m assuming you’ll have seen some excitable headlines followed by a more detailed speech about the future of technology in education in the UK and in particular the future of the subject of ICT.
In a nutshell Mr Gove has scrapped the ICT curriculum, whilst keeping ICT in the curriculum. Confused? Don’t be. We can now effectively teach whatever we want. There will be a consultation, and there will hopefully be new ‘Computer Science’ qualifications in the pipeline. Mr Gove has listened to the calls of industry and responded with startling ruthlessness.
I’m delighted that my school is in a great position to make the most of these changes (in fact we won’t have many changes). We acted on the NextGen report when it came out last year and have a Y10 group working on the OCR Computing GCSE that I suspect Gove was alluding to in his speech. (Some of our other decisions back then with regards to Creative iMedia & MOS might not prove so long serving).
I never thought I’d say the words, but bravo Mr Gove!
The ICT programme of study was dull and out of date in places, and there is a lot of poor ICT teaching across the country. There is also a wealth of incredible teaching by teachers who have ignored / bent / destroyed the current program of study to their needs. Gove’s decision today means they are free to do so without worry of Ofsted and co castigating them for doing so. There is of course a danger that specific ICT lessons will dwindle in number further with this move. Integrating the skills across the curriculum is key, but we still need specialist teachers delivering these skills with panache if we are to really generate the next generation of talented, creative, coders.
The move to include more Computing / Programming / Computer Science has been much debated of late. It needs to be optional at KS4 but I’m in full support of this. Well qualified & skilled teachers to deliver this will be an issue.
It’s an exciting time to be involved in ICT. It’ll be interesting to see if we really do make it through the next few years without being told what to teach. And it will be interesting to see what qualifications become available at KS4 for us to work towards (and in turn what skills they focus us upon). This is a great chance to continue some of the great work that has gone on with #ictcurric and other endeavours to start putting together a set of core skills and competencies for Digital Literacy & ICT.
A particularly exciting thought crossed my mind when reading the full transcript of the speech. As the programme of study goes, so do the assessment levels and criteria. There will be nothing to say what a Level 5 in ICT is. So how about we scrap levels? What does achieving a Level 5 in ICT really mean? And who understands it? I’d suggest that half the students in KS3 don’t know, no teacher outside of the subject would know, and very few parents would know. Could we put together a simple list of core skills and competencies and measure learner’s progression in each of these. Something akin to APP lite, maybe with a Mozilla Badge system to award and recognise mastery and application of these skills? I suspect that National Curriculum levels will be phased out across the board over coming years, so this could be a great opportunity to put together something far more meaningful. I’d be much happier with my Maths teaching hat on if I could look at my learners records and see who has a Silver Award in Spreadsheets, or a Bronze Award in Scratch Programming, it would be far more meaningful to me and make planning the integration of ICT skills into that subject far easier.
So. Bravo Mr Gove. I may disagree with you a lot of the time, but you’ve been bold today and deserve respect for it. Join in the conversation that has been started today using the hashtag #schoolstech and at the website http://schoolstech.org.uk/. And welcome to the brave new world, when the National Curriculum review finally kicks into action don’t be surprised to see other subjects head in a similar direction.
FizzBuzz CodeYear Fun #schoolstech
With todays announcement from Mr Gove it seems a good point to reflect on my first steps on a year long coding journey. I spent my Tuesday evening completing the first week of lessons on the brilliant CodeYear. It took me about an hour and a half and was a great little introduction to Javascript. First week covers defining variables, basic arithmetic, and moves on to if/then/else/while statements.
It’s an interesting learning model, there are hints at each stage and I didn’t find myself stuck on too many occasions. If you teach ICT or Maths then I’d thoroughly recommend you take a look at it. It was quite a challenge and I’ll be interested to see how far students could get without a teacher to help them. If they do get stuck, some good Googling skills would help them find a way forward pretty quickly. It’s not a replacement for a skilled teacher thought, but that’s a conversation for another post!
The final bonus challenge is to write a FizzBuzz program that writes out a set of consecutive numbers, but replaces multiples of 3 with “Fizz” and multiple of 5 with “Buzz” and of course, multiples of both with “FizzBuzz”. It’s a great little challenge that the Maths teacher in me loved!
I’ve been encouraging staff and students at school to join me on this journey so it’ll be interesting to see how many are up for the challenge.
Here’s my final FizzBuzz code in case you’re interested or stuck:
// Ask user how far we should Fizz Buzz for
var Total = prompt("How far shall we fizz buzz?");
// for the numbers 1 through to Total,
for (i=1; i<=Total; i++) {
// if the number is divisible by 3, write "Fizz"
if ( i % 3 === 0 ) {
// unless the number is also divisible by 5, then write "FizzBuzz"
if ( i % 5 === 0 ) {
console.log("FizzBuzz");
}
else
console.log("Fizz");
}
// if the number is divisible by 5, write "Buzz"
else if (i % 5 === 0 ){
console.log("Buzz");
}
// otherwise, write just the number
else {
console.log(i);
}
}
Has anyone written this in a neater, purer way? I’d love to see it if you have.
EDIT:
I have to include this, a solution in a tweet by Martyn Colliver:
Learn To Code
Code Academy have set up Code Year. A lesson a week that over the course of the year will teach you how to code.
Slate suggest each lesson will run to about 5 hours. Which is a hefty commitment. But I’ve signed up and will be encouraging learners at school to do the same. With our big push on Computing and the future ICT curriculum changes on the horizon, it’s about time I can walk the talk!
Source: Slate
Rasberry Pi gets one step closer!
Source: raspberrypi.org
Return to Granny’s Garden?
The BBC along with Keri Facer at Manchester Metropolitan University are investigating the idea of a BBC Micro Mk2.0.
For those of you who didn’t grow up in 80’s Britain, the BBC Micro was an Acorn computer, build for the BBC Computer Literacy Project and became the mainstay of early IT in almost every British school. An army of young learners were either taught, or taught themselves the basics of programming using the BBC BASIC language on these machines.
The BBC Micro became a household fixture as well as a school one, featuring educational games such as Granny’s Garden (amazingly still available for sale - yours for £35!), and also the classic Elite, written by David Braben (more of him later).
We live in a World of cycles, and once again, computer literacy and the teaching of ICT is back in focus.
Here’s some of the preface to the cal for responses on the proposed new project:
Today, there is criticism of the ICT curriculum and the teaching of programming (or computational thinking) in schools. The Royal Society, amongst others, believe that design and delivery of ICT and computer science curricula in schools is so poor that students’ understanding and enjoyment of the subject is severely limited. In response to this the BBC is exploring the possibility of developing a project with the specific purpose of encouraging an interest in computers, computer science and computer programming amongst young people.
We would like to know your views on what the BBC could do in this area. In particular, what you would see as the desirable equivalent of the BBC Micro and The Computer Programme today? What technologies and processes, what tools and skills would such a project need to develop?
I’m keen to see anything that can help with the modernisation of the ICT curriculum, and anything that can help support our move into teaching Computing as a discrete subject.
Here’s my response to the questions:
What aspects of computational thinking (e.g. understanding how ‘computers think/work’, using programming languages, understanding systems thinking or other issues) should a BBC Micro 2.0 project focus on? What do you think people should be able to learn to do with computers today? Why?
Key areas that the current curriculum lacks focus upon are understanding the procedural nature of how a computer program works - hardware control, and an opportunity to learn to program. It would seem logical that a BBC Micro 2.0 project would be purely software based. If programming is to be at it’s core then a decision on whether to use an existing language, a modification of one, or a completely new language will have to be made. Two possible avenues would be a programming language that outputs HTML5 ‘programs’ - this would allow the widest possible distribution of programs, including on mobile devices. Another would be a programming language sitting on a Rasberry Pi device. This would have the bonus of being a complete hardware/software package at a very low price.
What are the best ways to support and encourage those young people (aged 9-14) with an interest in this area, to develop their interest and skills in computational thinking ? Can you suggest any examples of resources or activities that you know of?
Games design is the top way to engage with young people interested in computational thinking. Software packages such as Scratch & Kodu offer an excellent way in to early programming concepts. Games such as Lightbot offer a very early and accessible introduction. Code Academy is an interesting new development and a great way for young learners to get an introduction to programming without teacher support.
What are the best ways to support and encourage young people (aged 9-14) with other interests to develop an interest in and understanding of computational thinking? Can you suggest any examples of resources or activities that you know of?
See above, again, games offer the biggest ‘hook’ for young learners. Kodu would be the best example of a way of enticing otherwise uninterested young learners into computational thinking.
What are the key obstacles to learning computational thinking and how might these best be overcome?
Curriculum time, curriculum, qualifications and assessment. Until computational thinking is written deeply into the National Curriculum, or the NC is itself massively reduced, it will not be a priority in schools and will not get the class time that it needs to be developed. Hopefully the NC review will lower the total prescribed content, reduce the emphasis on software use such as MS Office and increase the emphasis on computational thinking. It would also be nice to see if brought to the fore in the Maths curriculum, at the expense of some of the less useful skills that currently exist there.
If you were to make hardware available to schools in the same way as the BBC Micro in 1981, what sorts of hardware would you think was essential to develop the skills and understanding needed?
Rasberry Pi looks like the perfect idea for a new generation of BBC Micro-esque hardware. It seems to be building a positive head of steam in the run up to it’s launch. BBC support of this project would surely help it succeed and the link with David Braben is almost poetic. Hardware needs to be mobile. A software only solution that works on a wide variety of platforms would make most sense. As discussed above, something that output HTML5 would make most sense.
If you were designing a tv programme today that sought to have the same effect as The Computer Programme in stimulating interest in the most important new area of technological development, what area would you expect it to address and what topics would you expect it to cover? Would it still be in the field of computer science? What areas?
A show that involved learners, with a strong online presence and with inspirational guests and challenges. You could run online challenges to write programs to solve a certain problem, or along a certain theme. The best of these could be invited to some kind of studio show where they compete to be a winner, maybe with judges from the relevant industry.
Do you know of any projects, resources and activities that would be examples that this project could learn from?
See above. Kodu, Scratch, Code Academy (& Khan Academy as a model), Rasberry Pi, Lightbot.
Do you have any other comments on the idea of a new BBC Micro project?
BBC support of computational thinking would be hugely positive, this has to be a priority area in UK education (see Nesta report & our journey). A software solution that offers young learners something close to the instant gratification of Scratch or Kodu whilst giving transferable skills to more formal languages would be hugely positive. As would support of the Rasberry Pi project.
Photo Credit to psd on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/psd/5435967638/
Arrington invests in Code Academy
I spotted the excellent Code Academy a few weeks ago. And it looks like I wasn’t alone. It’s received a huge round of funding including from Michael Arrington:
What really excites me about Codecademy is that you can learn almost anything this way.
All I can think of is how if this was around when I was in college I may have actually learned calculus this way. I got a B in that class but I can clearly remember at the time being completely lost, and anything I did learn is now permanently wiped from my brain.
It’s an interesting take on this form of learning and it looks like Code Academy is going to follow in the footsteps of Khan Academy et al in promoting learner led online instruction.
I think much like Khan Academy, this certainly has a place and is a fantastic resource for people to teach themselves some key concepts and basics until they’d inevitably be better off with a real teacher helping you out, setting challenges and interacting with other learners. It’ll be interesting to see what comes from the ability for users to create their own Code Academy lessons.
What do you think?
Programming Principles
I like these analogies and principles for programming basics, nice talking points for teachers using Code Academy as a starting point for teaching programming.
Code Academy
Love this website that teaches you the basics of how to code. Have passed on to our new Computing GCSE class.
Assistant Headteacher from Manchester, UK. This is a space for my thoughts on education, technology and more. Has for now taken over from my old blog at www.mrstucke.com
