Tomorrow Prof Paul Curzon will deliver his fifth free talk in his Lockdown Lecture series for computer scientists. They’ve proved very popular and we’re also delighted that teachers from outside the UK can join us (because the events are all online, on Zoom!).

These talks are delivered through CS4FN and Teaching London Computing with support from the National Centre for Computing, BCS, Institute of Coding and Queen Mary of London.

The Magic of Computer Science (part 1)
Wednesday 17 June, 5-6.30pm BST (1600-1730 UTC)
Free, online using Zoom
Full details and abstract below.

Register for a free ticket on Eventbrite by clicking this link:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/paul-curzon-the-magic-of-computer-science-part-1-tickets-109628479734

You can find out more about the series on our online-live-lectures page and familiarise yourself with using / testing Zoom.

These sessions are being recorded and will be added to YouTube (participants’ discussions and contributions are removed before publication and their faces / names are not visible).

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Some other events for teachers (and students)

The reason the talk is at 5pm and not our usual earlier time is because we thought some teachers might also like to attend the Mayor of London / NCCE free webinar “Key Stage 3 Computing for Non-Specialist Teachers: CPD Webinar” happening on the same day (Wed 17 June), from 4-5pm (click this link to register).

Your students might be interested in some free AI workshops for young people (age 9-17) on Tue 23 June, at various times accommodating UK and US (PST/EST) time zones. These are online workshops from ARM and FireTech [Click to register / find out more].

If you missed Paul’s first Lockdown Lecture on The Chocolate Turing Machine he’s giving this again as part of the wider CAS Virtual Showcase on Thu 25 June at 10am BST, free, online. This is part of a fortnight long Virtual Showcase with several speakers / talks that may be of interest [Link for showcase booking] [Link for more information] [Link for showcase PDF programme]

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1. The Magic of Computer Science (part 1)

Prof Paul Curzon
Wed 10 June 2020 – 5-6.30pm BST (1600-1730 UTC)
FREE
Online – Zoom room tbc (max capacity 100)

Registrants will be emailed a Zoom link and further info on Wednesday morning. Register now for a free ticket.

Overview of talk

To become a great computer scientist you need some of the same skills and understanding of great magicians. In this series of talks we will look at a series of links between magic and computing. There are many connections: to computational thinking, to core computer science topics and to human-computer interaction, for example. Magicians rely on people making mistakes. When people make mistakes using technology it is important to look at how to improve the system, rather than blaming the person, if disasters are not to repeat and lives are to be saved.

2. Resources

 

Download our free The Magic of Computer Science 3: magic meets mistakes, machines and medicine booklet, as well as our first two magic of computer science booklets.

Event landing page: Lockdown lectures: The Magic of Computer Science

3. Attending via Zoom

Note that we will record Paul’s talk for sharing later so please join with

• video / camera OFF (or just stick a plaster over the camera!)
• microphone audio MUTED
• amended screen name if you don’t want your current screen name to appear (it won’t appear in the recording in any case)

The published talk will be edited so that it’s just Paul’s slides and commentary.
There will be an opportunity for questions so please don’t unmute your microphone until then. We’ll also have a Google Doc open for questions (things can get lost in the chat window).

There’s a maximum of 100 participants, if you’re no longer able to attend please let Jo know to allow another to attend.

Please test in advance that you’ll be able to hear the talk. You can test settings and familiarise yourself with the layout by joining a test room (you’ll be the only participant) here https://zoom.us/test – there are more detailed instructions and screenshots (from a Macbook laptop) on our Using Zoom for our Online Lectures page.

 

4. Our other online talks

Online live lectures