Category Archives: Computer Science curriculum

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Secondary computing teachers eligible for Teacher Industrial Partners’ Scheme (TIPS) from @ntlstemcentre

Teachers may be interested in TIPS (the Teacher Industrial Partners’ Scheme) which gives STEM teachers an authentic experience of what takes place in modern engineering and technology organisations. The aim is to enable teachers to link their subject to the range of careers open to their students.

The National Science Learning Network, which runs the scheme, has arranged work placements with BP during the spring term.

Become a BP Partner School – 3 places available
BP is looking for three secondary teachers of science, technology, engineering, mathematics or computing to undertake a two-week work placement during the spring term 2015.

The placement is part of the Teacher Industrial Partners’ Scheme (TIPS), linking engineering and technology employers with local schools. By giving you an authentic experience of what takes place in modern engineering and technology organisations, you can help your students understand how your subject links to a diverse range of career opportunities at all levels.

The main base will be at the International Centre for Business & Technology at Sunbury with visits to the oil trading headquarters at Canary Wharf, a supply depot on the south coast and a fuel development centre near Reading.

What will it cost and are there any bursaries?
The fee to take part in TIPS is £360.

Teachers from state-funded schools, academies and colleges can receive an ENTHUSE Award bursary of £1400 to help with supply cover and other costs.

How to apply
To participate, you must be available to leave the classroom from the 6 to 23 of February 2015.

For information on how to apply, visit the website below to register:
www.sciencelearningcentres.org.uk/consortia/national/teacher-industrial-partners-scheme

About the NSLN
The National Science Learning Network is the UK’s largest provider of subject-specific CPD. It comprises the National Science Learning Centre in York, and a wider network of 50 Science Learning Partnerships across England.

 

 

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What are London teachers’ needs for the new Computing curricula? We have a survey…

Teaching London Computing is a project that is run jointly from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and King’s College London (KCL). We’re funded by the Mayor of London and Department for Education to provide support to teachers in London who are delivering the new Computing curricula (GCSE and A-level).

This includes computing subject knowledge and pedagogical support through a range of continuing professional development courses, free workshops (with fun unplugged-style activities) and free printable resources for use in the classroom.

***London Computing teachers*** – please fill in our short survey
We would like to understand more about the training needs that Computing teachers in London have and we’ve developed a short survey to help us find out more. If you are a Computing teacher based in London your participation will be very helpful. There’s an opportunity to sign up for class sets of free booklets once you’ve completed the survey which should take no more than five minutes to complete.

Please visit http://bit.ly/TLCsurvey2015a to take part in our survey and pass this link on to colleagues.

About us
The Teaching London project developed from cs4fn (Computer Science for Fun, a popular outreach project from QMUL to enthuse schoolchildren about computer science) and, in partnership with the Education department at KCL, we are providing resources for teachers who are introducing programming concepts and computational thinking into the classroom. We aim to nurture an inspiring Computing education for pupils across London.

Next courses
We’ve two new courses starting in the New Year.

Research
We’ve published a number of research articles about computer science education, selected examples below.

Black J, Brodie J, Curzon P, Myketiak C, McOwan PW and Meagher LR (2013). Making computing interesting to school students: teachers’ perspectives. Proceedings of the 2013 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer
Science Education (ITiCSE 2013), 255–260. New York: ACM.

Myketiak C, Curzon P, Black J, McOwan PW and Meagher LR (2012) cs4fn: a flexible model for computer science outreach. In Proceedings of ITiCSE ’12 Proceedings of the 17th ACM annual conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education, Pages 297-302, ACM New York. DOI: 10.1145/2325296.2325366

Bell T, Curzon P, Cutts Q et al. (2011) . Introducing Students to Computer Science With Programmes That Don’t Emphasise Programming. Proceedings of ITiCSE 2011, The 16th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education ACM SIGCSE. 391-391.
10.1145/1999747.1999904

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Website: http://teachinglondoncomputing.org Twitter: http://twitter.com/TeachingLDNComp

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New A-level CPD Computing course at QMUL – January 2015

Teaching London Computing will be running a new CPD course for A-level Computing teachers at QMUL, details below.

Eventbrite - QMUL: 2015 - A-level Computing CPD - from Teaching London Computing for this course.

New A-level CPD computing course
Starting on Wednesday 14 January 2015 and running for 10 weeks (with a break at half term) this will be the third outing for this popular advanced CPD course which equips Computing teachers with the programming subject knowledge and skills to teach the new A-level Computing curricula.

Full details on our page for the A-level course.

The 10-week course costs £300 but thanks to funding from the Mayor of London we’re able to offer a 50% discount (ie £150) to London teachers.

Course dates – all on Wednesdays
Week 1: 14 January 2015
Week 2: 21 January
Week 3: 28 January
Week 4: 4 February 2015
Week 5: 11 February
Half-term: 18 February 2015 (no class)
Week 6: 25 February
Week 7: 4 March 2015
Week 8: 11 March
Week 9: 18 March
Week 10: 25 March 2015

Full details on our page for the A-level course.

Note that we have a separate Masters level computing pedagogy module which begins on 17 January 2015 at King’s College London.

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*New course date* Computer Science Education: Theory & Practice (Spring 2015) @ King’s

Teaching London Computing has a new course for Computing teachers, at King’s College London. The short course is a standalone module on an MA course in Education, and is suitable for those who will be teaching Computing up to A-level.

For more details and to apply for a place please visit the course information page.

Computing

COURSE OVERVIEW

KEY FACTS
Course start date – 17 January 2015
Course duration – 11 weeks part time
Course type – Online course
Course times – Saturdays 10am-4pm on campus and online Tuesdays 7-8pm
Course recurrence – Saturday then five Tuesday evenings online, another Saturday and five more Tuesday evenings online.
Location – Waterloo Campus
Entry requirements – Qualified Teacher Status in ICT or experience of teaching ICT in a secondary school.
Credit value – 30 credits at Master’s level
Academic Lead – Sue Sentance

COURSE STRUCTURE

Saturday 1: Curriculum and Computing

Seminar 1 – Communications Unplugged
Seminar 2 – Gender and Computing
Seminar 3 – Teaching early Programming
Seminar 4 – Programming Teaching Methods
Seminar 5 – Teaching by Modelling

Saturday 2: Hardware and Assignment Workshop

Seminar 6 – Flow and Learning through Games
Seminar 7 – Motivation, Uptake and Careers in Computing
Seminar 8 – Collaboration and Group Work in Computing
Seminar 9 – Programming and Mathematics, Computational Thinking
Seminar 10 – Assignment Plans and Feedback

COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course is aimed at experienced ICT teachers and new PGCE graduates who do not have a computing background but would like to develop the capacity for teaching Computing/Computer Science up to A level.

Students on this course have access to online materials to enhance their subject knowledge and learn programming (Python 3). They can also attend workshops on the Subject Knowledge Enhancement course in order to improve their knowledge of the course content of current GCSE and A level specifications.

HOW IS THE COURSE TAUGHT?
Module teaching includes two Saturday workshops one at the beginning and one in the middle of the module together with weekly tasks, readings and discussions in ten on-line sessions. A task related to the week’s theme usually including the study of a specific aspect of programming or computing education with each student posting their reactions, comments and reflections to an on-line asynchronous discussion board for others to view and respond. Online synchronous (chat) seminars in small groups to discuss the week’s theme. These happen on the same evening (Tuesday) each week.

OTHER RELATED COURSES
The 30 credits from this Short Course could be transferred in to an MA Education programme.

We hope that course participants will be interested in the MA Computing in Education

WHAT WILL I GET OUT OF IT?
The intended outcomes are that students will develop a critical understanding of the Pedagogy of Computer Science at secondary level enabling them to make critical, informed judgements in

  • managing the introduction of computing to the curriculum from years 7 to 13
  • developing strategies for selecting appropriate public examinations for their students, at KS4&5
  • writing schemes of work and devising assessment in line with research into the learning of computer science and programming
  • selecting and designing and developing their own resources and teaching materials to enhance the understanding of key concepts

for the teaching of computer science, including programming from 11-18.

This course is offered BOTH as a 30 credit module on the Modular Education MA and here as a standalone Short Course. Students successfully completing this course will gain 30 credits towards an Education Masters.

WHO IS IT FOR?
Trained and practising teachers of secondary ICT who wish to teach Computer Science.

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS
Guide to Teaching Computer Science: an Activity-Based Approach by Lapidot and Ragonis (available from FWB library in hard copy and electronic versions).

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS PURCHASE INFORMATION
GCSE and A level text books for Computing and Computer Science.
Specifications for current GCSE and A level examinations (available online on Exam Board websites).

FEES & OTHER INFORMATION
This course is partly funded through the Teaching London Computing project run by Queen Mary University of London in collaboration with King’s College London.
A number of teachers in London schools will benefit by receiving a 50% discount on the cost of the course through funding received by the TLC project from the London Schools Excellence Fund.
Course cost £1000, less discount £500 (for London Teachers), net cost £500.

COURSE TIMES
Saturdays 10am-4pm on campus and online Tuesdays 7-8pm

COURSE LEVEL
Masters

For more details and to apply for a place please visit the course information page.

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Other courses, events and support for Computing teachers – a mini round-up

Teaching London Computing is one of several projects that support teachers in delivering the new curriculum. If you’re new to teaching Computing, or need a refresher there are lots of sources of information online and events around the UK. Here are a few examples.
A great place to start is Computing At School (CAS) which is free to join and has an active discussion forum as well as a free listing of events.

Computing At School: http://computingatschool.org.uk/

Diversity in Computing Conference 2014 – from Computing At School
“The CAS #include Diversity in Computing Conference is an opportunity for teachers, professionals and academics to meet specialists in our 5 focus strands. Our strands are Gender, Ethnicity, Disability, Socio-Economic Status and SEN. The event will be a mixture of key note speeches and workshops. You will be able to choose to attend two out of our five workshops and gain an insight into how to promote inclusion in your chosen area.”

It takes place (not in London) on Saturday 15 November 2014 from 10am to 3:30pm in Kingswinford.

#include – Computer Science for everyone, @CASinclude, http://casinclude.org.uk/

There are also some one-day courses for teachers such as “Moving from GCSE to A-Level OCR Computing” from Philip Allan Events / Hodder Education which takes place on Monday 10 November 2014, in London, from 10.15 to 4pm. There will also be an AQA course running on Monday 17 November 2014.

“We have designed this workshop to make sure your students perform to their highest level in AS and A2 Computing by providing you with in-depth advice on teaching the subject.”

Philip Allan Events for Teachers (Computing): http://www.philipallanupdates.co.uk/Subjects/Computing.aspx?sid=52

If you can’t easily attend a class in person there are online courses too such as MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) – here’s one at Warwick University which started on 16 October but is still taking registrations.

Computing for Teachers MOOC: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/dcs/schools/cpd/
“This free online computer science course is aimed at teachers preparing to deliver the new computing curriculum. It will prepare you with the necessary subject knowledge and programming skills to be confident in teaching computing up to GCSE. The course provides in-depth coverage across 3 areas:
• Computing concepts,
• Programming in Python,
• How to teach the concepts”

Please note: as we do not know the detailed content of others’ courses we can’t endorse them – but we thought you might like to know about what other people and organisations are up to. We’re happy to mention free or paid-for courses and events on our pages that are relevant to London teachers (and we don’t charge for listing information, or accept any advertising ‘fee’).

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Free Computing workshop with Paul Curzon – Unplugged programming / algorithms, Wed 29 Oct 1.30-5pm

Eventbrite - Free Computing workshop with Paul Curzon - Unplugged computing / algorithms at QMUL for this event on 29 October 2014, 1.30pm to 5pm.

On Wednesday 29 October 2014 Prof Paul Curzon will be doing a 3 hour workshop session at Queen Mary University of London on unplugged programming and algorithms. Previous sessions have proved extremely popular so we recommend booking early.

The workshop will start at 1.30 and continue until 5pm with a half hour break for tea and networking in the middle. These workshops are free for Computing teachers.

You can register for a free place using the orange Eventbrite button above or at the end of the page, or visit the Eventbrite page.

When: Wednesday 29 October 2014, 1.30pm to 5pm
Where: QMUL (Queen Mary University of London)
For whom: Computing teachers
What: Two workshops (click on the links below to find out more and download free class activity sheets)
• Invisible palming! Intelligent paper? So what is an algorithm?
• Programming unplugged: learning programming without computers
Cost: FREE!

Although these workshops are aimed at those who’ll be teaching the Computing Science curriculum we have made a few spaces (also free) available to ‘interested persons’ – ie anyone who is interested in finding out how aspects of the computing curriculum can be introduced into the classroom.

1. Invisible palming! Intelligent paper? So what is an algorithm?

Overview
A core idea in the computing curriculum is that of algorithms and algorithmic thinking. But what is an algorithm? We will demonstrate a series of fun and intriguing ways to introduce the core ideas about algorithms. You will pit your wits against my intelligent piece of paper looking not only what an algorithm is but whether machines can ever be intelligent. You will also learn how really simple magic tricks that anyone can do, can illustrate what an algorithm is in a much more fun way than making a cup of tea (!) and you will learn the magic too!

This session will cover:

  • What is an algorithm?
  • Can machines be intelligent?
  • Computational thinking: algorithmic thinking, abstraction

2. Programming unplugged: learning programming without computers

Overview
It’s easy to assume that programming is something you have to learn at a computer but if you want your students to deeply understand programming concepts, rather than blindly getting programs to work then unplugged techniques can work really well to get students started. We will see how to program a robot face that is made of students, look at a simple way to give a deep understanding of how variables work by making them physical, and see how to compile programs onto your class instead of onto a computer.

Session material This session will cover:

  • Inspiring ways to introduce programming away from computers.
  • What is a variable?
  • How does assignment work?
  • Programming simple objects
  • Introducing flow of control and if statements

Activities are suitable for all age groups and can be adapted to fit your teaching needs.

Biography

Paul Curzon is a Professor of Computer Science at Queen Mary, University of London. He runs the cs4fn ‘Computer Science for Fun’ (cs4fn) project, www.cs4fn.org. It aims to inspire school students about computer science through a series of free magazines, website and school shows. He regularly gives such shows around the UK as well as continuous professional development talks to teachers about the cs4fn approach to teaching. He is Director of the Teaching London Computing Project. He was made a UK National Teaching Fellow in 2010 in recognition of his excellence in teaching and outreach, was a finalist in the 2009 Times Higher Education Innovative Teacher of the year award and has twice won the student nominated Queen Mary award for excellence in teaching.

Eventbrite - Free Computing workshop with Paul Curzon - Unplugged computing / algorithms at QMUL for the event on 29 October 2014.

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New dates: GCSE & A-level Computing CPD courses for London teachers from @TeachingLDNComp #LondonEd

We’ll be running two 10-week CPD courses for London Computing teachers. Thanks to funding from the Mayor of London and Department for Education we are able to offer each course at the reduced price of £150 for London teachers (£300 for teachers at schools outside London).

The GCSE CPD courses will run on Tuesday evenings, starting Tuesday 7 October, at KCL (King’s College University) and the A-level CPD courses will be held on Wednesday evenings, starting Wednesday 8 October, at QMUL (Queen Mary University of London in the ITL building*).

We’re also looking at dates for more of our popular (and free!) unplugged-style workshops.

Please note: one of the things we’ll be asking for when you sign up for a course is your school’s ‘URN’, which you can copy from Edubase.

Next GCSE CPD course will run on the following TUESDAYS
7 October -2014 (Week 1)
14 October (Wk2)
21 October (Wk3)
28 October (Wk4)
4 November (Wk5)
11 November (Wk6)
18 November (Wk7)
25 November (Wk8)
2 December (Wk9)
9 December (Wk10) – note that we will run the course through half-term.

Booking details will be added to the GCSE Course page soon.

Next A-level CPD course will run on the following WEDNESDAYS
8 October 2014 (Week 1)
15 October (Wk2)
22 October (Wk3)
29 October (Wk4)
5 November (Wk5)
12 November (Wk6)
19 November (Wk7)
26 November (Wk8)
3 Decmember (Wk9)
10 December (Wk10) – note that we will run the course through half-term.

Booking details will be added to the A-level Course page soon.

*In the ITL or Informatics Teaching Laboratory which is in Godward Square at QMUL. Nearest tube stations are Stepney Green (a short walk) and Mile End (slightly longer walk) and the 25 and 205 buses will drop you off very close to the entrance to the square. We’ll have tea / coffee and biscuits but more substantial fare is available from a Co-op just by Stepney Green or a small Sainsburys very close to Godward Square.

 

 

 

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BBC unveils new computing and coding content for children (1 Sept 2014)

Reblogged from the BBC’s press release from 1 September 2014
“BBC Children’s and BBC Learning today announce a range of content across Bitesize, CBBC and CBeebies that will encourage children across the UK to get involved with computing and coding, with new education resources, lively television series, games and competitions.”

Resources: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/0/computing/

via BBC – BBC unveils new computing and coding content for children – Media centre.

 

 

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A new CPD course for A-level Computing teachers – 18-22 August @QMUL

Teaching London Computing will be running a new one-week intensive course for A-level Computing teachers, from Monday to Friday (10-4pm) 18-22 August 2014. The teaching will take place at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and will be led by Dr William Marsh.

Eligibility
The course will follow on from our GCSE Computing courses and those attending will need to be familiar with Python.

More information
There will be more details about the course on our dedicated A-level Computing CPD course page and places can be booked at Eventbrite (see button below).

Fees
Thanks to funding from the Mayor of London we are able to offer London teachers a 50% reduction in fees (£150), for teachers outside London the full fee is £300. Please see our Fees and Fundingpage for more information.

Book a place for the next “A-level Computing CPD for teachers” course which runs during 18-22 August 2014, (10am-4pm) Monday – Friday, at QMUL
Eventbrite - Teaching London Computing - A-level Computing CPD course

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Coming up in July & August from Teaching London Computing: two free workshops, GCSE CPD course, A-level CPD course

What: “Teaching Computing Unplugged to Young Children”
Where: Goldsmiths, London
When: 8 July 2014
Audience: Primary school computing teachers
Find out more

What: Programming unplugged: learning programming without computers
Where: Cardinal Pole School, Hackney
When: 9 July 2014
Audience: GCSE Computing teachers
Find out more

What: Computing CPD GCSE Summer Holiday
Where: KCL (King’s College London, Waterloo Campus)
When: 4 – 8 August 2014
Audience: GCSE Computing teachers
Find out more

What: CPD A-level Computing (one week intensive)
Where: QMUL (Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Campus)
When: 18 – 22 August 2014
Audience: People teaching the A-level Computing curriculum
Find out more – more details will be posted here soon.