Category Archives: Education

Thoughts on EdTech

I’ve been strangely busy for quite a while now and my posting has dropped quite a lot. In the last few months I’ve been doing a lot of work planning, creating and curating curriculums, supporting schools and just getting my life in order. I’ve been in a lot of schools recently and have had someContinue reading “Thoughts on EdTech”

Role Models

Well, here goes… attempt number two to write this post after the original version disappeared into the ether last night for no apparent reason. People often ask me what we can do to address the gender inbalance in the world of coding, computing and digital making and I always have the same reply “We needContinue reading “Role Models”

2017 in review

I was going to write a Facebook post or a brief tweet about all of the things I’ve been up to this year, but then I realised that professionally, 2017 has been one of the most exciting and varied years of my life – so much has happened that, looking back, I can’t believe it’sContinue reading “2017 in review”

Computational Thinking in Brazil

I’ve been fairly quiet recently, but at least I have a decent excuse. Way back in November, I was asked to help write a computational thinking scheme of work for some Canadian schools called Maple Bear – confusingly, I was told that the scheme would be deployed in Brazil, but I had great fun workingContinue reading “Computational Thinking in Brazil”

A busy few months

I know you guys love hearing about what I’m up to so here are a few fantastic events that I’ll be appearing it either running workshops or giving talks – it’d be great if you could come along and join in the fun! Firstly, this weekend I’m taking the pi-top Champions to The National MuseumContinue reading “A busy few months”

Shakey Sense Hat Cat

[edit] As of June 2017, there is a version of Scratch 2.0 on Raspbian which makes this worksheet obsolete [/edit] After Sunday’s coding session, I set the boys the task of making our Scratch Sense Hat Cat Shake, just like Carrie Anne’s Interactive Pixel Pet. The first thing the boys did was to figure outContinue reading “Shakey Sense Hat Cat”

Sense Hat Cat using Scratch

[edit] As of June 2017, there is a version of Scratch 2.0 on Raspbian which makes this worksheet obsolete [/edit] So, I absolutely LOVE the Interactive Pixel Pet activity from the Raspberry Pi website, and while I was playing with the Sense Hat the other day, I realised it was possible to imitate it usingContinue reading “Sense Hat Cat using Scratch”

Etcher -the BEST tool ever for burning OS to SD cards

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post about burning SD cards on a mac… but I’m not gonna lie, I found it quite difficult to do. You can imagine my delight, when someone at work suggested I try Etcher near the end of last year. What a fantastic app for making burning SDcardsContinue reading “Etcher -the BEST tool ever for burning OS to SD cards”

A Strange Experience – Being on the Other Side

Since I’ve been working for pi-top, I’ve experienced being on the other side of the EdTech system and it’s certainly been a bit of an eye-opener I’ve tested various products over the years and found problems and complaints, bugs and surprises, delights and nightmares, but it has been a really interesting experience for me beingContinue reading “A Strange Experience – Being on the Other Side”