Raspberry Pi CPD in Sheffield

Part of the idea of Picademy was that delegates would go out and spread the word. So as part of my effort I spent this evening delivering Raspberry Pi CPD to the Sheffield CAS hub at Sheffield Hallam University.

The session was mainly made up of Computing ITT students from Sheffield Hallam University so it was really interesting to see a different approach to new information (from my secondary pupils). Most of the delegates had little or no exposure but there were two who had used the Pi for their own projects (a security camera and a remote media center).

After a quick introduction to the Pi we spent time describing how the Pi could be set up in classrooms and introduced the Raspberry Pi foundation's resources. Preparing for this event gave me the chance to look again at what is provided and the resources there really do give all the information that you need to get started using the Raspberry Pi and moving on to using it productively in the classroom.

After the set up and a brief summary of some of activities available for using the Pi in the classroom I spent some time focusing on some of my favorite schemes. as a parent of a 7 year old I can't avoid minecraft at home and have found that it is equally as engaging for secondary pupils. I shared some of Craig Richardson's resources from his blog on Minecraft Pi - Arghbox. the delegates were also given a chance to try out some of the scripts on the Pi's they had set up. This may have been a mistake with some of the more game obsessed ITT students (mainly male). This was hastily used to point out the importance of choosing classes and classroom management strategy carefully when using a game students are already familiar with.

We then looked at some of the other ideas I have used in the classroom. The use of Sonic Pi (paticularly as an application that appears to appeal more equally to both genders) to engage students creativity and teach programming in a fun way. We also looked at the possibilities using the GPIO pins for physical computing. I am very interested in 'Personally Meaningful Projects' as a key motivator for students to get involved in programming and the GPIO pins provide this possibility. I shared some example of projects my students and students from further afield have created using the Pi. We also discussed the support available from the community.

The great thing about the ITT students is that once they had a spark of an idea they appeared very enthusiastic to take this on and try using this in their teaching practices. Several were keen to borrow the university Raspberry Pi set and some were talking about purchasing their own and projects they could work on. Hopefully this talk will be converted to action and there will be a few more computing teachers in Sheffield schools enthused about the benefits of using Raspberry Pi in the classroom. If nothing else I did a little Picademy product placement and did my best (if not quite 'The Apprentice' level) pitch for the resources available on the Raspberry Pi site. I left the event feeling buzzy and motivated to do it again so it can't be all bad.

The Prezi I used to as a place holder for the introductory videos and some links for the resources we discussed is here.



As a side / end note this was a chance to play with some presentation tech I can only dream of in my classroom. I had a Pi on one button, the Prezi on another and a visualiser showing the actual Pi on a third. This was the first time I had used the set up at the university and I was very pleased with the possibilities. At the press of a swanky touch screen I could switch between the projected picture of my hands doing magic with the Pi and the actual out put of the Pi, then switch to the diagram on the Prezi showing the possible connections. This made the screen work hard for me and really helped to show what was going on. The only downside was managing multiple mice and a second keyboard a few paces away (due to the university padlocked setup) and talking at the same time. I don't imagine I will be getting this sort of system in my classroom anytime soon but it was good to try it out for an evening.

Picademy

Two days of CPD is enough to fill most teachers with dread but the Raspberry Pi Foundation is changing all that with its Picademy. Two days of Raspberry Pi training focussed around using the device to it's full potential in the classroom.

 

In April the first Picademy was a great success and the feedback from educators on twitter caught my attention. If you read my first post on this (somewhat neglected) blog you will be aware I had been doing some research into the use of the Raspberry Pi in classrooms. This led me to look for more engaging ways of teaching computing where I could utilise the Pi to it's full extent. I wanted to avoid the replace PowerPoint with Scratch on Raspbery Pi approach and create engaging projects for my students.

 

So where could I go to engage with others and get some inspiration. it was then that #picademy started to appear on twitter. Brilliant, how do I get to go along thought I. Unfortunately the first dates fell over the Easter break and we already had plans. However a series of fortunate events led to a place on the second run. A hastily booked train and hotel later I was off to Cambridge.

 

 

 

We all arrived at Pi Towers not quite knowing what to expect but with high expectations based on what we had seen from the first event.  We were not to be disappointed. After a few housekeeping points we were straight into a day packed full of workshops covering a wide range of activities we could use with students in our classrooms. This included Sonic Pi with Sam Aaron, GPIO with Clive Beale, Minecraft Pi with Craig Richardson and Pi Cam with Ben Nuttall.  There were also sessions on the use of Pi in the classroom using VNC, GitHub and the Raspberry Pi Community. All of the session were led by enthusiastic experts and the content had been backed up with real life experience in classrooms.

 

 

 

These sessions gave a great overview of the varied ways the Pi can be used to engage and enthuse students. I was particularly impressed by the range of ways the Pi can be used to promote the creativity of students.


After a busy day training our minds still buzzing with new information we headed out for the evening meal. This was an amazing opportunity to discuss ideas and network with the other attendees. There were also most of the Pi Towers team on hand to quiz further; how many training providers do you know who are still answering questions at 2130?



The second day started with some inspiring sessions from Eben Upton, Rachel Raynes and  Lance Howarth. A reminder of why the Pi was created and more on creativity.

It was then our turn to get creative in the 'unconference'. The idea being to put to use the inspiration from the first day to practice our skill, create new resources and solve issue we had encountered. In small groups we were able to consolidate what we had seen and further develop our ideas. Some groups worked on teaching resources and others on areas of interest.

 

Our group worked on a few ideas until we settled on the idea of a quiz bear. This initially involved doing unspeakable things to Babbage to embed the Pi inside with an LED smile and buttons in his ears. Fortunately for Babbage, time was short so a plastic cup made a more easily modified host. We developed the idea to create the idea of a modular scheme of work for Technology and Computing. The main idea being to create the basic elements using recipe cards and combine them together. This would get progressively more complicated and open ended (I will post more about this once we have more to share).

After feverishly working in our groups we all came back together to share what we had produced. Each group or individual shared what they had worked on and/or produced. This ranged from personal development consolidating the skills to imaginative products and schemes of work. One of my favourites was the Micheal Jackson Tribute Glove (#MJTG). This was a development of a previous project by one of the group members and produced a dancing animated MJ on screen controlled by the hand of Dan Aldred.

A short video of the end result can be found here.

After all the sharing we gathered for a presentation of the very shiny Raspberry Pi 'Certified Educator badges'. The course was over but we were all still buzzing; in fact my group continued work on the train home, putting together a plan of action to complete our scheme of work.

This was without doubt the best CPD event that I have attended as a teacher but better than that it has opened my eyes to more of the creative possibilities. I have been a firm advocate of not using technology just for the point of using it and had started work to find ways to really utilise the Pi. Picademy has really helped to firm up this approach in my mind and has really shown me how much value the Raspberry Pi has as a tool to engage students and get them being creative in the classroom.

Much has been made of training the next generation of computer scientists, but without engaging curiosity and promoting creativity then we will only be producing a generation of robotic programmers with no love for the subject. Hopefully #picademy and the Raspberry Pi Certified Educators it has produced will be able to help the Foundation to provide that creativity and inspiration.