This is an interesting article about shifting the focus of Computing teaching to include Computer Science and Programming
Campaign calls for new teacher-training 'infrastructure' - BBC News - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17190910 - 28 February 2012.
"The UK needs a new 'infrastructure' to support the teaching of computing in schools, the chancellor has been told.
Leading education and industry groups have signed a letter asking George Osborne to fund new computer training for teachers.
Next Gen Skills, which organised the call, said teachers would need support ahead of possible curriculum changes.
The government is consulting on a new flexible curriculum more focused on computer science and programming."
Showing posts with label Computer Science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Computer Science. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Stanford University - Free courses - List - 2012
I've finished my Stanford University - Introduction to Databases course.
There are many other courses available all free. They don't result in University Credit from Stanford, but are free and I enjoyed my course. I have a journal paper to finish and a funding bid so aren't doing any more of these courses yet, but hope to when I have time. From my experiences on the course I've finished I would certainly recommend studying these courses, you get the knowledge and a calculated overall grade.
The courses are not only computing, but others as well. The full clickable list is available from the page below, underneath the Introduction to Database Info. -
Stanford University Free courses - http://www.db-class.org/course/auth/welcome.
I've also included the list below -
Entrepreneurship
* Lean Launchpad * Technology Entrepreneurship
Medicine
* Anatomy
Civil Engineering
* Making Green Buildings
Electrical Engr.
* Information Theory
Complex Systems
* Model Thinking
Computer Science
* CS 101 * Machine Learning * Software as a Service * Human-Computer Interaction * Natural Language Processing
* Game Theory * Probabilistic Graphical Models * Cryptography * Design and Analysis of Algorithms I * Computer Security
There are many other courses available all free. They don't result in University Credit from Stanford, but are free and I enjoyed my course. I have a journal paper to finish and a funding bid so aren't doing any more of these courses yet, but hope to when I have time. From my experiences on the course I've finished I would certainly recommend studying these courses, you get the knowledge and a calculated overall grade.
The courses are not only computing, but others as well. The full clickable list is available from the page below, underneath the Introduction to Database Info. -
Stanford University Free courses - http://www.db-class.org/course/auth/welcome.
I've also included the list below -
Entrepreneurship
* Lean Launchpad * Technology Entrepreneurship
Medicine
* Anatomy
Civil Engineering
* Making Green Buildings
Electrical Engr.
* Information Theory
Complex Systems
* Model Thinking
Computer Science
* CS 101 * Machine Learning * Software as a Service * Human-Computer Interaction * Natural Language Processing
* Game Theory * Probabilistic Graphical Models * Cryptography * Design and Analysis of Algorithms I * Computer Security
Thursday, December 01, 2011
BBC - News - Government backs call for classroom coding
This post and list of many links highlights the debate over whether to teach more programming at school and for all other ages.
Updates - 14th Jan 2012 -
Royal Society offers ways to overhaul ICT teaching - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16515275 - 13 January 2012 -BBC -
"The Royal Society has suggested ways the government can overhaul information and communications technology (ICT) teaching in schools.
It follows promises from Education Secretary Michael Gove to scrap the way the subject is taught currently.
The body, which oversees UK sciences, recommends dividing computing into distinct subjects such as computer science and digital literacy.
It said the government must do more to recruit specialist ICT teachers."
ICT victory for the coding campaigners - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16544845 - BBC - Rory Cellan-Jones Technology correspondent - 13 January 2012 -
"for me the biggest news I've missed has been of a significant victory for the campaign to improve the teaching of computing and technology in schools. The announcement that the current ICT curriculum is to be scrapped and teachers set free to use more creative methods comes after some brilliant and imaginative lobbying by a few dedicated individuals."
School ICT to be replaced by computer science programme - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16493929 - 11 January 2012 -
"By Judith Burns Education reporter, BBC News"
- "The current programme of information and communications technology (ICT) study in England's schools will be scrapped from September, the education secretary will announce later."
"The subject will be replaced by compulsory lessons in more rigorous computer science and programming."
"Michael Gove will call the current ICT curriculum 'harmful and dull'.
ICT teachers welcome new computer programming lessons - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16509298 - BBC 11th January 2012 -
"Information and communications technology (ICT) teachers say plans to shake up the curriculum in England are "exciting" but 'challenging'.
Current ICT lessons will be scrapped from September and replaced by an "open source" curriculum in computer science and programming."
Coding for kids -
A few things as we try to get more kids interested in IT
- A group has been set up called Coding for Kids with the purpose of finding ways to support education of programming and computational thinking for the current and next generations in the UK. Whether this be through traditional education methods - or other stuff. They can be found here http://codingforkids.org/wiki/Main_Page
- There is also an e-petition to support "Teaching Our Kids to Code" here https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/15081 If it reaches 100,000 signatures, then it may be considered by parliament.
Other recent links -
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg takes coding course - 6 January 2012 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16440126 - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has resolved to take an online computer coding course.
The mayor is joining more than 180,000 people currently taking part in Code Year, a campaign to encourage more people to program.
"My New Year's resolution is to learn to code with Codecademy in 2012!" he wrote on Twitter.
Participants in the course receive an interactive lesson each week, via email.
The campaign promises that participants will be "building apps and websites before you know it".
November - December
This article examines the issue of the type of teaching of ICT. It's an interesting article that argues for more teaching of coding rather than just of the use of office software.
Government backs call for classroom coding - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15923113 - 28th November 2011.
"The teaching of computer science must become more relevant to modern needs, said the government.
The government said the current teaching of IT was 'insufficiently rigorous and in need of reform'.
The call for change came in a response to an industry report which looked at technology teaching in the UK."
The report discussed in the above article focuses on school classes and the need to teach game code - (A good mechanism for getting younger people involved in coding).
A related article - Coding - the new Latin - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15916677 - Rory Cellan-Jones - 28th November 2011 - Makes the same point about the lack of focus on coding and Computer Science at school, and that this leads to fewer University applications for Computer Science.
I believe the same issue of lack of focus on coding is an issue for adult education. The trend is for provision of free or heavily subsidised teaching of use of office software, this is good, but then students need to meet the full costs if they want to move on to programming and/or web development.
I'm one of those that began to learn to code on a BBC Micro. Because so little graphics capability and software was available in those early times there was little difference between using software, or having a go at developing something. It was easy to switch from one mode of thought of using to that of development.
This article describes those early years - The BBC Microcomputer and me, 30 years down the line - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15969065 - 1st December 2011.
An interesting thing here is the use of the term 'Computer Literacy' in the BBC project back then that included programming. The term has changed its meaning now to mean use of computers software. There are good reasons for this, as of course it is much more possible and necessary to be able to get use out of office software. However it would be god to provide a straightforward path to a kind of 'Advanced Computer Literacy' that involves an element of coding.
The video here based on a round table discussion of the British Computer Society (BCS), Chartered Institute of IT, and BCS Academy of Computing - http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/42962, and the related NESTA report http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/assets/features/next_gen cover teaching of computing and the need for this to include creating applications not just using them.
This article from BBC - 14th December 2011 - is also relevant to this issue - ICT 'poor in secondary schools', Ofsted says - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16157519.
"The teaching of information and communications technology (ICT) is inadequate in a fifth of secondary schools in England, Ofsted says.
Inspectors said teachers lacked the expertise and confidence to teach more demanding topics properly.
The report said areas such as databases and programming were poorly taught, with some pupils making more progress outside lessons than in them."
I believe this is not just an issue of teaching and learning but of a more general disconnect between the use of ICT and development, with a lack of a way to progress from tool use to development. There is no clear path within applications to be more involved in customisation and development of tools.
Updates - 14th Jan 2012 -
Royal Society offers ways to overhaul ICT teaching - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16515275 - 13 January 2012 -BBC -
"The Royal Society has suggested ways the government can overhaul information and communications technology (ICT) teaching in schools.
It follows promises from Education Secretary Michael Gove to scrap the way the subject is taught currently.
The body, which oversees UK sciences, recommends dividing computing into distinct subjects such as computer science and digital literacy.
It said the government must do more to recruit specialist ICT teachers."
ICT victory for the coding campaigners - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16544845 - BBC - Rory Cellan-Jones Technology correspondent - 13 January 2012 -
"for me the biggest news I've missed has been of a significant victory for the campaign to improve the teaching of computing and technology in schools. The announcement that the current ICT curriculum is to be scrapped and teachers set free to use more creative methods comes after some brilliant and imaginative lobbying by a few dedicated individuals."
School ICT to be replaced by computer science programme - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16493929 - 11 January 2012 -
"By Judith Burns Education reporter, BBC News"
- "The current programme of information and communications technology (ICT) study in England's schools will be scrapped from September, the education secretary will announce later."
"The subject will be replaced by compulsory lessons in more rigorous computer science and programming."
"Michael Gove will call the current ICT curriculum 'harmful and dull'.
ICT teachers welcome new computer programming lessons - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16509298 - BBC 11th January 2012 -
"Information and communications technology (ICT) teachers say plans to shake up the curriculum in England are "exciting" but 'challenging'.
Current ICT lessons will be scrapped from September and replaced by an "open source" curriculum in computer science and programming."
Coding for kids -
A few things as we try to get more kids interested in IT
- A group has been set up called Coding for Kids with the purpose of finding ways to support education of programming and computational thinking for the current and next generations in the UK. Whether this be through traditional education methods - or other stuff. They can be found here http://codingforkids.org/wiki/Main_Page
- There is also an e-petition to support "Teaching Our Kids to Code" here https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/15081 If it reaches 100,000 signatures, then it may be considered by parliament.
Other recent links -
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg takes coding course - 6 January 2012 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16440126 - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has resolved to take an online computer coding course.
The mayor is joining more than 180,000 people currently taking part in Code Year, a campaign to encourage more people to program.
"My New Year's resolution is to learn to code with Codecademy in 2012!" he wrote on Twitter.
Participants in the course receive an interactive lesson each week, via email.
The campaign promises that participants will be "building apps and websites before you know it".
November - December
This article examines the issue of the type of teaching of ICT. It's an interesting article that argues for more teaching of coding rather than just of the use of office software.
Government backs call for classroom coding - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15923113 - 28th November 2011.
"The teaching of computer science must become more relevant to modern needs, said the government.
The government said the current teaching of IT was 'insufficiently rigorous and in need of reform'.
The call for change came in a response to an industry report which looked at technology teaching in the UK."
The report discussed in the above article focuses on school classes and the need to teach game code - (A good mechanism for getting younger people involved in coding).
A related article - Coding - the new Latin - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15916677 - Rory Cellan-Jones - 28th November 2011 - Makes the same point about the lack of focus on coding and Computer Science at school, and that this leads to fewer University applications for Computer Science.
I believe the same issue of lack of focus on coding is an issue for adult education. The trend is for provision of free or heavily subsidised teaching of use of office software, this is good, but then students need to meet the full costs if they want to move on to programming and/or web development.
I'm one of those that began to learn to code on a BBC Micro. Because so little graphics capability and software was available in those early times there was little difference between using software, or having a go at developing something. It was easy to switch from one mode of thought of using to that of development.
This article describes those early years - The BBC Microcomputer and me, 30 years down the line - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15969065 - 1st December 2011.
An interesting thing here is the use of the term 'Computer Literacy' in the BBC project back then that included programming. The term has changed its meaning now to mean use of computers software. There are good reasons for this, as of course it is much more possible and necessary to be able to get use out of office software. However it would be god to provide a straightforward path to a kind of 'Advanced Computer Literacy' that involves an element of coding.
The video here based on a round table discussion of the British Computer Society (BCS), Chartered Institute of IT, and BCS Academy of Computing - http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/42962, and the related NESTA report http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/assets/features/next_gen cover teaching of computing and the need for this to include creating applications not just using them.
This article from BBC - 14th December 2011 - is also relevant to this issue - ICT 'poor in secondary schools', Ofsted says - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16157519.
"The teaching of information and communications technology (ICT) is inadequate in a fifth of secondary schools in England, Ofsted says.
Inspectors said teachers lacked the expertise and confidence to teach more demanding topics properly.
The report said areas such as databases and programming were poorly taught, with some pupils making more progress outside lessons than in them."
I believe this is not just an issue of teaching and learning but of a more general disconnect between the use of ICT and development, with a lack of a way to progress from tool use to development. There is no clear path within applications to be more involved in customisation and development of tools.
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Research intelligence - Damming the 'data deluge'
This is an article in the Times Higher Education about an interesting workshop that I'll be attending -
Research intelligence - Damming the 'data deluge'
7 October 2010
By Neha Popat
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=413722&c=2
"A workshop aims to bring design to bear on increasingly complex scientific information. Neha Popat reports
Rapid advances in the technology and methods used in research have undoubtedly yielded great benefits for scientists and society at large.
But the new techniques have also resulted in a surge in both the volume and complexity of the information researchers are expected to analyse.
The challenges of coping with this "data deluge" have been recognised by the UK's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. They are working in tandem to address the lack of "visualisation" techniques available to present biological data in a user-friendly way.
David McAllister, the strategy and policy manager at the BBSRC, said visualisation was not just about how information is presented on web pages or other electronic media.
"Rather, it is about how researchers can handle and present their data in ways in which new and better analyses can take place. For example, spreadsheets are a good way to store large amounts of numerical data, but are less good as tools for spotting a particular pattern or trend," he said.
To examine the problem, a workshop to be held jointly by the two research councils next month, titled The Challenges of Visualising Biological Data, will bring biologists together with researchers in other disciplines to discuss the difficulties they face and provide insights into how large and complex datasets can be 'fully exploited'."
I'm looking forward to it and designing a poster for it. It's 16th and 17th November invitation only due to numbers, but I hope to link to whatever is put online.
Peter Hale
Research intelligence - Damming the 'data deluge'
7 October 2010
By Neha Popat
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=413722&c=2
"A workshop aims to bring design to bear on increasingly complex scientific information. Neha Popat reports
Rapid advances in the technology and methods used in research have undoubtedly yielded great benefits for scientists and society at large.
But the new techniques have also resulted in a surge in both the volume and complexity of the information researchers are expected to analyse.
The challenges of coping with this "data deluge" have been recognised by the UK's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. They are working in tandem to address the lack of "visualisation" techniques available to present biological data in a user-friendly way.
David McAllister, the strategy and policy manager at the BBSRC, said visualisation was not just about how information is presented on web pages or other electronic media.
"Rather, it is about how researchers can handle and present their data in ways in which new and better analyses can take place. For example, spreadsheets are a good way to store large amounts of numerical data, but are less good as tools for spotting a particular pattern or trend," he said.
To examine the problem, a workshop to be held jointly by the two research councils next month, titled The Challenges of Visualising Biological Data, will bring biologists together with researchers in other disciplines to discuss the difficulties they face and provide insights into how large and complex datasets can be 'fully exploited'."
I'm looking forward to it and designing a poster for it. It's 16th and 17th November invitation only due to numbers, but I hope to link to whatever is put online.
Peter Hale
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
User Driven Modelling and Systematic Interaction for End-User Programming
This is the abstract of a talk I'll give to - Systems Research Showcase, INCOSE UK, Bristol Local Group, Wednesday 24th March 2010 - at Bristol University -
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/engineering/systemscentre/news/2010/incoseblg.html.
This talk discusses PhD research (just submitted) into building a systematic infrastructure and capability, and how to solve problems which could hamper this. This approach is based on creation of systems that can be customised to produce other systems and models, and translation from abstract diagrammatic representations to computer representations.The conclusion explains how this approach to modelling and end-user programming enables interoperability, and collaboration, and that this assists with Maintenance, Extensibility, Ease of Use, and Sharing of Information.
Systems Engineering is involved in the analysis of the relating of interdisciplinary research requirements, in both engineering and computing, for this research. Systems engineering is also important in that the application area of modelling, for aerospace (Airbus and Rolls-Royce) has been one where complex engineering products are created, and a systematic approach is needed. Further to this the research has required systematic production of systems that in tern must be usuable by a wide range of users to produce and share their customised engineering models.
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/engineering/systemscentre/news/2010/incoseblg.html.
This talk discusses PhD research (just submitted) into building a systematic infrastructure and capability, and how to solve problems which could hamper this. This approach is based on creation of systems that can be customised to produce other systems and models, and translation from abstract diagrammatic representations to computer representations.The conclusion explains how this approach to modelling and end-user programming enables interoperability, and collaboration, and that this assists with Maintenance, Extensibility, Ease of Use, and Sharing of Information.
Systems Engineering is involved in the analysis of the relating of interdisciplinary research requirements, in both engineering and computing, for this research. Systems engineering is also important in that the application area of modelling, for aerospace (Airbus and Rolls-Royce) has been one where complex engineering products are created, and a systematic approach is needed. Further to this the research has required systematic production of systems that in tern must be usuable by a wide range of users to produce and share their customised engineering models.
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