This is an interesting story about the latest developments in US online provision of education. These courses aren't just available in America. I've studied one of them, Stanford University - Databases.
20 June 2012
Top US universities put their reputations online
By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent
"This autumn more than a million students are going to take part in an experiment that could re-invent the landscape of higher education.
Some of the biggest powerhouses in US higher education are offering online courses - testing how their expertise and scholarship can be brought to a global audience.
Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have formed a $60m (£38m) alliance to launch edX, a platform to deliver courses online - with the modest ambition of "revolutionising education around the world".
Sounding like a piece of secret military hardware, edX will provide online interactive courses which can be studied by anyone, anywhere, with no admission requirements and, at least at present, without charge.
With roots in Silicon Valley, Stanford academics have set up another online platform, Coursera, which will provide courses from Stanford and Princeton and other leading US institutions."
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18191589
Friday, June 22, 2012
Friday, June 08, 2012
Survey - Usability Evaluation
This usability evaluation survey was published in my PhD. At that date there were 91 responses. Now there are 97. The 6 extra responses will also contribute because the updated survey will be published in a journal paper - Journal of Visual Languages and Computing - http://ees.elsevier.com/jvlc/. I've completed minor changes to the paper today which is called - User-Driven Modelling: Visualisation and Systematic Interaction for end-user programming. I'm the main author on that paper - much of which is based on my PhD.
The survey can be accessed at - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=A8Z1u2o5WlIphAPdzNCoeA_3d_3d
The survey is based on 2 user interface examples - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/~phale/ELearning/ELearningDemonstration1.htm and
http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/~phale/ELearning/ELearningDemonstration2.htm
The summary of the results that has been submitted to the Journal is below :-
The survey can be accessed at - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=A8Z1u2o5WlIphAPdzNCoeA_3d_3d
The survey is based on 2 user interface examples - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/~phale/ELearning/ELearningDemonstration1.htm and
http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/~phale/ELearning/ELearningDemonstration2.htm
The summary of the results that has been submitted to the Journal is below :-
A survey of 97 people was conducted focused
on the prototype implementations. This supplemented the feedback obtained from
Airbus and Rolls-Royce. This survey was conducted in order to determine what
kind of diagrammatic interface might be most appropriate. Extensive
consultation with engineers at Airbus and Rolls-Royce helped establish the
possible interfaces that needed evaluating, as these interfaces were useful to
and understood by these engineers. These possible interfaces were taxonomy, CAD
style diagrammatic, flow chart (or activity diagram), UML style (entity
relationship). Which was preferred depended partly on the skills and type of work
of the engineers, and others surveyed, and on the type of problem to be
modelled/programmed :-
Which would you consider yourself to be?
answered question 93
skipped question 4
An End-User (anyone else, familiar with
computers but not in categories below) - 29.0% - 27
An Experienced Developer - 28.0% - 26
A Researcher - 32.3% - 30
Other (please specify) - 10.8% - 10
What type of visualisation is best for
enabling end-user programming?
answered question 78
skipped question 19
Taxonomy (tree view) - 26.9% - 21
Diagrammatic - 37.2% - 29
Flow Chart - 37.2% - 29
Unified Modeling Language (UML) - 14.1% - 11
Other (please specify) - 12.8% - 10
Which example Program have you used?
answered question 81
skipped question 16
Taxonomy viewer - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/~phale/ELearning/ELearningDemonstration1.htm
- 17.3% - 14
Diagrammatic Viewer - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/~phale/ELearning/ELearningDemonstration2.htm
- 17.3% - 14
Neither - 43.2% - 35
Both - 22.2% - 18
Which example interface do you prefer?
answered question 75
skipped question 22
Taxonomy (tree) viewer -
http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/~phale/ELearning/ELearningDemonstration1.htm - 26.7% -
20
Diagrammatic Viewer -
http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/~phale/ELearning/ELearningDemonstration2.htm
- 17.3% - 13
Neither - 9.3% - 7
Both - 13.3%- 10
No opinion - 33.3% - 25
As a result of all the feedback from
engineers and others, the main problem needing to be tackled is provision of a
system that moves this theoretical and prototyped work on to a fully fledged
end-user modelling system, available and usable by a wide range of people.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Bristol IT MegaMeet - UWE - British Computer Society (BCS)
This is a BCS event on Saturday 19th May at University of the West of England (UWE). These are the details and web link -
http://www.itmegameet.co.uk/
"All of the major IT & Developer community groups in and around Bristol are coming together for an event at the UWE. Essentially the event is one big meet up, open to the public. Each group will be doing a presentation on themselves, what they are about, and what they offer the local community. Several groups will be putting on a technical presentation in their chosen area. How-to workshops will be running alongside the main presentations. The event concludes with 5 minute lightning talks on a variety of subjects.
Attendee places are limited, so registration is required. Register early so as not to miss your space, and notify us if you can't make it so as to free up the space for someone else."
http://www.itmegameet.co.uk/
"All of the major IT & Developer community groups in and around Bristol are coming together for an event at the UWE. Essentially the event is one big meet up, open to the public. Each group will be doing a presentation on themselves, what they are about, and what they offer the local community. Several groups will be putting on a technical presentation in their chosen area. How-to workshops will be running alongside the main presentations. The event concludes with 5 minute lightning talks on a variety of subjects.
Attendee places are limited, so registration is required. Register early so as not to miss your space, and notify us if you can't make it so as to free up the space for someone else."
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
BBC News - Coding the future: HTML5 takes the internet by storm
This is a very interesting technology and business article about HTML 5 an important development for the Semantic Web and Web 3.0 -
Coding the future: HTML5 takes the internet by storm
By Ian Hardy BBC News, New York - 8 May 2012 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17931814.
"The BBC's Ian Hardy looks at why companies have been rushing to embrace HTML5 - and the innovative ways it is being used
It's hard to imagine now, but original sites on the world wide web, written in HTML code or hypertext mark-up language, were made up of little more than text.
Even a simple black and white image could irritate a user, as
it gradually appeared on the screen revealing itself one painful line
at a time.
That began to change as modem speeds gradually crept up and content makers used more sophisticated methods to encode their multimedia content.
Macromedia's Flash, now an Adobe product, made all the difference when it arrived in the mid-nineties. Animations, video sequences and graphics became more sophisticated.
But since its invention in the early 1990s HTML has not supported video natively.
That is why HTML5 is being received so enthusiastically by businesses in particular. The latest version can perform all kinds of dynamic tasks and visual tricks. The web is progressing faster now than it has in a long time."
Coding the future: HTML5 takes the internet by storm
By Ian Hardy BBC News, New York - 8 May 2012 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17931814.
"The BBC's Ian Hardy looks at why companies have been rushing to embrace HTML5 - and the innovative ways it is being used
It's hard to imagine now, but original sites on the world wide web, written in HTML code or hypertext mark-up language, were made up of little more than text.
Corporate web designers were well aware that
most of their customers had slow connections and would not tolerate much
of a wait.
That began to change as modem speeds gradually crept up and content makers used more sophisticated methods to encode their multimedia content.
Macromedia's Flash, now an Adobe product, made all the difference when it arrived in the mid-nineties. Animations, video sequences and graphics became more sophisticated.
But since its invention in the early 1990s HTML has not supported video natively.
That is why HTML5 is being received so enthusiastically by businesses in particular. The latest version can perform all kinds of dynamic tasks and visual tricks. The web is progressing faster now than it has in a long time."
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Nasa sets challenges for citizen scientists
This BBC article I'm linking to is a about very interesting idea from NASA covered by the BBC article.
Nasa sets challenges for citizen scientists - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17791091 - 21 April 2012 -
Problems Nasa wants solved include improving data sharing after disasters and spotting good lunar landing sites.
Coders on the International Space Station and at McMurdo base in Antarctica will join in.
The event runs from 21-22 April at more than 25 venues around the world. Hundreds of people have registered to go along and take part in the various challenges.'
I include other useful links here about this -
NASA International Space Apps Challenge
12 March 2012 - On 21 and 22 April, NASA, along with the Met Office is convening an International Space Apps Challenge in Exeter. -
www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/archive/2012/space-apps
International Space Apps Challenge
21-22 April 2012 -
http://spaceappschallenge.org/ - This has a world map with clickable links to locations of events.
International Space Apps Challenge
21-22 April 2012 - Oxford, United Kingdom
International Space Innovtion Centre - http://spaceappschallenge.org/location/isic
Nasa sets challenges for citizen scientists - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17791091 - 21 April 2012 -
'US space agency Nasa has launched a competition to find "space apps" to aid space exploration and education.
The two-day event will bring programmers together on seven
continents to see how creative they can be with Nasa's store of space
data.Problems Nasa wants solved include improving data sharing after disasters and spotting good lunar landing sites.
Coders on the International Space Station and at McMurdo base in Antarctica will join in.
The event runs from 21-22 April at more than 25 venues around the world. Hundreds of people have registered to go along and take part in the various challenges.'
I include other useful links here about this -
NASA International Space Apps Challenge
12 March 2012 - On 21 and 22 April, NASA, along with the Met Office is convening an International Space Apps Challenge in Exeter. -
www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/archive/2012/space-apps
International Space Apps Challenge
21-22 April 2012 -
http://spaceappschallenge.org/ - This has a world map with clickable links to locations of events.
International Space Apps Challenge
21-22 April 2012 - Oxford, United Kingdom
International Space Innovtion Centre - http://spaceappschallenge.org/location/isic
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Publication of my PhD
When all admin of my PhD publication is complete and it's published in the UWE library it will also be published on the UWE repository. When this is done I'll post the link and add this also to the blog template. I want to make the PhD is available as possible.
In the meantime I'm also making final ammendments to a journal paper.
In the meantime I'm also making final ammendments to a journal paper.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
BBC News - Campaign calls for new teacher-training 'infrastructure'
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."
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."
Friday, February 17, 2012
Digital Researcher Online 2012 - 20 February 2012
Digital Researcher Online 2012 - 20 February 2012 - http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/346891/Digital-Researcher-online.html.
This is an event organised by Vitae who provide support to researchers, and which is being run online as well as the meeting itself which is oversubscribed.
This is from Vitae's description -
"Designed for both postgraduate researchers and research staff within any UK institution, Digital Researcher Online is the online programme of the oversubscribed Vitae Digital Researcher event, offering all those who could not physically attend the event the opportunity to tune in and get involved with the day's activity.
Digital Researcher Online will explore how new technologies and tools (microblogging, RSS feeds, social networking and social citation sharing) can be used to enhance your research and raise your professional profile."
"What to expect as an online participant...
10:00 - Introduction
•A short interview with Dr Tristram Hooley on Digital Researcher 2012 and the current digital landscape.10:30 - 11:15 - Morning plenary
•Join us online and tune-in to the opening plenary of Digital Researcher. During this session we'll be covering academic practice, the role of social media and intellectual property.
15:45 - 16:30 - Keynote speaker
•Prof Martin Weller, Open University - 'Digital Scholarship'."
This is an event organised by Vitae who provide support to researchers, and which is being run online as well as the meeting itself which is oversubscribed.
This is from Vitae's description -
"Designed for both postgraduate researchers and research staff within any UK institution, Digital Researcher Online is the online programme of the oversubscribed Vitae Digital Researcher event, offering all those who could not physically attend the event the opportunity to tune in and get involved with the day's activity.
Digital Researcher Online will explore how new technologies and tools (microblogging, RSS feeds, social networking and social citation sharing) can be used to enhance your research and raise your professional profile."
"What to expect as an online participant...
10:00 - Introduction
•A short interview with Dr Tristram Hooley on Digital Researcher 2012 and the current digital landscape.10:30 - 11:15 - Morning plenary
•Join us online and tune-in to the opening plenary of Digital Researcher. During this session we'll be covering academic practice, the role of social media and intellectual property.
15:45 - 16:30 - Keynote speaker
•Prof Martin Weller, Open University - 'Digital Scholarship'."
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
MIT launches free online 'fully automated' course - BBC News
This is a BBC article about a free MIT course that is part of an overall plan of theirs for in depth online learning. The first course to be made available is in Electronics.
This is a very interesting article and as with Stanford University's courses (http://userdrivenmodelling.blogspot.com/2011/10/stanford-university-free-computer.html) also MIT course this provides a good opportunity for online learning.
MIT launches free online 'fully automated' course - By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent - 13 February 2012.
"Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the world's top-rated universities, has announced its first free course which can be studied and assessed completely online.
An electronics course, beginning in March, will be the first prototype of an online project, known as MITx.
The interactive course is designed to be fully automated, with successful students receiving a certificate."
This is a very interesting article and as with Stanford University's courses (http://userdrivenmodelling.blogspot.com/2011/10/stanford-university-free-computer.html) also MIT course this provides a good opportunity for online learning.
MIT launches free online 'fully automated' course - By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent - 13 February 2012.
"Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the world's top-rated universities, has announced its first free course which can be studied and assessed completely online.
An electronics course, beginning in March, will be the first prototype of an online project, known as MITx.
The interactive course is designed to be fully automated, with successful students receiving a certificate."
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
MP calls for pardon for computer pioneer Alan Turing - BBC News
This pardoning of Alan Turing is way overdue -
MP calls for pardon for computer pioneer Alan Turing - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-16833621 - 1 February 2012.
"A Liberal Democrat MP has tabled a motion calling for 'national hero' Alan Turing to be posthumously pardoned.
Manchester Withington's John Leech submitted the Early Day Motion and said people should sign an online petition protesting against Turing's conviction.
The gay computer pioneer was convicted for gross indecency in 1952, when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK.
Mr Leech said his persecution 'by the state for being gay is a scandal that shouldn't be allowed to stand'."
MP calls for pardon for computer pioneer Alan Turing - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-16833621 - 1 February 2012.
"A Liberal Democrat MP has tabled a motion calling for 'national hero' Alan Turing to be posthumously pardoned.
Manchester Withington's John Leech submitted the Early Day Motion and said people should sign an online petition protesting against Turing's conviction.
The gay computer pioneer was convicted for gross indecency in 1952, when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK.
Mr Leech said his persecution 'by the state for being gay is a scandal that shouldn't be allowed to stand'."
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Systems Engineering - University of the West of England - Bristol
From booking page - http://www.incoseonline.org.uk/EventBooking/AutoBooking/MainPage.aspx?CatID=Events&EventID=206 - open to non-members.
INCOSE UK Booking System
Bristol Local Group
Event Date: 25/01/2012
Event Time: 18:30 for 19:00 to 21:00
Event Title: Understanding the Enterprise - how architectural principles help
Event Details A lot of effort has been put into developing ways and means of describing the architecture of systems, systems of systems, and enterprises, each of which has come from a different context, usually with a subtly different approach. This event will provide an overview of some of the more common approaches, and seek to understand the extent to which the various methods are interchangeable and interdependent as you move up and down from subsystems to enterprises and back again.
INCOSE UK Booking System
Bristol Local Group
Event Date: 25/01/2012
Event Time: 18:30 for 19:00 to 21:00
Event Title: Understanding the Enterprise - how architectural principles help
Event Details A lot of effort has been put into developing ways and means of describing the architecture of systems, systems of systems, and enterprises, each of which has come from a different context, usually with a subtly different approach. This event will provide an overview of some of the more common approaches, and seek to understand the extent to which the various methods are interchangeable and interdependent as you move up and down from subsystems to enterprises and back again.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
The Digital Researcher 2012 - Go Digital 2012! - British Library - London
This Vitae event is for Research postgraduates and staff. Vitae are an organisation that provides support, resources and events to researchers. The website for a full description and booking is http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/315321/Digital-Researcher.html.
"Vitae in partnership with The British Library are running Digital Researcher 2012: an innovative, thought-provoking one day event to help researchers make the most of new technologies and social media tools in their research.
Designed for both postgraduate researchers and research staff within any UK institution, this interactive event will be held at the British Library on Monday 20th February 2012, and will provide an opportunity for researchers to think about how they undertake research and to consider whether new technologies could improve their research."
"Vitae in partnership with The British Library are running Digital Researcher 2012: an innovative, thought-provoking one day event to help researchers make the most of new technologies and social media tools in their research.
Designed for both postgraduate researchers and research staff within any UK institution, this interactive event will be held at the British Library on Monday 20th February 2012, and will provide an opportunity for researchers to think about how they undertake research and to consider whether new technologies could improve their research."
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 24, 2011
Bristol Systems Engineering and Computing Events
INCOSE UK - Bristol Local Group Wed 30th Nov 18.30 for 19.00
- Organisation and Behaviours - Systems Engineering within the wider enterprise -
http://www.incoseonline.org.uk/EventBooking/AutoBooking/MainPage.aspx?CatID=Events&EventID=203.
"This event will feature Richard Beasley and will be based upon the relevant sections on SE and organisations from the public review version of the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK) which can be found at http://www.sebokwiki.org/, and has been developed as part of the BKCASE (Body of Knowledge and Curriculum to Advance Systems Engineering) project. Attendees will be invited to discuss and review the material so far, with the intention of feeding pertinent observations back into the public review process, acting as a sanity check from real-life practitioners."
From BCS Bristol Branch Members - November Newsletter
"As winter draws in we have some great talks coming up to take us through to the Spring School
First up only a few days away.- Graham Lee is speaking on "Mobile Application Security and Privacy: State of the Disunion" at the City of Bristol College on Wed 23rd Nov 2011. Find out details for Graham and tell us your coming: http://www.bristol.bcs.org.uk/?q=node/125
- On the 5th of December Paul Gerard will be giving a talk on "Using Business Stories to Test Requirements and Systems" at the City of Bristol CollegeFind out details for Paul and tell us your coming: http://www.bristol.bcs.org.uk/?q=node/130
- Our Xmas event on the 12th of December has proved very popular on "Future Technology - a younger perspective" Presented by Metaverse Evangelist Ian Hughes at @Bristol. At the time of writing there were only 3 spaces remaining. Full Details are here http://www.bristol.bcs.org.uk/?q=node/127
- We have the BCS President Professor M.J.Norton coming to the City of Bristol College on the 11th of Jan 2012 to give a talk on "Achieving successful IT enabled business change"This would be a great opportunity to Q and A with the president so lets get as many people along as possible. Full details can be found here http://www.bristol.bcs.org.uk/?q=node/121
You can see a summary of the full program on PDF by following this link (http://www.bristol.bcs.org.uk/2011/Bristol-branch-program-2011-12.pdf) or via the events page on the website (http://www.bristol.bcs.org.uk/?q=event/new)."
- Organisation and Behaviours - Systems Engineering within the wider enterprise -
http://www.incoseonline.org.uk/EventBooking/AutoBooking/MainPage.aspx?CatID=Events&EventID=203.
"This event will feature Richard Beasley and will be based upon the relevant sections on SE and organisations from the public review version of the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK) which can be found at http://www.sebokwiki.org/, and has been developed as part of the BKCASE (Body of Knowledge and Curriculum to Advance Systems Engineering) project. Attendees will be invited to discuss and review the material so far, with the intention of feeding pertinent observations back into the public review process, acting as a sanity check from real-life practitioners."
From BCS Bristol Branch Members - November Newsletter
"As winter draws in we have some great talks coming up to take us through to the Spring School
First up only a few days away.- Graham Lee is speaking on "Mobile Application Security and Privacy: State of the Disunion" at the City of Bristol College on Wed 23rd Nov 2011. Find out details for Graham and tell us your coming: http://www.bristol.bcs.org.uk/?q=node/125
- On the 5th of December Paul Gerard will be giving a talk on "Using Business Stories to Test Requirements and Systems" at the City of Bristol CollegeFind out details for Paul and tell us your coming: http://www.bristol.bcs.org.uk/?q=node/130
- Our Xmas event on the 12th of December has proved very popular on "Future Technology - a younger perspective" Presented by Metaverse Evangelist Ian Hughes at @Bristol. At the time of writing there were only 3 spaces remaining. Full Details are here http://www.bristol.bcs.org.uk/?q=node/127
- We have the BCS President Professor M.J.Norton coming to the City of Bristol College on the 11th of Jan 2012 to give a talk on "Achieving successful IT enabled business change"This would be a great opportunity to Q and A with the president so lets get as many people along as possible. Full details can be found here http://www.bristol.bcs.org.uk/?q=node/121
You can see a summary of the full program on PDF by following this link (http://www.bristol.bcs.org.uk/2011/Bristol-branch-program-2011-12.pdf) or via the events page on the website (http://www.bristol.bcs.org.uk/?q=event/new)."
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
BBC News - European commissioner calls for 'digital champions'
This BBC technology article - European commissioner calls for 'digital champions' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15544517 - is interesting and shows what a good example Martha Lane Fox and her role is for other countries. The article discusses the social benefits of enabling more people to be online and reducing exclusion.
"Neelie Kroes, the European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, has called on EU states to appoint digital champions similar to the UK's Martha Lane Fox.
Ms Kroes said the lastminute.com founder was "doing a great job" at convincing UK adults who did not use the internet to change their minds.
Talking to the BBC, Ms Kroes said it was vital to deal with the 30% of Europeans currently not online.
She said EU states needed ministers with specific digital portfolios.
Ms Kroes made the comments at the inaugural London Conference on Cyberspace.
She took the opportunity to emphasise the social benefits of being online."
"Neelie Kroes, the European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, has called on EU states to appoint digital champions similar to the UK's Martha Lane Fox.
Ms Kroes said the lastminute.com founder was "doing a great job" at convincing UK adults who did not use the internet to change their minds.
Talking to the BBC, Ms Kroes said it was vital to deal with the 30% of Europeans currently not online.
She said EU states needed ministers with specific digital portfolios.
Ms Kroes made the comments at the inaugural London Conference on Cyberspace.
She took the opportunity to emphasise the social benefits of being online."
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
BBC News - Artificial intelligence community mourns John McCarthy
BBC News - Artificial intelligence community mourns John McCarthy - 25 October 2011 -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15444222
This article commemorates this important Artificial Intelligence Pioneer, and also is informative -
"Artificial intelligence researcher, John McCarthy, has died. He was 84.
The American scientist invented the computer language LISP.
It went on to become the programming language of choice for the AI community, and is still used today.
Professor McCarthy is also credited with coining the term "Artificial Intelligence" in 1955 when he detailed plans for the first Dartmouth conference. The brainstorming sessions helped focus early AI research."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15444222
This article commemorates this important Artificial Intelligence Pioneer, and also is informative -
"Artificial intelligence researcher, John McCarthy, has died. He was 84.
The American scientist invented the computer language LISP.
It went on to become the programming language of choice for the AI community, and is still used today.
Professor McCarthy is also credited with coining the term "Artificial Intelligence" in 1955 when he detailed plans for the first Dartmouth conference. The brainstorming sessions helped focus early AI research."
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Oxford University warns of losing talented students - BBC News
This is an interesting article from BBC about how lack of funding for research could cause UK to lose out to other countries economcally. This is a warning from the Vice Chancellor of Oxford University.
Oxford University warns of losing talented students - By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-15170451 -
"Oxford University's vice-chancellor has warned that a lack of funding will make it difficult to compete with international rivals.
Professor Andrew Hamilton warned that the UK's universities would struggle to compete for the best research students in the "global market for talent".
This was not only about competing with top US universities, but also China and India, said Prof Hamilton.
The UK's higher education sector would "increasingly lose out", he said.
In his annual speech, Prof Hamilton highlighted concerns about funding for postgraduate research."
I've also posted this on the Vitae Researchers blog - What's up Doc blog - http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/346441-464371/Oxford-University-warns-of-losing-talented-students.html.
Oxford University warns of losing talented students - By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-15170451 -
"Oxford University's vice-chancellor has warned that a lack of funding will make it difficult to compete with international rivals.
Professor Andrew Hamilton warned that the UK's universities would struggle to compete for the best research students in the "global market for talent".
This was not only about competing with top US universities, but also China and India, said Prof Hamilton.
The UK's higher education sector would "increasingly lose out", he said.
In his annual speech, Prof Hamilton highlighted concerns about funding for postgraduate research."
I've also posted this on the Vitae Researchers blog - What's up Doc blog - http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/346441-464371/Oxford-University-warns-of-losing-talented-students.html.
Saturday, October 08, 2011
Stanford University - Free computer science courses - Introduction to Databases
I've taken my own advice that these Stanford University Courses are a great opportunity to study free courses. I've registered for the 'Introduction to Databases' course. It actually starts on Monday (October 10th). It runs until 12th December. So I'm glad I registered this morning, and happened to be in time for this course. The registration was straightforward, and immediately made available online resources to help me prepare.
These are the links to my previous blog post and to the Stanford University news article - http://userdrivenmodelling.blogspot.com/2011/09/stanford-university-free-computer.html.
The Stanford University Website I referenced, which is the place to start if considering registering for any of these 3 courses - http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/august/online-computer-science-081611.html - 'Machine Learning, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Introduction to Databases'.
These are the links to my previous blog post and to the Stanford University news article - http://userdrivenmodelling.blogspot.com/2011/09/stanford-university-free-computer.html.
The Stanford University Website I referenced, which is the place to start if considering registering for any of these 3 courses - http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/august/online-computer-science-081611.html - 'Machine Learning, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Introduction to Databases'.
Thursday, October 06, 2011
BBC News - Steve Jobs Apple 'visionary' dies aged 56
Sad news - 6 October 2011 - BBC - Steve Jobs Apple 'visionary' dies aged 56 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15193922.
"Steve Jobs, co-founder and former chief executive of US technology giant Apple, has died at the age of 56.
Apple said his "brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve".
Jobs announced he was suffering from pancreatic cancer in 2004.
US President Barack Obama said that with his death, the world had 'lost a visionary'. "
"Steve Jobs, co-founder and former chief executive of US technology giant Apple, has died at the age of 56.
Apple said his "brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve".
Jobs announced he was suffering from pancreatic cancer in 2004.
US President Barack Obama said that with his death, the world had 'lost a visionary'. "
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