Innovative Teaching Archives

Breaking the Disconnection in Computer Science Education

Written by Charlotte Brearley of BSD Education

In a recent survey of 540 K-12 teachers conducted by YouGov for Microsoft, 88% of teachers said they agree computer science is critical to ensuring success in the workplace. 83% said they believe coding can build students’ creativity. It is very clear that teachers recognize the importance and benefits of technology education.

However, one-fifth of teachers said their students aren’t actually taught any computer science. These teachers say this is for a number of reasons: computer science isn’t part of their school’s curriculum, there is a lack of funding for it, and it’s not a subject students are tested on. The fact that computer science is completely excluded from one-fifth of schools in this survey highlights the clear disconnect between what teachers and society believe to be important – giving students digital skills to prepare them for the future – and the reality of what is actually happening in schools.

A second issue is that, even where computer science is present in schools, teachers feel underqualified when it comes to preparing students for a more digital future. Despite 88% of the teachers agreeing that computer science is critical, 30% felt underqualified and 20% felt overwhelmed. Teachers are clearly not receiving the support or opportunities for training necessary to bring technology education into their classrooms confidently.

Interestingly, it was the same sort of feedback that led to our offering at BSD Education. We spoke to a range of teachers from across the world and found that whilst most teachers recognize that technology education is vital for students to succeed in the future, it was difficult to deliver it effectively. To understand why this was the case, we conducted research, working directly with schools and students across a multitude of socio-economic, cultural and intellectual backgrounds. We found that whilst schools want to do more with technology, there are three fundamental barriers to integrating it effectively:

Confidence: Teachers don’t usually have a tech background and so can see it as risky and unfamiliar. Professional development for an area that is new and technical can be hard to access.
Content: Technology is constantly changing. Curriculum can, therefore, become quickly outdated.
Community: Teachers don’t have a community of practice or peers, with a core group of trained practitioners, to learn from and share ideas.

Based on this research, we have worked with thousands of students and teachers, including over 34,000 hours of in-classroom testing, to create a solution that drives the next generation of creative thinkers and problem solvers. To help schools integrate technology curriculum into all subject areas we provide them with:

An online teaching environment that gives teachers confidence by putting them in control of the learning experience.
Real world relevant curriculum that can be brought into every subject.
Professional development that enables every teacher to integrate technology into their classroom.

Our new year’s resolution is to bring this solution and create the community in and amongst ever more schools globally to help break the disconnect. Teachers know that technology education is vital. We just need to empower them and support them with the right tools to be in a position to deliver.

Code Your Holiday Cheers: Create Your Own Digital Greeting Card

Written by Eva Yeung of BSD Education

At a school we currently partner with in the UK, Dr. Taylor and his Code Club students shared their holiday cheers with their school community and the BSD Education team by including student coded digital holiday cards in their recent school newsletter!

This is such a thoughtfully refreshing and environmentally friendly way to spread some holiday joy. Try out this sandbox as a cool digital “arts and crafts” activity!

We have prepared a fun activity (approximate duration: ~ 60 minutes) with resources and video tutorials so that you can do the same with your students just in time for the holiday season. We recommend this activity for ages 8 and above.

For younger students, you can do this as a class activity. For older students, you can print out or display the instructions from step 7 to challenge them to figure out and tinker with the code.

Below is the sample output that we have created at BSD:

Follow the 8 simple steps below and check out the video tutorial on how you can introduce this activity into your classroom.

Step 1:

Login to BSD Online

If you and your students already have a BSD account, simply login. If you are new to BSD Online, click on “Sign-up” to create a new account. It is advisable to login as this will allow you to save your work.

Step 2:

Introduce HTML and CSS

Spend 5 to 10 minutes to introduce or recap about the use and syntax of HTML and CSS with your students. Use these resources to help you.

Step 3:

Open sandbox mode

Direct students to sandbox mode as shown below:

Step 4:

Copying code into HTML and CSS file in sandbox

To help introduce the code to your class, we have put together the coding snippets from below. Direct students to copy and paste each of the relevant code into the correct files.

Paste this into the HTML file:

<div>
    <h1>Happy Holidays!</h1>
    <h2>Wishing you all the joy in the world!</h2>
    <img src=”https://image.flaticon.com/icons/svg/1066/1066181.svg” />
    <h3>From, BSD</h3>
</div>

Step 5:

Paste this into the CSS file:

@import url(‘https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lobster|Raleway’);
body {
   background-color: #3e4e88;
}

h1 {
   color: #e0fcff;
   font-size: 75px;
   font-family: ‘Lobster’, cursive;
}

h2 {
   font-size: 36px;
}

h3 {
   font-size: 30px;
}

div {
   width: 500px;
   height: 750px;
   background-color: #1a2c5b;
   text-align: center;
   border-radius: 5px;
   border: 6px solid #b8dff0;
   margin: 30px auto;
   padding: 20px;
   box-shadow: 10px 20px 20px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7);
   font-family: ‘Raleway’, sans-serif;
   color: white;
}

img {
   width: 300px;
}

Step 6:

Save your work!

Click the “Save” icon under your profile picture to save your work! This is very important so that you won’t lose any work. Remind students to keep saving regularly.

Step 7:

Time to customize!

Follow this video tutorial to learn how to customize the different parts of this digital holiday card!

Customize the content in HTML file:
1. Find <h1>, <h2> and <h3> to update the text
2. Find <img src= “ URL”/> to update the image. Use Flat Icon to find a suitable royalty free icon.
Customize the styling in the CSS file:
1. Find the “body” selector to modify the background color.
2. Find the selector <h1>, <h2> and <h3> to style the font by using:
  1. color to change the font color. Simply type in a color and sandbox will make some color suggestions
  2. font-family to change the font style. Below is a video to show you how to use Google Fonts.
  3. font-size to control the size. The “px” stands for pixels.
3. Find the “div” selector to modify the following:
  1. width to adjust the width of the card
  2. height to adjust the height of the card
  3. background-color to adjust the color of the card
  4. border-radius to adjust the rounded corners of the card
  5. border to adjust the thickness and color of the border
  6. font-family to apply a different font style (remember you must have included this font when you import from Google Font)
  7. color to change the font color

Step 8:

Share with your community.

Once students have completed their digital cards, ask them to click on the link icon and click the toggle for “share with others” on the top right corner of their sandboxes. Alternatively, you may want to share the cards using the QR code. Simply take a screenshot of the QR code and share via a communication application of your choice.

This project is so versatile that you can easily repurpose it after the holiday season as an event poster, invite or any other context for students to try out.

If you have any questions about this activity, reach out to us via our Intercom system located on the bottom left corner of the screen. Happy Holidays!

Advantages of Real World Technology Camps: Roblox

Written by Mo Qureshi of BSD Education.

Roblox is a game-creation platform where students can design and upload their own games, as well as play other games in a multiplayer online environment. Roblox provides scripting tips and design elements through Roblox Studio – it’s free game creation platform to help budding designers create and contribute games and activities. Through the platform and its features, students develop skills like creativity, self direction, storytelling, coding, giving and taking feedback.

1. Learn how professionals build games

Using Roblox Studio to build games exposes students to real tools and techniques professionals use to develop games. Beginners who are keen to learn game design and haven’t learned to code yet can use the Roblox Studio’s game builder to create a game world of their own game environment, obstacles, difficulty levels and score systems.

Students with some experience or those interested to learn coding can use the coding language Lua to develop their own games on Roblox Studio. Coding a game gives the game developer control over the game dynamics and the ability to completely redefine the game, it’s movements and the game environment with fine precision. Coding the game also makes the game look and feel professional, and in this process students experience developing a game just like a professional developer would.

2. Learn to plan and think computationally

Building a game either by using a game builder or by coding it requires the game developer to think logically and systematically. In the planning phase, even before a game is developed, one needs to think about factors like the objective of the game, storyline, types of players to attract, obstacles players will encounter, difficulty levels the game will need and how players earn points.

When building the game, students will have to build each game component sequentially with great attention to detail. S/he will learn that a computer by itself isn’t intelligent so the instructions given to build each component have to be clear.

3. Storytelling

The best games are challenging yet fun with a compelling narrative and an objective to strive for. While developing the game and making key decisions like choosing the game character/s, difficulty levels, scoring system, etc, students will constantly have to ask themselves “why will a player start playing my game and continue playing it?”. The objective of the game with the narrative will help them answer this question.

During BSD camps, we have found that it is a helpful starting point to provide students examples of games with good narratives for inspiration. Then they spend up to one lesson writing down their game’s objective and narrative; then share this with their instructor and peers to get their feedback and improve it.

4. Self direction and creativity

Developing games is an inherently creative exercise. Students are engaging in imagining characters, worlds and experiences that don’t exist yet. Then they learn to use the right tools and techniques to bring their imagination to life.

To successfully build original games, students are given a high amount of autonomy, and are encouraged to test their ideas by building prototypes.

5. Problem solving

Working with technology tools and code requires students to be able to spot errors and solve them on their own. This methodical review develops their attention to detail, makes them process oriented and encourages self-reliant learning.

In BSD camps where there are always groups of students, they are encouraged to work in groups to solve problems collaboratively.

6. Learn to code

Learning how to code makes the students literate in 21st century skills and develops mindsets and behaviours like computational thinking, attention to detail, collaboration, creativity and problem solving. It empowers them to create their own tools and products using technology. It’s more than just a technical skill! <<Link to Eva’s article>>

Roblox games can be made unique by developing them using a coding language called Lua which is very similar to JavaScript and Python. Students can use the code editor to create custom actions, conditions, or game mechanics. In doing so they are exposed to programming concepts like loops, conditionals, arrays, and inheritance. Though earning Lua, students develop a transferable foundation that can assist their future transition to discover other coding languages more confidently.

7. User testing and feedback

After creating the first version of the game, students are asked to demo their game and share it with their peers for testing and feedback.

While their peers are playing their games, they are advised to observe how they play the game and request feedback. Based on their observations and peer feedback, students determine the priorities to improve their games.

This testing and feedback cycle is not limited to one time, it is repeated as often as needed to make the game perfect.

8. Digital citizenship

While developing and customizing their game, students will need to search for resources like images and tutorials online. They learn about image selection and audience appropriate content, copyright, royalty free images and the importance of crediting the work of others properly.

There is an overwhelming amount of evidence in education for the power of the real world to capture the minds of young learners. At the same time, no one can dispute the incredible popularity and fascination that children and adults share for fiction. Roblox has achieved a exceptional balance of creating a platform that has succeeded in marrying fantasy with reality in a platform that has the tools to introduce the real world through a user friendly package, intuitively constructed and able to maintain the focus of curious young imaginations.

Bring Digital Skills into Your Classrooms All Year Round

Written by Charlotte Brearley of BSD Education

The Hour of Code is a great opportunity to bring coding into your classroom and to introduce your students to some vital digital skills. You’ll see your students’ eyes light up as they discover what they can build and create and the likelihood is they’ll want to do more. With this in mind, it will benefit them to have opportunities to develop their digital skills throughout the school year as well.

So, how do you bring digital skills and coding into the classroom on a more regular basis?

Here are three ideas that can be used in your classroom immediately:

1. Encourage your students to “go digital” when doing assignments and class projects. Rather than drawing a poster, they could design a website or do a video presentation using Flipgrid. Bringing in digital approaches will not only develop students’ skills, but will also more closely align school projects with what students will have to do in the workplace.

2. Prompt students to think about how technology links to a range of subject areas. It is vital that students see how technology relates to almost everything in the real world and how it can be used to solve real problems. Ask questions to prompt their thinking. Covering biology? Ask how technology is used in medicine. Studying art? Look at digital artists. Technology is present in every walk of life and the sooner students connect their digital skills with the real world, the better.

3. Set up specific time for digital activities in your classroom. This could be weekly or monthly but make the time!

a.) You could use the slot for a combination of mini on-screen and unplugged activities throughout the semester.

b.) You could set your students a challenge that they can work on across the semester as a passion project.

Whatever format you choose, give students the opportunity to be creative and explore the many ways technology can be used by introducing them to a range of different resources.

At BSD we advocate for the use of real world technology projects in every classroom throughout the school year. We believe that regular exposure to technology in a range of different contexts is the best way to prepare students for using technology in their futures and to understand how to apply it in connection with their interests.

To see what BSD can do for you, contact us here.

What you need to know about the “Hour of Code”

Written by Mo Qureshi of BSD Education

All Your Questions on the “Hour of Code” Answered

What is the Hour of Code?

The Hour of Code is designed to show that anybody can learn the basics of code and to broaden participation in the field of computer science and technology.

When is the Hour of Code?

The Hour of Code takes place each year during Computer Science Education Week. This year Computer Science Education Week will be from 3rd to 9th December. But you can host an Hour of Code all year-round by registering on the Hour of Code website.

Why is the Hour of Code important?

Learning to code helps develop problem-solving skills, logic and creativity. Coding requires attention to detail, patience, and develops computational thinking skills and creativity.

There must be more to the “Hour of Code” than picking up skills?!

The skills are really not what we think is important about the Hour of Code, and you have likely already heard and read all the information extolling the virtues of the mindsets and methodologies of technology development before.

The important part about the “Hour of Code” is about giving as many young people the opportunity to try creating technology for themselves.

Why is it important to try creating with technology?

It’s true that most students won’t become programmers, and the reality is that only a small minority of jobs are even full-time programming jobs.

The important point is that all students will not only be using technology in their jobs in the future, but that it will be a fundamental requirement to become employed in a majority of cases.

Trying to create with technology is critical for everyone to have equal access to opportunity in the future.

How can understanding technology start a student’s pathway to opportunity?

Understanding the building blocks of technology, learning to code as we say, is a huge help in being able to understand the world around us and how technology is used and applied. Through this, it’s easier for young learners to think about what their greatest interests are for the careers that they will pursue in the future, as well as the technology that will evermore surround and be ubiquitous to every aspect of their lives. Identifying interests is an important first step to developing the passion to pursue them.

Why is technology so crucial to equal opportunity in the future?

For many years, the aspirations and dreams of young people have often been predicated on their grades, having a degree and even sadly the name or brand of the institution where they studied.

Fortunately, a world that is being driven by technology can be a world of innovation and creativity. You might have heard of the “Innovation Economy”. This will be driven by technology. Through technology, opportunity will be driven not by where it was learned or what grade was achieved, but by what has been delivered and whether it is something people like or choose to use. Opportunity in our future technology reality is not even about being present, people will be able to deliver from anywhere.

What unifies careers and access to opportunity for as many people as possible and particularly those that struggle to realise their dreams because they are in underserved communities, is technology. The ability to create it, apply it and solve problems for others with it.

Without experience of technology at a young age, without the ability to try to create, write a little code even, the door to these opportunities might never seem open and the reality of success might seem unattainable and distant.

The “Hour of Code” being experienced by everyone is not about groundbreaking new discoveries during an hour next week, it’s about levelling the playing field, making a future with tech seem less frightening and more attainable, and laying the groundwork for everyone to have the opportunity to all work towards groundbreaking and exceptional futures together. For the simple chance of realising this, an “Hour of Code” is an excellent investment.

What do I need to know to join the Hour of Code?

21st Century Tools for the Classroom: Quizzes & Videos

Written by Brandon Berthrong of BSD Education.

Formative assessment is an essential part of the learning process, allowing teachers to assess students understanding of concepts and learning needs. Here are a few of our favorite tech tools that can help make assessments fun for students and easy for teachers:

Quizizz:

Quizizz is simple to use, with easily customizable options and a smooth, intuitive interface. One of its unique features is the way it includes memes and player points/leaderboards in between questions. These options add a layer of fun to the experience and are implemented in such a way as to not distract from the material. Quizizz is simple and easy to use, perfect for creating fast, fun, engaging formative assessments. Students take quizzes individually, but teachers can monitor student progress in real time and download performance reports afterward.

Kahoot is less streamlined than Quizizz but offers a wider variety of content, including game types like Jumble, where students order items instead of selecting a multiple choice answer. Kahoot has “blind kahoots”, or quizzes designed to teach a concept rather than just test knowledge. Kahoot allows you to save performance data for each quiz just like Quizizz.

Kahoot’s main differentiating feature is that quizzes are taken as a whole class, with students engaging with one question at a time as a group. This wider variety of content and focus on group engagement make Kahoot perfect for stimulating class discussion and encouraging students to engage with each other to answer questions.

We like using Kahoot for larger reviews or when it’s other game modes are better suited to the subject matter, while using Quizizz to reinforce learning in small chunks that will allow students to move individually at their own pace.

The ability of both programs to easily save performance data can open up opportunities for things like keeping a class-wide term scoreboard, tracking individual improvement or highlighting areas that need work.

Video Lessons:

Edpuzzle is a platform that allows teachers to take videos and turn them into fully realized lessons. The biggest thing we love about EDpuzzle is how intuitive and easy to use it is; videos can be found, edited, and assigned within the application.

Teachers can search popular platforms like YouTube or browse collections of videos by subject and grade level. Teachers can cut the video, add voice-overs or insert in-video quiz questions.

These lessons can be used to break up lectures, review, or teach difficult concepts in the classroom, allowing teachers to take full advantage of the visual power of videos in their lessons. The in-video questions can be added throughout the lesson and therefore are ideal for formative assessments, allowing teachers to test for material comprehension as students learn or review.

How To: Make the Most of the Hour of Code

Written by Brandon Berthrong of BSD Education.

The Hour of Code is a world-wide grass-roots program built on the principle that everyone can code. They report that more than 640,000,000 people have participated in the program!

While Hour of Code can be done any time of the year, during computer science education week (December 3-9th) organizations from all over the world come together to participate in the program. Participants can do projects on the Hour of Code website or through several affiliated programs, through which they’ll complete various code-focused activities and projects.

The idea behind the program is to take an hour (though reportedly 87% of participants end up spending more time than that) to introduce people, particularly students, to the idea that they can code. While Computer Science can seem like a daunting field, through the hour of code students of all backgrounds are able to dispel some of the mystery surrounding it.

There’s a lot more that can be gleaned from the Hour of Code than just code though. Teachers and educators can also use different aspects of the Hour of Code itself as a teaching tool.

The School Demonstrating Technology in Action

As a school, it’s not just the participation, but also the way that you demonstrate your own use of technology in running your “Hour of Code” that can impart important concepts to the students.

The way you share about your school’s participation within the school’s network as well as through external digital media can set a strong example about digital marketing, and conveying messages to different groups of people.
Setting up video links and having students and staff in different schools work together during the hour of code can illustrate both the potential for and the power of collaboration in a digital age.
Polling students about their experience and how it can be improved next year can make them think about user experience and the importance of data.

All of these examples highlight the opportunity to give a far deeper real world context to the Hour of Code and allow students the chance to experience technology being applied.

Students Demonstrating Technology in Action

As well as participating, students can take simple steps themselves that reinforce the ways that technology is used in the real world.

Students can get experience with principles of digital marketing through the sharing of their completed projects with both peers and parents.
By interviewing each other before and after the program, students will be able to consider how the program can be improved for the following year, exposing them to user experience.
If some students formed an Hour of Code Committee, they could present the feedback from the interviews, giving hands-on experience with data analysis.
If you collaborate with another school, students could even compare the data from their respective schools.

In the real world, it’s not all about code, it’s about how technologies and humans come together to drive solutions. The code is, however, often the starting point, the consistent ingredient to mindsets and products.

In the same way, the “Hour of Code” can also be a lot more than just an hour of learning code. It can be the first ingredient in a hearty recipe for a broad and authentic experience with technology for both students and schools.

With computer science education week coming up, from December 3-9th, the hour of code is definitely something everyone should have on their radar. We’re going to have more articles next week with ideas and examples to get the most out of the Hour of Code, but for now, you can find more information about the Hour of Code program here, and find statistics and testimonials from last year here.