C@SScot 15: Using SOLAR for Unit and Assignment Verification

Raymond Simpson: Using SOLAR for Unit and Assignment Verification
Live capture

Unit assessments already on SOLAR. Pupils complete answers in screen, or can upload documents that demonstrate they have completed the outcomes.

Pupils can be given an assessment record, when the pupil has the evidence, they upload it. However, don't assume SQA have access to all kinds of software - better to take and submit screenshots. {Or PDF?} Unit and course assessments for Nat 5, Higher and Advanced Higher all there on SOLAR.

Location:Old Hawkhill,Dundee,United Kingdom

C@SScot 15: A Deep analysis of N5 and H Computing Science

A Deep analysis of N5 and H Computing Science - Bill Buchanan
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 Most science graduates go into software engineering... eventually! {Stated as fact - I would be interested to see some evidence to support it! - DDM}

 The Internet of things means that the Internet is going to get bigger.

 Looking at the Bright Red Digital Zone site. Ask pupils which subjects they are studying: Computing is 6th most popular - behind French. In terms of engagement, Computing is 2nd - after Business Studies. Most logins from pupils are in January. Site designed in Visual Studio. Uses cloud services (e.g. French area uses Microsoft translation services).

C@SScot 15: Opening Keynote

C@SScotland Conference - Keynote: Dr Iain Martin, University of Dundee
How Can You Test an Autonomous Planetary Lander?
Live captured

{Biggest attendance at C@SS conference so far. Reflecting a growing interest in Computing or confidence in our subject?}

University of Dundee has a space technology centre which collects and archives loads of data. Among other things, they have a space systems research group which looks at designing autonomous planetary landers. Computational Thinking underpins their work.

Problem Analysis:
Major task and very difficult to prove you can do it. Very high stakes, many possible reasons it can fail and very expensive to try. The lander has to be able to land autonomously (time delays and limited knowledge of what you are landing on!). You have to balance amount of fuel needed for manoeuvring and landing with the sensors and science stuff you want the lander to carry. The lander will need ”a whole bunch of sensors" to detect position and hazards. Cameras are a low cost, lightweight sensor (with no moving parts - a good thing!). Need to process the images. Difficult to prove the tech works. Best Mars landing so far is MSL which still had a 6km landing eclipse - would really like to get better! One way of testing is to create simulated data. This is difficult. Comparison was made with Apollo 11 mission. Landing site was Boulder strewn but Armstrong was able to steer to a plain just beyond the crater with seconds of fuel left!

{Loads more stuff showing how Computational Thinking underpins major engineering projects like this but I occidentally deleted it. Oops!}

Lego Education - WeDo

C@SS Conference Workshop

Lego Education - WeDo

{Live-ish capture of workshop session with only minor edits.}

WeDo Duck, a photo by DavidDMuir on Flickr

Connect, construct, contemplate, continue.

We were given six bricks and told to build a duck. Everyone made something different - creativity!

WeDo uses a couple of motors, a couple of sensors and a USB transmitter to send instructions to the kit. The programming interface is very Lego like and also provides hints on how to build the necessary models. Supporting children as the make something that comes to life is extraordinarily powerful. Engages and excites. 

Built a spinner and had a competition to see whose spinner spun the longest. Not that I'm competitive, but we won! (Nearly 28 seconds.)

The construction set we used is normally £88.99 but there was a 50% discount until end of November. Software is £59.99 for individual licence and site licence is available. 

Creating resources for the flipped classroom.

C@SS Conference Presentation

Presenter: Charlie Love (Computing teacher)

{Live-ish capture of presentation with only minor edits.}

"I like Curriculum for Excellence." -- Charlie Love

Charlie Love at C@SS
a photo by DavidDMuir on Flickr.

Wanted to get away from lecturing, especially at Higher Level. How do we make pupils better learners? One way is to give feedback and some great ideas about that in Visible Learning by John Hattie. Traditional class is 5 minutes of chat about homework (which they didn't all do) followed by teacher talking at them for most of the rest of the period. Other problem is, if they struggle with homework, since they are at home, they have nobody to talk to about it. In class, they sit passively and listen to teacher. At home, when they need one-to-one support, they are on their own. 

Flipped classroom, the pupils spend time at home getting content (e.g. by watching a video) means more time in class working with individuals and groups. The way children work at home is they are in an environment that is busy with information coming from many places. Why can't schools get into that mix. Also, it helps busy learners, those involved in music, and trips, extra-curricular and ... Struggling learners can pause and rewind the teacher. There is more interaction between learner and teacher as well as between learners in the flipped classroom. Means teacher gets to know pupils much better and can be much more individualised. 

Research on flipped classrooms is emerging. For example, Clintondale High School. 

Arrangement documents are not about learning and teaching. They are the end point. The assessment hoops that will be jumped through at the end. Where you should start is with learning intentions, "I can..."  See primary school teachers for good examples. Once you have a good set of learning intentions, you then develop the lesson. With flipped lessons, we want to be consist and constrained to say 5 minute chunks. Charlie wrote a script so that he didn't waffle. Focus on content and clear explanations. One page of A4 is roughly 3 minutes of video. 

Take your time and go for clarity. Charlie created the audio and used that to direct the videos. Can use Audacity for free. Charlie used animation. Started with stop motion but switched to digital animation for speed. Could use presentation software or something like Camtasia or SamStudio or Smart notebook or ScreenChomp (iPad version available) 

The video is the easy bit. How do you know if they've done the homework? Could have quick five minutes at the start of the lesson. Important to build in formative assessment, e.g. Put a quiz on the VLE. If you are not talking, what do you do with the time? Charlie does a lot of group and peer activities. for example: paired programming; jigsaw activities (e.g. different groups developing stuff independently that is then integrated into a final product); larger projects. Can use something like CodeAcademy but you have to add checkpoints and tasks where they demonstrate they have learned. Too much scaffolding in CodeAcademy means the pupils don't get the fun of building there own stuff from scratch. 

Charlie put his stuff on YouTube. Means YouTube looks after things like subtitles transcoding for different platforms and can also create course playlists from variety of sources. He has a paperless classroom. 

Charlie is moving to mastery learning. Don't move on until you have got it. Requires clear learning objectives. This can mean that pupils may all be working on different areas at the same time. The learner takes ownership of the learning (means teacher has to surrender some control). Personalised learning. Learners can't hide while you lecture. If you do mastery learning properly, you close the gap and raise the ceiling!

Challenges. You have to be prepared - you can't fly by the seat of your pants any more. Learners may just want to be told what to do. If lots going on in the classroom, you need to be a content master! Need multiple formative assessments. Also, when do you do the endpoint exam?

See also Flip Your Classroom by Bergman & Sams. Also Flipping 2.0 by Bretzmann.

Charlie's stores and shares his resources on Google Drive.

Don't focus on the video. It is just the means to the end of letting you get to the discussion, exploration and depth of learning

Location:Lilybank Gardens,Glasgow,United Kingdom
Conference date: Saturday, 26 October 2013

C@SS Conference - Keynote 2

Professional Learning And Networking for Computing- Scotland’s PLAN C

Dr Quintin Cutts (Senior Lecturer at Glasgow University)

There is a problem with many new school buildings where there is no staffroom - no place to meet together and share practice. Many teachers are as a result increasingly isolated.

Quintin Cutts Photo by
David Muir

Proposal for CPD that came from grassroots. The ADiCOST group was given as an example of teachers working together and supporting… and sharing. (Can’t find web presence another than this Scratch page)

One of the key aims of PLAN C is therefore Community Building. Lead teachers have already been identified and local groups are being formed. Sharing between the groups can also take place. Some sharing can already take place. For example, between people with Information Systems experience and people with Computing experience coming together to build expertise for Nat 5. CPD does not have to come from the expert at the front - there are many people in the classroom with knowledge and experience.

Hope is that local hubs will start in March/April 2014. There will be local sharing and community, but there will be more formal sessions too.

Important questions have to be addressed. For example, why teach Computing Science in schools? Our subject is under threat, we have to be able to articulate what we do and why. One reason is connected to problem solving. Often our approach to problem solving is to use intuition. The problem with that is that the real world has hidden mechanisms and is not always very intuitive. If the way things work is so hidden, we need a method of creation and testing of hypotheses - Computational Thinking gives us a model for doing this. Computing can deliver a skill set that is useful across the curriculum.

C@SS Conference - Keynote 1

Classrooms, Kitchens and Farms: Exploring the Narrative Nature of PCK
Professor Sally Fincher
(Professor of Computing Education at University of Kent)

Cookbooks: Mrs Beeton was the first to separate ingredients from method and also gave some contextual information (e.g. The cost of the meal.) This was very influential but other ways of describing recipes are possible, for example the engineer's cookbook time is on the x-axis and ingredients are on the y-axis. The best selling non-fiction book a wee while ago was Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals. A comment on Amazon said the problem with the book was to prepare a meal in 30 minutes with Jamie's book, you had to be Jamie Oliver!

Knowledge is situated. You have the knowledge in the recipe but you need a whole bunch of other skills and experiences to pull it off. Often the best way is to see someone else make the food (mother, friend, ...). How do teachers share this situated knowledge? How do we learn from the experience of others?

One way Sally has tried is through Disciplinary Commons where people who are teaching the same areas meet on a regular basis to share practice and experience. Gave the example of introducing selection - don't start with the complex logic and flowcharts. Start with playing cards and lay hem out - ask people to choose the largest. If you do it that way, they will not be able to explain how the chose the right one. If instead, you put the cards face down and say they can only look at two at a time, then they can start to unpick what they are doing. This marries the content knowledge (about selection) with pedagogical knowledge (how people learn) and experiential knowledge (about what we've taught before and whether or not it was successful). Disciplinary Commons has an archive of portfolios with:

• Context
• Content
• Instructional design
• Delivery
• Assessment
• Evaluation

There is also a commentary to contextualise. This narrative knowledge is not a recipe but supports and builds expertise.

Location:University Avenue,Glasgow,United Kingdom