[Year 12 SofDev] 'Developer in Residence' School DER Funds

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Hi Rob, Paul and all,


Well done, Paul, and agree completely, Rob. We in Australia will *really*
be needing programmers, software engineers & developers etc going forward.


Surely do hope Kevin spends considerably MORE DER FUNDS for SOFT-DEV etc!


For example, how about local *Programers in Residence* funding?  Same as
your traditional tried&true 'writer/artist in residence' school resource?

I think some top-flight Aussie computer-folk would love to help out, on a
part time basis, co-teaching computer classes, along-side teacher-mentors.


Come on Kevin, DER funding needn't be ALL hardware. We WILL need software.


Software written by Australian people, who started their career in school.


<www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS114557+17-Sep-2009+BW20090917>


Georgia Tech to Transform Unemployed Technology Workers into High School 
Computing Teachers  Thu Sep 17, 2009 9:00am EDT  

College of Computing Receives $2.5 Million for Operation Reboot

ATLANTA--(Business Wire)-- In today`s economy, unemployment rates have
spiked and out-of-work professionals are forced to either join the
thousands looking for jobs or seek new career paths. 

Through a recent $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation,
the Georgia Tech College of Computing will mitigate the stress of
joblessness for unemployed information technology (IT) professionals over 
the next three years. 

Operation Reboot, as the project is aptly titled, will transform an
initial set of 30 IT workers in Georgia into high school computing
teachers. The initiative began September 1. 

Operation Reboot will combine Georgia Tech's innovative high school 
computing teacher training program and the successful Georgia Teacher 
Alternative Preparation Program (GaTAPP) to pair an IT worker with an 
existing computing teacher. 

They will co-teach at least two computing classes for one year, allowing 
the IT professional to learn the ins and outs of a classroom. 

Operation Reboot ultimately aims to improve the computing education of
4,600 students over the next three years by increasing the number of well
trained computing teachers and the number of computing classes being
offered. 

This is especially important for the economy and students interested in
computing careers, as jobs in the field are expected to be some of the
fastest growing through 2016. 

With computing a critical component of every American business, the need
for innovative, skilled IT professionals is more vital than ever. 

The demand for IT professionals, as predicted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics, is not currently being met by computer science enrollments in
American universities and the United States still faces a tough challenge
in remaining competitive in overall science and technology education. 

Georgia Tech will publish results of the project and share materials with
other states to serve as a model on how to successfully transform
unemployed IT workers into computing teachers. © Thomson Reuters 2009


Rob writes,

> I recently met a student from the Australian Science and Maths School
> who had won the Oliphant prize for science education, significantly
> based on some of his flash work for building simulations, which you can
> see here    http://firoweb.com/simulations/
> 
> (he is now studying computational physics at uni and has given me
> permission to share his work)
> 
> The population sub species one is nice  - turn sound on - Interesting
> that simulating population dynamics 'experimentally' on the computer,
> its possible to model /measure what happens ...but would have to be
> differential equations if modelled in the pen and paper way, without a
> computer  - much more accessible the computer model way
>  
> He and a group of friends had largely taught themselves ... he says he
> wishes school had offered more programming in a formal sense
> 
> (his start was a primary school program in Adelaide called 'technology
> school of the future' ...which has now closed)
> 
> I wonder how many kids we are short changing by not aiming high enough
> in these areas, or at least giving them a reasonable start  ... although
> students of his calibre  can get there without too much support  ...
> maybe there is whole group of others who could go there with a bit more
> support, and some good starting approaches ...
> 
> Be nice if ICT in the curriculum encouraged some of this, rather than
> just permitting it - often with a mild disincentive ('we focus on
> learning, or information literacy, not technology' - which sounds
> admirable but its never quite clear to me how that rationale works
> without effectively dumbing down some possibilities, which possibly were
> more widespread in the first round of personal computers, in the 80s.
> 
> Or perhaps information literacy needs to include, rather than exclude, a
> grasp of what software is actually about; how it works etc. one feels
> its now possible to study ICT in school and miss that key insight
> 
> So we love the final work when a student makes this, an interesting
> student project etc; but does our system curriculum and conception of
> ICT in school do much to cultivate it?
> 
> [/rant]
> 
> Cheers, happy hols
> 
> Rob
> 
> ________________________________
> 
>> Sent: Saturday, 12 September 2009 3:57 PM
>> Subject: Flash Avoider Game + Guitar Resources + the BuuniesMovies
> 
>
> Hi everyone,
> 
>
> I found this great website for making a classic Flash "Avoider" style
> game at:
> 
> http://avoidergame.com/
> 
> 
> I have built a cut-down version of the full game that can be played
> online and has been reviewed here:
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/PassyAvoider
> 
>  
> This game would be a good project to extend Y9 or Y10 students that are
> whizzing through the basic Flash material that you may be providing.
> 
> 
> I also recently found an interesting use of Flash to make guitar
> learning accessories:
> 
> For details see: http://tinyurl.com/PassyFLGuitar1
> 
> 
> Finally, if you have not seen them before, there is a new updated web
> page of all the marvelous "Flash Bunnies" 30 second animations of famous
> movies at:
> 
> http://www.angryalien.com/
> 
> 
> So let's all be looking forward to some pretty flashy holiday time
> coming up real soon !
> 
> 
> Enjoy,
> 
> Paul ..
> 
> ICT / Maths Teacher ..
> 
> http://passyworldofict.blogspot.com
> <http://passyworldofict.blogspot.com/>

Cheers,
Stephen