[Yr7-10it] RE: 'Developer in Residence' School DER Funds

Tue Sep 22 03:50:22 EST 2009

Pauline kindly writes,

> Hi Rob and Paul ..... please could you respond with family names?

Dear Pauline, you can find both Rob and Paul's original list emails here

http://www.edulists.com.au/pipermail/yr7-10it/2009-September/002687.html

> The young person mentioned with the Flash animations is/ was Finn
> Stokes. He was a delight to be near (as is his younger brother Rory
> currently in yr 12). Both are creative as well as talented.

And, as well as receiving an excellent education, I'll warrant, Pauline.

> I listened to a SA Centra conversation about DER funding and they made
> it obvious that DER funding would free up other regular sources to be
> used for teacher PD, training etc.  Without lists like these, how do
> we regular teachers help students like Finn and Rory Stokes to work at
> a higher level than those of us waiting for our systems to upskill us? 
> How do we become more pro-active ?

Excellent questions, Pauline. The games & web developing done in schools
in Australia now is, and will be, useful for students no doubt. But as i
said i do think we need, 'outside experts in schools' to do the best job.

And it appears the best & easiest way to get exceptional computer smarts
into schools & working with teachers & kids is to have them in residence.

> Cheers Pauline
>  
> Pauline Crawford
> Coordinator: Resources & Information Literacy
> Australian Science & Maths School
> C/- Flinders University
> Sturt Road
> BEDFORD PARK
> SA 5042
> 
> Ph: (08) 8201 5686
> ________________________________________
> From: stephen at melbpc.org.au [stephen at melbpc.org.au]
> Sent: Sunday, 20 September 2009 3:13 AM
> To: yr7-10it at edulists.com.au; sofdev at edulists.com.au
> Cc: OZTL_NET at listserv.csu.edu.au; oz-teachers at rite.ed.qut.edu.au
> Subject: [OZTL_NET] 'Developer in Residence' School DER Funds
> 
> 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 Kev 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, and along-side teacher
> mentors.
> 
> 
> Come on Kevin, DER funding needn't be ALL hardware. We need software.
> 
> 
> Software written by Australian people, who started careers 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 National Science Foundation,
> the Georgia Tech College of Computing will mitigate the stress of
> joblessness for unemployed 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 3 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 US Bureau of Labor
> Statistics is not currently being met by computer science enrollments in
> American universities and the US still faces a tough challenge
> in remaining competitive in overall science and technology education.
> 
> Georgia Tech will publish results of the project & 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, 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 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 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 sec 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
> 

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