I worked at LEH for 4 1/2 half years and was responsible for digital strategy. A large part of what I did whilst I was there was implementing LEH’s 1:1 iPad mobile learning solution.
We worked very closely with Western Computer who not only supplied the devices but supported us through the process.
Western Computer produced a great video about our journey.
I wanted to design a Computing room that moved away from the traditional layout. For decades IT rooms in schools have been arranged with rows of computers and have tended to be a very uninspiring rooms to learn in.
The Student Gateway development has given us an excellent opportunity to create an innovative, exciting and inspirational room that will wow students, teachers and parents alike and be an excellent learning environment. It will show Computing as a creative subject that will give students a chance to work in somewhere similar to that of technology companies or universities.
It will contain different areas to provide flexible learning spaces for students to work individually and collaboratively using a range of technologies.
At the front of the classroom is where students will sit to work on their PCs. All students will be able to see each other as well as the interactive flat screen. This will give the room more of an inclusive feel. Student are also able to sit on the soft furnishing at the front for teacher demonstrations and class discussions or to work on their iPads.
At the top left is a breakfast bar style piece of furniture facing a flat screen. This can work as both a collaborative place for students to work as well as a place for the girls to sit and work individually. Students can sit and work on their iPads, work in groups as well as being able to mirror their device to the flat screen to show work for example.
The area in the top right is for physical computing and soldering, several students can work on this table at the same time. The table also splits in two to giver the space area more flexibility. The flat panel display in this section can be used to connect computers or iPads to.
This article was published on the Barclays Life Skill website in March 2016.
You might have seen the news that the BBC micro:bit is now being sent out to all year 7 students. The aim of these mini, programmable computers is to inspire students to develop creative and digital skills through coding, and get more young people interested in science, technology, engineering and maths. It is clear from this alone that coding has become the hot topic for technology in the classroom, having been made a part of the curriculum as of September 2014 [1]. With over 12 million people in the UK unprepared to fill the looming digital skills gap, it’s no surprise that coding has been highlighted as such an important aspect of current and future teaching models [2]
Though coding may seem very technical and sometimes daunting to tackle, confined to the realms of the computer labs, I’d like to dispel this myth. Granted, the digital skills learnt from coding are a major benefit to the changing needs of the labour market; in today’s digital world, it’s not enough for the next generation to know how to use programmes and software – they also need an appreciation for how these things are developed and how coding is used to produce them. But we shouldn’t consider it a teaching practice exclusively designed for computing lessons.
Read the rest of this article on the Barclays Life Skills website.
At school I am running an app design project for my year 7 students. Unlike many lessons they have experienced in their previous school life, there is very little teaching from the teacher, I am mostly there as a facilitator. I am of course there to help when necessary but my aim is to get students learning more independently. They must teach themselves using videos I have produced for them.
You can watch the videos below:
On 15th October 2014 Optimus Education are holding another one of their amazing Computing conferences.
The conference is called “Deliver and Assess Outstanding Progress in Secondary Computing“, click the link to go to the website.
I spoke at last years event and it was a fantastic day with some great speakers.
If you would like to attend this year, Optimus Education have kindly offered a 20% discount to the readers of my blog.
The flyer for the event is embedded below, you can also download it from HERE.
My presentation from last year is below, it is entitled ‘A Guide to Creating a Creative Computing Lesson that Engages Students‘.
This is one of the presentations I gave at the ‘How to Deliver an Effective Computing Curriculum’ day by Government Knowledge on 12th November.
This is the presentations I gave at the ‘Design and Deliver an Outstanding Secondary Computing Curriculum’ conference by Optimus Education on 15th October.
It was a really great day and I saw some fantastic presentations and talks.
The Cambridge GCSE Computing MOOC is well worth visiting, whether you are a teacher or student.
It is completely free and includes hundreds of videos, resources and quizzes.
If you are a teacher looking for some CPD, look no further. This could really help your personal development.
Students will love this too. It is aimed at 14-16 year olds but I have a 12 year old working through this in his spare time. You may not get a GCSE out of it, but you do get a certificate of participation.
It is clear that a lot of time has been spent creating this. I really appreciate those involved in this project, I am sure it will be a great success.
This is work in progress and they are adding more lessons throughout this year and next year.
Give it ago, you may just love it.
Sign up for it here:
http://cambridgegcsecomputing.org/
Here is an example of a couple of videos:
This is the final set of classroom presentations for my Computing curriculum. You can find a link to my Computing curriculum booklet below:
Mr Britland’s Computing Curriculum 2013-2014
Last week I posted all of the presentation for the Year 7 projects and yesterday I posted the Year 8 presentations. These are for both students and teacher and include lots of useful resources.
This post contains the presentations for Year 9.
Feel free to download and use this curriculum. If you use this booklet, its projects or ideas and would like to make a donation for its continuing development, please use the link provided. I would like to keep giving this document away for free so any donation would be amazing. Please click to be redirected to my donation page.
1. Your Digital World
2. Graphic Design: Album Covers
3. Algorithms and Google
4. Programming: Raspberry Pi and Python
(UPDATE: 11th July 2014)
Over the last couple of months I have been working on updating my Computing curriculum ready for release this month. This is the 3rd version and I have tried to do something slightly different with it.
Several months ago Tristan Kirkpatrick, a newly qualified Computing teacher (@Tristan_ICTCS) got in touch with me and asked if I was interested in making the curriculum open source. I jumped at the chance. Tristan began building a new website to enable the curriculum to be shared. All his hard work has resulted in something really exciting.
So…how does it work?
Head over to www.ictcomputing.org now!
A PDF version of the curriculum is available from the link below:
Mr Britland’s Open Source Computing Curriculum
I have been working very hard over the last few months producing my new Computing curriculum and it is finally ready.
Details below:
Feel free to download and use this curriculum. If you use this booklet, its projects or ideas and would like to make a donation for its continuing development, please use the link provided. I would like to keep giving this document away for free so any donation would be amazing. Please click to be redirected to my donation page.
Thanks for your support.
Matt.
This is now version 2 – DOWNLOAD HERE
I have added / amended the following:
End products have changed for the following projects:
In Development
If you would like some help with creating your own resources or would like me to produce any educational publications, please visit www.realiselearning.co.uk.
mattbritland.com 