Author: George Milliken

Sign up for CyberFirst Girls Development Days!

This year’s CyberFirst Girls Competition was a great success with over 6,000 entries from across the UK! And we’re not stopping there – girls that entered the 2020/2021 competition are now eligible to attend free Development Days and continue their CyberFirst journey.

 

The CyberFirst Girls Development Day initiative is inspired and led by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – a part of GCHQ to encourage understanding of the different specialisms within cyber security and equip the girls with practical, in-demand skills.

 

On the day, the girls will be role-playing as cyber security experts working for a fictitious app company, Sirius Cyberworks. Unfortunately, disaster has struck and there has been a serious breach of the company network – a new flagship app has been leaked.

 

The girls’ role is to work through four different parts of the company, uncovering how the leak happened whilst learning new cyber skills along the way.

 

The development days are running throughout October and:

  • are open to girls now in S2/S3 in Scotland
  • consist of a series of fun, interactive one day face-to-face courses; or two half-day virtual sessions (depending on the preferred delivery model)
  • feature guest speakers and videos from trailblazing women leaders working in the cyber industry

 

Places fill up fast, so make sure you secure yours as soon as possible. Reserve your place today with your priority booking voucher code: CFSCOT2021

 

Click here to find out more and reserve your place or share with any friends or family who may be interested.

12 October 1545 – 1715, Barefoot Programming Workshop – Introduction to Scratch

An interactive workshop introducing you to the Scratch programming environment and taking you through the concepts of sequence, repetition and selection through a series of camel related challenges.

Register here

 

You will need to:

be registered with Barefoot and logged into https://www.barefootcomputing.org/

have access to scratch on their device https://scratch.mit.edu/

have access to watch videos on Vimeo https://vimeo.com/

22 September 1545 – 1715, Barefoot Programming Workshop – Introduction to Scratch

An interactive workshop introducing you to the Scratch programming environment and taking you through the concepts of sequence, repetition and selection through a series of camel related challenges.

Register here

You will need to:

be registered with Barefoot and logged into https://www.barefootcomputing.org/

have access to scratch on their device https://scratch.mit.edu/

have access to watch videos on Vimeo https://vimeo.com/

14 September 16:00 – 17:00, Teaching the Maths of Computing – a practical workshop

This webinar will focus on teaching how computers work and the numeracy and mathematical principles that underpin this. This will be a 60 minute workshop with interactive opportunities for teachers to join in and try out some of the activities suggested for learners.
The session will identify Numeracy & Mathematics Es and Os that can be used to plan and deliver the learning over a series of lessons. Attendees should be more confident about the mathematical concepts that underpin computers and computing, and be aware of ‘off-the-shelf’ resources that can be used with learners.

You can have a look at some of these ideas in this series of blog posts:
USING NUMERACY AND MATHEMATICS TO TEACH COMPUTING SCIENCE 

A Glow login is required.

Sign up here

29 SEPTEMBER, 16:00 – 17:00 APPS FOR GOOD – MACHINE LEARNING

Explore machine learning including the ethics, benefits, and how you can use machine learning algorithms to solve a real world problems.

Apps for Good is a small independent charity giving young people the skills they need to thrive. For 10 years they’ve worked with teachers to unlock the potential of over 200,000 students around the UK and beyond. Their programmes support young people with the skills and confidence they need to thrive and empower them to be the purposeful innovators of the future. 

Sign up here

03 November , 16:00 – 17:00 THIS IS PRIMARY COMPUTING SCIENCE – 3 PART COURSE

Education Scotland have partnered with BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT to deliver this 3 part certified course to develop your knowledge of teaching computing science across the primary curriculum using Barefoot resources. This course is suitable for those already teaching or planning to teach computing science and will help fill potential gaps in knowledge.

Book your place here

15/09/21/ 4pm Computational Thinking – Critical thinking and problem solving across the curriculum

Computational Thinking, critical thinking and problem-solving top the World Economic list of skills that employers believe will grow in prominence in the next five years. This first session will explore why it’s important for your students to learn computing science and you’ll learn about key computational thinking skills as you give some of Barefoot’s “unplugged” activities a try – proving you don’t need expensive kit to teach computing. You’ll take away a range of lesson ideas you can try immediately with your learners.

3/11/21 4pm Code along with Scratch

Take your computing science knowledge to the next level with this interactive code along session. Get to grips with Scratch programming and the concepts of sequence, repetition and selection through a series of Scratch programming challenges. This workshop will build on the previous session as we explore how computational thinking skills are applied when programming.

1/12/21 4pm Pedagogy and Computing Science

Learn more about key pedagogical approaches to programming, including PRIMM (Predict, Run, Investigate, Modify and Make), Use-Modify-Create, Semantic Waves and Parson’s Problems. We’ll explore each approach through hands-on activities and examples, illustrating how these research-backed teaching and learning methods can be applied in your curriculum.

30 SEPTEMBER, 16:00 – 17:00 COUNTDOWN TO COP26 – PROTECT OUR PLANET

In the run up to COP26, Code Club is supporting young learners to code the change they want to see in the world around them.  In this session, Code Club will share the

* Environment project collection, full of ideas for great environment related projects to share with learners of all levels

* Protect Our Planet learning pathway of 6 projects for more confident coders

* live codealong events running during COP26 that learners can take part in

* and answer any questions you have

Book your place here

Running an Esports Club – British Esports Association

Esports (or electronic sports) is a term used to describe competitive video gaming. With 81% of children playing video games online nowadays, games are arguably a larger part of their lives than ever before.

The British Esports Association (BEA) is a not-for-profit national body established in 2016 to promote esports in the UK, increase its level of awareness, improve standards and inspire future talent. As a national body, their aims are to support esports and provide expertise and advice.

They help to educate parents, teachers, media, policy makers and government around what esports is and what its benefits are. BEA aim to:

 

  • Promote esports in the UK and increase its level of awareness
  • Improve the standard of UK esports
  • Inspire future talent

There has been lots of work with colleges in Scotland so far but the BEA are keen to support more schools setup, deliver and develop esports clubs for children and young people. Running an esports club is about more than playing games, there is the setup of equipment, recruitment of friends and peers, and all the digital literacy required to produce videos of their games. In fact, capturing gameplay can become a whole production with sounds, graphics and video editing going on to showcase their gaming skills.

 

Find out more about esports and the British Esports Association with these links:
British Esports Student Champs
Student Champs Resources
Esports in Education Conference
Glasgow Clyde Case Study
British Esports Champs 2021 Aftermovie
Forth Valley College Division 2 Rocket League Interview
Scottish College Cup
Diversity and Inclusion of Esports

Esports Parents and Carers Guide with NSPCC and British Esports Association

The British Esports Association (@British_Esports) has developed a new Parent & Carers Guide in collaboration with the NSPCC, which aims to educate parents and carers about esports and online safety.

This guide has been created to provide information to help parents understand more about the esports industry.

The contents of the guide include:

  • Information about the British Esports Student Champs
  • Benefits of esports
  • Esports in education
  • Academic pathways
  • Inclusivity and diversity in esports
  • How you can get involved with your child
  • Parents testimonials
  • Online safety

 

Tom Dore, Head of Education at British Esports Association, said:

“At British Esports we’re helping to establish industry standards for safeguarding and keeping young people safe online. Developing the Parent & Carers guide in collaboration with NSPCC has allowed us to celebrate many of the positives around esports, and also highlight important issues around safeguarding and online safety.

It is crucial as an industry that we’re doing everything we can to keep young people safe while participating in esports. We should look to traditional sport, and other established industries, to learn from their ongoing work. British Esports strongly encourages all stakeholders in the esports industry to scrutinise their own practise around their work with young people and prioritise safeguarding and online safety throughout their organisations.’

 

Find out more about the guide

 

View the guide