Author: George Milliken

Tinderbox games club

Tinderbox Games Collective

Tinderbox is a collective of young people, musicians, artists and youth workers in Scotland. Their work uses music and the arts to bring people together and strengthen communities, providing exciting opportunities that support young people to build their confidence, skills, self-esteem, and professional experience. 

Find out more about Tinderbox here – tinderboxcollective.org

Tinderbox Games Clubs currently run in Edinburgh for young people aged 10-18.

At the Games Clubs people get together to play, research and make games, as well as design their own artwork, audio & code needed for them. Tinderbox use different forms of technology to make them, but they also use traditional methods such as hand-drawn art, board game making, clay-sculpting, crafting with recycled objects, and more.

Find out more using this link – Tinderbox Games Clubs

 

These are some games to try to get started:

You can play all the games published by Tinderbox using this link – Tinderbox Lab

making games

Making games

go to the Games in Education page

This section contains information and resources to support educators make games with learners. As valuable as playing games is the opportunity to make them. 

Below are some free-to-use game making platforms. Registering learners as users will require your local authority’s guidance on data security – please check before registering.

glasgow children's hospital charity

 

Do you work with children or young people who enjoy making games?

The Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity has launched a summer games jam to raise funds to buy adapted gaming equipment, consoles and video games for the boys and girls at the children’s hospital in Glasgow. Fundraising will also support the hospital’s Gamer-in-Residence – so that children in hospital always have someone to play with.

Find out more about the project with this link to the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity page

Or go straight to the Weans Game Jam page with this link to itch.io

 

Game Maker

GameMaker is a development tool for making 2D games, used by indie developers, professional studios, and educators worldwide. Users can create games for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, HTML5, Xbox, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.

Remember to check with your local authority data security team/officer before registering any learners as users.

Explore tutorials using this link – Learn How To Develop Games 

Find out more about the Game Maker Education license with this link – Teaching Using Game Design 

microsoft make code arcade

Microsoft MakeCode Arcade is a free online learn-to-code platform where anyone can build games.

Remember to check with your local authority data security team/officer before registering any learners as users.

Find out more about MakeCode Educator guides using this link – MakeCode Arcade Educator Page

esports

Esports

go to the Games in Education page

This section is home to information, resources and links to esports in Scottish education.

Esports is competitive video-gaming. There are now huge competitions and events organised around these games and this is often spoken about as much as the actual game playing in the esports industry. There is a growing number of countries that recognise, and treat, esports as a sport. 

 

YouTube player

Mark McCready of Scottish Esports recently provided this update on esports in education, covering:

  • Scottish Esports Education landscape
  • What are the pathways and organisations they can work with locally for engagement
  • The new HNC ESports being developed

Esports organisations and competitions

Scottish Esports

Digital Playhouse (UKIE) esports

Esports learning resources and courses

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) offers esports qualificaitons at level 4, level 5 and level 6.

The YMCA delivers the HP Gaming Garage programme

glasgow school of art open day

Glasgow School of Art Open House at The School of Innovation + Technology, Sat 14 Dec 2024 at 13:00

Open House at The School of Innovation + Technology – Glasgow School of Art, Sat 14 Dec 2024 at 13:00

Come and join our creative community for a taste of studio life, speak to students + staff and get an insight into your time at the GSA.

Find our more and sign up using this Eventbrite link

 

 

The School of Innovation and Technology(SIT) invite you to an open studios event at the Glasgow Campus.

Book for this event to tour the SIT facilities and studios and meet with programme staff and current students and experience just a bit of our studio culture.

 

Please note this event is for Undergraduate Programmes within the School of Innovation and Technology only.

Highlights include: Undergraduate Study in SIT – Sound, Games & 3D, 13:00-15:30

Come and learn more about our undergraduate programmes in sound, games, VR and 3D modelling at The Glasgow School of Art’s School of Innovation & Technology and see our new studios in Glasgow’s city centre. There will be an opportunity to meet and chat with tutors, learn about the programmes and see (and experience!) a range of student work in sound, virtual reality, and more.

• 13:00 Welcome talk – UG study

• 13:30 Talks and tours:

o Studying BDes Sound for the Moving Image

o Studying BSc Immersive Systems Design (Games & VR and 3D Modelling)

Sign up using this Eventbrite link

learn to code scratch with jp morgan

Teach the Teacher training – Scratch coding by JP Morgan

What is Teach the Teacher?  

Teach the Teacher is part of the pro bono STEM program offered by JP Morgan. This runs alongside other initiatives to train primary school children to do basic coding in a ‘language’ called Scratch. 

 

What is the learning intention of Teach the Teacher? 

To upscale primary school teachers and to give them the skills (and more importantly the confidence) to be able to run Scratch code club sessions for pupils.  

 

Are there any prerequisites? 
No prior coding knowledge required. 

Access to:  

  • A device that has internet connectivity to run Scratch and access the web resources  
  • A reliable internet connection for video presentation or content sharing (virtual only) 

 

What is the structure of the program?  
There are currently 2 standard offerings available: 

  • Virtual online (6 week block)  – 6 x 1 hour sessions  
  • In-person (3 week block) – 3 x 2 hour sessions  

 

Benefits  

  • Equips teacher with basic skills required to run code clubs and complete basic Scratch lessons independently  
  • Virtual or on-site  
  • Allows the teacher to share knowledge and train colleagues in the primary school  
  • No experience necessary 

 

If you would like to register your primary school and either of the offered programs then please contact:
jpmc.stem.primary.support@jpmorgan.com 

 

About JP Morgan 

As well as being a global leader in financial services, JP Morgan is one of the world’s biggest technology-driven companies. JP Morgan offer a number of volunteer-led programs to help increase pupils’ interest and knowledge in STEM subjects through basic introduction to coding. 

These sessions are offered virtually and in-person with an ultimate objective to help primary schools to continue their learning journey on these topics after the program is complete.  

tackling digital exclusion

Recommended reading: Tackling Digital Exclusion – Audit Scotland

This blog post is a summary of key points in Audit Scotland’s report that might be useful for educational settings, such as schools, nurseries and local authorities to consider.

Read the full report with this link Tackling digital exclusion (audit.scot).

 

“Digital exclusion is strongly associated with poverty and people with certain protected characteristics.” 

Anyone working with groups that may be at-risk of digital exclusion should consider the potential barriers in place to them accessing and using such technology. If there are analogue alternatives, these should be as effective and readily available, along with support, training and access provision for people to engage with them.

 
Where this is not the case, the Royal Society (2022) talk about the double loop of poverty where analogue factors are entrenched by digital ones to doubly affect those at risk of exclusion.

 

 

Some of the impacts of digital exclusion that are more likely to surface in education are: 

  • making it harder to access services and information  
  • making it more difficult for parents to engage with children’s education  
  • incurring debts or being unable to make payments if they lack the skills and confidence to use online payment methods.

 

Some of these, more than others, relate directly to rights of individuals, including: 

  • Right to receive and impart information 
  • Right to education 

Many schools and local authorities already have digital leaders or champions, and I imagine that ensuring these families are not digitally excluded is high on the list of school improvement actions anywhere digital is included. 

 

 

The report also calls for a Scottish minimum digital living standard (MDLS) which “includes, but is more than, having accessible internet, adequate equipment, and the skills, knowledge and support people need. It is about being able to communicate, connect and engage with opportunities safely and with confidence.” 

 

This is an aspect we have tried to factor in our recent guidance on digital skills for learners and teachers. Ideally, this guidance will support local authorities and educational settings to develop such a set of skills and knowledge in learners with the aim of reducing digital exclusion from not having them. 

 

The last point that really resonated for education was ‘how poorly designed digital services without useable alternatives can lead to barriers to accessing services and have a negative impact on vulnerable people.’ 

Where apps are used to communicate learning to families on a regular basis – how effective are the non-app alternatives? How does a paper copy compare to video or verbal media shared on apps? Does the school or nursery make this feedback more equitable for families that need it? Perhaps in-person sharing on a regular basis?

If they don’t factor and mitigate this effectively, we risk having a ‘part of the population … unseen or unheard [as] the pace of technological change continues’. 

 

 

Digital Play and Technologies in The Early Years

I am currently reading my way through Digital Play Technologies in The Early Years (Stephen, C., Brooker, L., Oberhuemer, P. and Parker-Rees, R. (2020) Digital Play and Technologies in the Early Years. Paperback. Published: 30 September 2020.) and have selected a chapter to share with you. Chapter 5: Digital Play as a means to develop children’s literacy and power in the Swedish preschool.  Marklund, Leif & Dunkels, Elza. (2016). Digital play as a means to develop children’s literacy and power in the Swedish preschool. Early Years. 36. 10.1080/09575146.2016.1181608.

(PDF) Digital play as a means to develop children’s literacy and power in the Swedish preschool (researchgate.net)

Abstract.

This paper presents different angles on the subject of digital play as a means to develop children’s literacy and power, using an online ethnographical study of Swedish preschool teachers’ discussions in informal online forums. Question posts (n = 239) were analysed using the Technological Pedagogical Knowledge framework and the Caring, Nurturing and Teaching framework, with the aim of understanding how teachers intended to support children’s literacy development with tablets. Literacy development can be understood as a social practice that needs to develop along with changes in society’s demands on citizens. The results presented indicate that school subject oriented skills are predominantly present in the mind-set of these preschool teachers. When digital play is increasingly used for pedagogical purposes in preschools, that also means that preschools have expanded their opportunities to work with children’s literacy development. For preschool teachers, it is important to discuss how literacy development can be supported in a contemporary media landscape.

This study examines Swedish preschool teachers online discussions about how they use digital play to support children’s literacy development.

The paper highlights that literacy is defined as a social practice that needs to develop alongside changes in society (societies demands on literacy), therefore children should have exposure to traditional print literacy and multimodal types of literacy via digital formats.

The report recognises some educators are not yet positioning themselves and their practice alongside the changes in society and explains that media panic may be the reason preventing involvement in digital play.

Another barrier educators may face is conflict between the balance of stepping back and stepping in to support children’s learning. Children are considered as competent, requiring little adult intervention, however when technology is present educators feel a need to supervise and support.

The paper suggests that perhaps what educators perceive as a decline in play due to changes in society and increased engagement with digital technologies is in fact

“a new way of playing, aligned with contemporary society but misaligned with our current conceptions on play and learning.” (Edwards 2014)

Like many other current studies on the digital play in early childhood, this report unpicks the consumer/creator discourse and the difference between open and closed apps and most importantly the role of the adult in supporting children’s literacy development;

 “Thus, preschool teachers may help improve literacy development among children who engage in digital play, if they decide to engage in dialogues with these children, instead of treating games as the children’s own arena for actions.” (Gee 201; Lafton 2012).

  • What are your thoughts? Do you agree literacy development can be understood as a  social practice and needs to develop along with changes in society’s demands on citizens.
  • What might the “media panic” be in regards to? Children’s wellbeing; screen time, lack of physical play, internet safety and cyber security?
  • Do you know the difference between closed apps and open (ended) apps?
  • How do you use digital play to support language development and what is your role, do you step in or step back?

Feel free to share your thoughts via this Microsoft Form

Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge

cyber 9 12 strategy challenge

This module has primarily been developed to further enhance the skills of the learners to take part in, for example, cyber competitions and challenges including the Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge. 

 

Participants will explore the challenges a country may have when dealing with a national cyber security incident from a non-technical, political, economic social and legal perspective.  

Participants will also develop their public speaking and presentation skills to discuss cyber security issues at the highest decision-making levels.  

 

The module is intended for school pupils, university and college students and can be adapted to suit the level of learners. 

go to CyberFirst page

YouTube player

Lesson plans and course overview – cyber 9/12 strategy challenge overview

 

cyber 9 12 strategy challenge week 1
cyber 9 12 strategy challenge week 2
cyber 9 12 strategy challenge week 3
cyber 9 12 strategy challenge week 4

cyber 9 12 strategy challenge week 4

Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge WEEK 4: Bringing it all together – Cyber Resilience Policy Development 

go to 9/12 home page

 

In this final week of the Module, participants will explore how non-technical cyber security considerations form the foundation of national and international policy solutions. Cyber security and cyber resilience cannot be achieved by technical means alone. As weeks 1, 2 and 3 of this Module have shown, there are political, economic, social, legal and increasingly environmental considerations to take into account in addition to the technical (the PESTLE approach to cyber security). Effective policy must, if possible, draw together these elements as they are each important parts of wider solutions. 

 

In this unit, students will explore what makes effective policy in the cyber context when dealing with major cyber incidents targeting critical national infrastructure. Crucial to this is the ability to combine and address different thematic areas and create succinct policy recommendations that still achieve particular goals and make states resilient to cyber incidents. 

Learning outcomes

By the end of Week 4, students will have:

  1. Brought together the previous three weeks learning to develop holistic policy solutions.
  2. Understood and made aware of how technology, law and (inter)national politics interact.
  3. Analysed a major cyber incident from a holistic, non-technical perspective.
  4. Confidently provided, recommended and discussed holistic cyber resilience policy solutions which do not solely rely on technical tools.
  5. Navigated the complexities of reserved (Westminster) and devolved (Holyrood) areas of policy in relation to cyber issues

1. Watch this video

YouTube player

2. Read these

 

 

Government Policy Snapshots. A collection of analyses of national government cyber security strategies conducted by Senior Researchers at ETH Zurich’s Centre for Security Studies

 

Dr R Dewar and E. Templeton, The Impact of Regulatory Frameworks on the global Digital Communications Industry, 2020, Geneva Centre for Security Policy

 An academic login may be required to access these.

 

 

3. Group activities

In your groups, discuss how to develop holistic policy solutions incorporating, or at least acknowledging and addressing, the political, economic, social, technical, legal and environmental aspects of cyber security

 

In your groups, prepare a 10minute presentation addressing the unit’s three questions:

Provide 3 policy recommendations to help Scotland be more resilient against Stuxnet-style operations. Think about:

  1. The way Stuxnet entered the target system.
  2. The impact of the operation if successful.
  3. Explain and support your choices.
  4. Set out the cross-government (UK and Scotland) policy relationships that need to be considered?
4. Assessment

10-minute oral presentation and feedback from module leader 

cyber 9 12 strategy challenge week 3

Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge WEEK 3: “An attack, or not an attack: that is the question” – Cyber Incidents and international law

go to 9/12 home page

 

In this unit students will be introduced to one of the most complex areas of cyber security: its relationship with international law, specifically the International Laws of Armed Conflict and International Humanitarian Law. 

 

Many major cyber incidents, such as Stuxnet, do not explicitly, categorically or obviously breach international law. Making a case is problematic and requires careful consideration and argument. In this unit, students will receive an introduction to international law, how it can be applied to major cyber incidents, and what states can do should they experience one.  

 

In all of the above, the key skill participants will gain is arguing for and making a case for a particular view, even when there is no clear-cut right or wrong answer. The key skill is creating and presenting a particular case to decision-makers. 

 

One of the critical areas to be covered in this section is the complex relationship between reserved and devolved responsibilities when responding to cyber incidents. While these policy areas are clearly separated between the UK Government (which retains cyber security policy) and the Scottish Government (which is concerned about the impact of a cyber incident on Scotland and its people), the nature of cyber incidents is such that the distinction between devolved and reserved areas is blurred. How policy- and decision-makers navigate these complexities is increasingly important in today’s digitalized world. 

Learning outcomes

By the end of Week 3, students will have:

 

  1. Explored the Laws of Armed Conflict (LOAC) and International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and set out basic foundations for these bodies of law to increase awareness of these legal instruments.
  2. Explored the complex natured relationship cyber security and resilience has with IHL and LOAC by examining a major cyber incident (Stuxnet) the legal position.
  3. Discussed and explained with increased confidence how cyber incidents relate to international law, acknowledging the complex nature of that relationship and the fact that the students are not trained lawyers.

1. Watch this video

YouTube player

2. Read these

 

 

Prof M Schmitt, “Attack” as a term of art in International Law: the cyber operations context 

Jansons Janis, Was Stuxnet an act of war? 

An academic login may be required to access these.

3. Group activities

In your groups, discuss how, or if, international law can be applied to cyber incidents.

 

In your groups, prepare a 10minute presentation addressing the unit’s four questions:

  1. In your opinion, can major cyber incidents breach International Law? Explain your answer using Stuxnet as an example.
  2. What elements of International Law are relevant to the discussion of major cyber incidents such as Stuxnet?
  3. Who or what policies and enforces the international laws relevant to your answers to Questions 1 and 2?
  4. Which policy areas that are devolved to Scotland could be impacted by a cyber incident?
4. Assessment

10-minute oral presentation and feedback from module leader