Technocamps are delivering the first in a series of free up-skilling workshops next week to give teachers and educators the opportunity to learn, develop and be inspired to take their computer programming skills back to the classroom.
The ‘Technoteach’ launch event, at the Village Hotel & Leisure Club in Swansea (4.30pm, Tuesday, January 17th), will be delivered in partnership with Microsoft® and Greenfoot.
Stuart Ball, Microsoft’s Innovative Teachers Programme Manager and current co-author of the Microsoft UK Teachers blog, will start the event with an interactive workshop on the exciting world of Kodu – a visual programming environment designed to be accessible for young people and made specifically for creating Xbox 360 games.
Neil Brown of the University of Kent will follow with a demonstration showing how the programming environment Greenfoot is used by thousands of institutions around the world. It allows learners to use the full Java programming language to create ‘actors’ which live in ‘worlds’ to build games, simulations, and other graphical programmes.
Director of Technocamps, Professor Faron Moller of Swansea University, believes the Technoteach series of events can play an important role in supporting and enhancing the ICT and Computing taught in schools and colleges. He said:
“Technocamps takes a creative approach to Computing and the teachers’ input is vital. The project does not take the place of teachers but through our Technoteach up-skilling programme we aim to support their development via workshops and events. Our ambition is to create an environment where they can share ideas and best practice with other teachers.”
The event is free for teachers and educators to attend and if you are interested in coming along then please register at www.technocamps.com/events. For more information you can contact the Technocamps Communications team on 01792 606890 or e-mail [email protected].
Technocamps is a £6 million project led by Swansea University in partnership with the Universities of Bangor, Aberystwyth and Glamorgan that provides daily and weekly sessions to young people aged 11-19 on a range of exciting computing-based topics such as programming, robotics, cryptography, animation and much more. Technocamps has the long term goal of encouraging young people to pursue careers in an area that will drive economic growth in Wales.
