Olivier Smeenk who graduated IB in 2012 has teamed up with his friend Gregory Knauff to develop a beginners kit that allows people to build their own Internet of Things devices. Inspired by the Arduino platform, Ollie and Gregory have created an electronics development platform called SODAQ that allows you to experiment with a huge collection of different sensors and devices. This kit would be ideal for education.
They are now ready for production a promoting the project through a crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter. Olivier kindly asked us to post send this message here hoping to get some support. Please have a look at: http://www.kickstarter.com/
Professional Development:
ECIS Conference Nov 20-24 Amsterdam 2013
The ECIS ICT Committee Pre-Conference IT Strand
with Special Guest Speaker and critical friend: Jeff Utech Thursday Nov. 21, 2013 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ the International School of Amsterdam “A day of sharing, learning and engaging with a rich selection of workshops, panels and hands on sessions for International School Educators ”
Registration for Pre-Conference FULL PROGRAM: ECIS ICT Committee Pre-Conference
The International School Teacher Group is a community of educators working at international schools across the globe.The group was created as a forum for teachers in international schools, and educators interested in teaching abroad to convene and discuss topics such as:
- Sharing instructional strategies
- Integrating instructional technology
- Insights on international teaching
- Questions and concerns about IB, iGCSE etc
- Cross-curricular and cross-continental projects
- A Job board where schools can post open positions
- Advice about future teaching destinations and cultural adjustment
#beyondlaptops mini-conference
Hosted at Yokohama International School, Japan
Save the Date Yokohama International School will be hosting our now annual mini-conference, #beyondlaptops on 17 -19 April 2014.
#beyondlaptops is a participant-driven event, focused on sharing, learning and collaborating with teams from 1:1 international schools around the world, designed to take your discussion beyond just the hardware, toward creating new, relevant and engaging media-rich learning environments.
Please note: in the past YIS has entirely funded this event, however in order to ensure sustainability, this year we will be charging a nominal fee of up to JPY5,000 (~US$50) to help cover the costs of the conference dinner. We are hoping you will be able to join us in April! For questions, please contact Kim Cofino, YIS Technology and Learning Coach: cofinok@yis.ac.jp
Digital Bytes:
This month’s focus is on resources and information on Coding resources
Teaching Coding: Where Do You Start?
https://www.edsurge.com/n/2013-03-13-teaching-coding-where-do-you-start
Why Programming Is The Core Skill Of The 21st Century
Four Reasons Why Kids Should Learn Programming
Why all our kids should be taught how to code
Teach kids programming: A collection of resources
https://medium.com/global-silicon-valley/a2dc04ea9529
Learn to code with these 10 online resources
Helping students crack computer science code
Code for an hour! http://csedweek.org/
MIT App Inventorhttp://appinventor.mit.edu/
Best Programming Languages to Learn in 2013: The Elite Eight
A set of great programing apps suggested by Edutopia
GameStar Mechanic
GameStar Mechanic teaches kids, ages 7-14, to design their own video games.
Scratch
Designed by MIT students and staff in 2003, Scratch is one of the first programming languages we’ve seen that is created specifically for 8-to-16-year-olds. Scratch is now web-based and more accessible.
Tynker
Tynker was built to teach programming. The app features starter lesson plans, classroom management tools, and an online showcase of student-created programs. Lessons are self-paced and simple for students to follow without assistance.
Move the Turtle
Move the Turtle, a gamified way to learn programming procedures.
Hopscotch
Hopscotch looks a lot like Scratch and Tynker and uses similar controls to drag blocks into a workspace, but it only runs on the iPad.
Daisy the Dinosaur
From the makers of Hopscotch, Daisy targets the youngest coders. The interface is similar to Hopscotch but much simpler.
Cargo-Bot
Cargo-Bot is another game that teaches coding skills. On each level, the objective is to move colored crates from one place to another by programming a claw crane to move left or right, and drop or pick up.
Your words, your input…..
Please remember your links, your thoughts, your resources, your conferences/events are important to this blog if you have something you wish to have featured drop me a note jmikton@isp.cz a week before the first day of the month, I will make sure it is featured in our December issue edition.
have a good month
warm regards
John Mikton (Chair of the ECIS ICT Committee)