The primary school teacher digital technologies workshop, hosted at the university of Adelaide went well! We had around 50 or so teachers turn up for the event and even a CSER MOOC participant who joined us all the way from Melbourne! The turn out and enthusiasm in the workshop really showed us that teachers are craving some hands-on support and the ability to network with other teachers around this learning area.
The first day involved teachers listening to our guest speaker Barbara Hender discuss the new learning area and her involvement in the curriculum development process, followed by a series of hands-on activities (data, systems, algorithms and computational thinking). The image below is of teachers in the workshop discussing the various lesson ideas and topics (permission was sought for the photo).
The first day involved teachers listening to our guest speaker Barbara Hender discuss the new learning area and her involvement in the curriculum development process, followed by a series of hands-on activities (data, systems, algorithms and computational thinking). The image below is of teachers in the workshop discussing the various lesson ideas and topics (permission was sought for the photo).
The second day, teachers were in the computer lab and we covered visual programming (with Blockly, Scratch) and also explored some ipad and tablet apps that cover visual programming in the early years (Kodu, Lightbot) as well as practicing Binary (CISCO binary game).
The feedback has been generally positive, however, we are currently reviewing how we can improve any future workshops. After hearing one teacher ask what she can do now to try and get teachers in her school on board, I would like to see how (in future courses and through online communities) we can scaffold teachers to go back to their schools and run their own workshop sessions or set up their own resources so that we can increase impact and reach.
While it was difficult to cram all the learning area topics and exciting lesson ideas into the 2 days, we hope that teachers left feeling more comfortable about the new learning area and some valuable connections with fellow teachers! It was great to work with my computer science colleagues on developing and running the workshop and well done to all involved!
The feedback has been generally positive, however, we are currently reviewing how we can improve any future workshops. After hearing one teacher ask what she can do now to try and get teachers in her school on board, I would like to see how (in future courses and through online communities) we can scaffold teachers to go back to their schools and run their own workshop sessions or set up their own resources so that we can increase impact and reach.
While it was difficult to cram all the learning area topics and exciting lesson ideas into the 2 days, we hope that teachers left feeling more comfortable about the new learning area and some valuable connections with fellow teachers! It was great to work with my computer science colleagues on developing and running the workshop and well done to all involved!