Keith and I are working on a new project for shared computer control and coding. We will be creating a 3D environment in which the controller and the nature of what is controlled, will be open for pairs of pupils to develop together. We are calling it Rainbow Rebellion. More details to follow soon!
For an interactive demo, please click here!
Coming soon – we hope – the WatchBox! This project-based-learning endeavour will offer children the opportunity to build, code and deploy, a wildlife monitoring system of their own. This will be a new way to connect with nature. For further details see here: www.flickernet.net/watchbox
Delighted to announce the start of RRC -with the ever-wonderful St Mary’s Primary School! We are currently exploring which kit works best, and hoping to develop this new club in support of neurodivergent pupils soon. Thank you to Colm and the team for providing every opportunity to explore new technologies with his wonderful class – from Unity-built gaming to the upcoming WatchBox – these pupils are pioneers!
Our pupils at the School of Solutions have almost completed their Arts Award. The opportunity to explore and create a wide range of artistic pieces has seen them venture to Bath for a spine-chilling Gothic experience, record their shared responses, and then develop platform games inspired by what they have seen.
Thank you Keith for leading on this project: sixteen children who were struggling to engage with mainstream school have been shown some new approaches to learning in a reliably calm and pupil-centered environment. We hope to feature a selection of their games online in the new year.
It is with great excitement that we are launching a new project which brings together the common threads of Physical Computing, Project Based Learning and a desire to see technology put to use helping those who most need it.
Along with my colleague Keith Phillips, founder of Digital Writes, I am exploring the possibility of creating a new charity, which would be called Tech To Help. This will seek to find new ways of directing the limitless creativity and enthusiasm of Primary school children to design and build real-world solutions that help people who are facing disadvantage. The site page is here – it is a work in progress!
Thank you Keith, Jeremy and the team for a fun evening at the MoC. We are fortunate to be partners with you in delivering coding sessions and are eager to resume in the Autumn with some extraordinary new physical computing interfaces.! 😉 The many guests in attendance clearly enjoyed their tours of the museum and chatting about the superb range of technology that was featured, from dusty beige to cutting edge!
From climbing trees in the woods of Northern Ireland whilst clutching Raspberry Pi units, to helping children who were on the cusp of quitting school to build adventure game-books, this year has been a real eye-opener to me.
It is a rare privilege to become free to teach what one chooses. I hadn’t dared believe that it could happen, but now Flickernet is full steam ahead – 24 years on from those early Dot Com years – with a new focus called TTH: Tech To Help. This is what I will be up to, going forward – please see the synopsis page for more information or if you would like to be involved.
Keith and I met with Ben, a Director of Digital Writes, and an inspiration. Ben is helping us to explore a new project: using physical computing to enable those with reduced mobility to create their own unique artworks. We aim to feature these artworks in both an online space and through an installation.
We will work with Primary school pupils to analyse the need, design and build a solution, then collaborate with the end user to refine a product that is genuinely helpful for them.
This 30 second video clip shows the three step process that we undertook with both St Mary’s and SoS pupils this week.
Having drawn their game-book characters and shaded with crayon: 1. Stop motion animation; 2. Photoshop cutout; then 3. Adobe Character Animator – at which point they are sprites that can be included into any Unity game creation – in this case fitting the gothic theme!
Thanks to David, Judy, Barbara, Kaye and Kimberly for joining me and Keith this morning for a Starbucks-fuelled brainstorming session!
The graphical look and feel of the book is now taking shape: think sepia -tinted, line-drawn paper edged animations that we hope will capture the imaginations of Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 pupils.
With such a wide range of contributions so far, and many months left of the project remaining (ahead of publication in December), we are going to assemble the core writing team next so that the fundamental story arc is in place ready for coding, drawing and team development.
Zjeremy has a booking for the 10th May at the Chippenham Business Cyber Centre as part of the ICE (Innovate, Collaborate, Educate) gathering. Looking forward to hearing what Zjeremy has to say.!
Full details, including a video discussion featuring a brief overview of Zjeremy’s role in support of physical computing are here: www.flickernet.net/swlep
Our Digital Writes trip to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein House in central Bath was scary fun! The SoS pupils managed the escape room with 30 seconds to spare.
A steam-punk twist to the exhibits added just the right technological twist too!
