Physical Computing and Project Based Learning for all

Claire and Sam had been attending our RIG meetings. After one session the suggestion was made: I could train to become a CAS Master Teacher after which our RIG meetings could be classed as CAS Hub meetings.

This provided a huge boost to our support and widened the network exponentially. CAS then agreed to allow our RIG meetings to be held at the CAS HQ in North Star, Swindon.

When in 2017 I commenced my NPQH studies I could hand over the running of the RIG to James, secure in the knowledge that he had CAS behind him too.

We still meet termly – everyone is welcome.

I was invited to become a Leading Teacher for ICT (as it was) in 2010 then an SLE (Specialist Leader of Education) for Computing (as it became) in 2013. In the meantime I set about creating a group who could share good practice around the use of technology in schools. There had been network meetings led by a LA employee called Anna but when that role was discontinued there was a danger of Swindon not having any support for computer teaching.

I formed the Research and Innovation Group for Computing. The Swindon Teaching School, especially David Hughston, were a great support from the outset. As an SLE for the STS I could use their facility at Drove to host gatherings. With James and Eve I set about creating a Scheme of Work to provide ideas for teaching the new Computing curriculum. I persuaded Mike, the Head of Goddard to host a Scheme of Work launch day for which we had 47 attendees. Our subsequent Scheme of Work was adopted by many Swindon Primaries as a go-to text.

To widen the provenance of our RIG beyond the Swindon Teaching School, I formed the SSCP: The Swindon Schools Computing Partnership. In these years the RIG moved between many Swindon schools who agreed to host us. I built the www.swindonrig.net website and James and I created the Cartoon Assessment System.

We met every term, had many visiting speakers, shared what we knew and attendance was always free of charge.

Over time a network developed that is now established in Swindon and the surrounding area. What we needed was a new permanent base.

The projectors, and subsequently the Clevertouch smart boards beamed out in front of my class imagery and interactivity in support of every subject that we studied. Although my focus was on learning learning, as it were, and of exploring how schools were expected to teach tech, I couldn’t help but bring aspects of technology-assisted learning into every subject, and most lessons. There were two outcomes: I found myself enjoying teaching all subjects (ok, with the notable exception of PE!) and I came to realise how very cross-curricular the act (soon to be named the subject) of computing actually was.

To my surprise – almost my consternation – I realised how few teachers in Swindon were applying tech to their lessons as a matter of course. It occurred to me that perhaps I could share some of what I was doing.

On graduating Bath Spa in ’06 and having met my future wife Rachel there I felt on top of the world!

I nearly didn’t apply for the job at Bishopstone but Rachel and I were both going for schools in Swindon and I had no idea what 0.6 meant (2 days off a week for the whole first year, it later transpired!)

Sue was the ultimate Headteacher. She had been an excellent teacher before stepping up to become an extraordinary- and highly respected Headteacher of the same school. The staff were full of character and flair – the scope for teaching what we knew to be interesting for the children (rather than what had been pre-defined by an homogeneous entity as being appropriate), was immense: we tackled the business of learning in our own way and, as far as possible, as a team. We were a small school but with room for big ideas.

There had recently been built a new ICT Suite and there was an opportunity to take over the leadership of that subject. Although technically an English specialist (having studied Middle Years PGCE) – it was clear from the outset that knowing how to get the most from computers was going to be an in-demand skill and one that it would be prudent to explore – hardly a hardship!

With a  whopping 400 Mhz PII (twin 10GBs) Bertha whirred into life in 1999. I nested Bertha in The Studio – a re-imagining of my Dad’s 1970s shipping office. The buoyant blue that Dad had painted each length of wood panelling became dynamic orange and lusty red; his shipping manifest board took on a new role detailing Microsoft Office functionality and Bertha was joined by patch-panel to a hotch-potch of other fine-de-siecle tech.

Flickernet was fun on so many fronts: renovating and extending the Studio; running a business; sharing the emerging world of computing with those who may well otherwise have been left behind; but above all: teaching.

After two years it was time to raise my game: I set off to England to gain a qualification in teaching. If I was going to deliver the best possible learning experience for my clients then it was time to learn properly how to be a teacher.

Programming appealed to me as soon as I was shown BASIC on a BBC at the back of the classroom, then via the Vtech ‘Pre-Computer 1000’ that I was given in Christmas 1990. It had a single line of dot matrix screen which scrolled questions but the best feature was simple BASIC functionality – which was great fun to explore.

Only thing was that there was no way to save the file – it was in volatile RAM that was lost as soon as the power button was pressed. This led to my first Program notebook – a tradition that I continue today for Python.

Kinder Surprise eggs have it all: the anticipation , the chocolate and of course the fun of building the toy inside (unless it is a disappointing figurine inside!) I gathered the assorted parts together from many eggs (and much chocolate later) in a tin which has recently turned up. These Mad Max looking creations are what happens when a ten year old is let loose with UHU glue and a tin of jumbled together K/S parts!

From an early age I have seen the benefit of a dedicated “Maker Space”. Whereas the trend these days seems to be towards a themed and sometimes rather constrained approach to building projects – a little chaos can go a long way to widening the possibilities. The phrase “App Smashing” is given to the technique of using multiple applications to achieve a desired outcome in ICT. I think a similar approach of blending and overlapping a wild juxta-position of constructing techniques can trigger creations that feel more limitless.

Sammy left many curious contraptions to me when he passed away in 2002. He had reached his 90s despite having raced trains in a Mini Cooper; survived a car-crash by holding on to the passenger seat so hard that he took it with him through the front window; jumped onto an out-of-control lorry that was jack-knifing its way over ice; and been a motorbike dispatch rider for the B-Specials in WW II.

This one is a chimney cleaner: lowered down from the roof directly into the chimney for the bolts to scrape away excess soot. I remember watching Sammy do it. Only his chain-saw gymnastics were more terrifying, yet oddly life-affirming.

These pictures, taken on the Wrist Camera, were from Sammy’s Garage. Sammy was a very dear friend  who invented fearlessly and was blessed with the gift of spotting Just The Thing that he needed from within a maelstrom of spare parts and surplus fittings. He would use a long screw to stir up the contents of assorted tins from which would emerge an improbably apt candidate to be declared Just The Thing.

In later years (C2001) I relished taking the 16kb black and white images that the Wrist Camera could produce. I registered www.watchmyday.net then used an uploading script built by a friend to beam these little postcards out. They are comically dark and indistinct now but they capture a moment in time for me – I will create a gallery for them up here soon.

The thing about boarding school is the lack of having your own private space (apart from a tuck box with, let’s say, a false bottom and number coded padlock..) For me the humble watch became a constant companion. From the early Butler Solar Powered watch that had been my Grandfather’s (worn and worn out by the time I was eight!)  via this radio watch and a range of data bank Casios, they each lent a reassuring presence – and kept me one step ahead of when I was meant to be on the games pitches.

The Personal Alarm System was born!

I remember showing it to Dad and trying to summarise what a jumble of wires were inside the switch box.

(The switch box had been a joyous find nestled in the driver’s cab of a bus which had come to rest in a local scrapyard).

He must have winced when he saw the emergency ‘short’ feature – which literally short-circuited everything in case it wouldn’t stop!

For reasons that still elude me I was predisposed to secure my living environment. I loved a good security setup and having wired up my bedroom in ways that I will detail at another time – the idea must have come to me that to secure any environment – and to do it from a box – would be cool.

Where I grew up there was a seemingly never-ending supply of Interesting Old Bits. During long Summer Holidays from boarding school I would make it my business to make. Literally nothing made me happier than the sheer act of making. This box appeared mid-rummage.