**Updated**
Here is a video recording of the presentation. Thanks, audience!
Scroll down below for learning resources.

Also, much thanks to the statistics and research from code.org and other sources (listed in the speakers notes). Jambo on YouTube for the coding video and expectation vs. reality idea.





Hi folks!

In support of a little talk I'll be bumbling through during our whole-school staff PD day, I compiled a list of coding resources for teachers who are interested in learning a little bit about computer programming.

Presentation

Here's the presentation, including speaker's notes and citations if you're interested:



-------------------------------------

Beginner Coding Resources

If you are in search of ideas for how to use coding in your classroom for authentic, transferable learning that holds huge potential for the future of our students, maybe something from this list can help you out. No experience required.

I'm A Teacher, Not a Programmer! (Pre-made curricula and offline activites)

Edutopia: 3 Steps to becoming A Coding Teacher by Grant Smith
Rated resource lists, standards-aligned learning expectations, and even learning space considerations. A great place to start for teachers with no coding experience who aren't ready to jump into apps and games straight away.

K12CS.org
More than just programming, this non-profit has developed a full set of high level guidelines and practices modeled after those we might find in a traditional classroom. Not very specific, but great for getting ideas about how your normal classroom activities relate to coding projects and computational thinking.

Code.org - A full computer science curriculum for K-12 students and professional learning resources for teachers as well, this non-profit organization exists to spread awareness about the value of code in our children's future. Responsible for organizing the annual "Hour of Code" event.


I Learn by Doing. Got Any Video Lessons?

Khan Academy
From introductory computer programming basics to scripting for scientific research or drawing for web design, Khan Academy is a great place to start as a beginner who wants to learn to code.

Unity3D
Want to learn game design as well as coding, or perhaps involve some 3D design or animation?
This is my current learning and the many game design tutorial videos are fannnnntastic. This FREE real world tool has helped create many world famous games in 2017!

Skillshare.com
Not free, but they have a robust selection of programming tutorials for beginners that are focused on specific languages and areas, for example, Science teachers may be interested in PYTHON, the language most prevalent in scientific research applications.

I Just Want a Fun Project!

Scratch.mit.edu - Want to teach primary students how to make their own game or animated story? You need to make one yourself first, and you'll be surprised how easy it is to follow these detailed step-by-step guides that are fun and easy

TinkerCAD Circuits -  Arduino
Interested in electronics, and the hardware/robotics side of coding? Try the Arduino simulations on TinkerCAD and then perhaps move to using a real Arduino!

I Need To Get Physical (Robots/Electronics)
Don't want to spend all your time looking at a computer screen? These electronics and robotics kits vary in expense but all offer coding experience with a hardware connection and tons of online tutorials to help learn how to use them.

Arduino (ISPP Secondary has a class set of these!) ($25-$150)

Lego Ev3 Robotics (After school robotics club anyone?) ($350-$500)

I Want to Fix the Computer Science Gender Gap!

Made With Code by Google

-----------------------------------------

I sincerely hope these resources can help you get started as a coding teacher!
-M

VIDEO: Parent's Guide to YouTube (2017)

ISPP Students and YouTube Use

Students from Grade 1 to Grade 5 were asked to complete a short survey regarding their use of YouTube outside of school. Grade 1 and 2 students were guided through the questions by teachers. All students were encouraged to provide honest answers with no repercussions for identifying choices or behaviour discouraged or prohibited at school.

With 54% of student respondents watching videos five or more days a week, YouTube clearly plays a major role in the entertainment choices of students at ISPP. Most content appears to be fine (if a bit silly or weird). Many popular channels feature educational, DIY or other productive content. Following is a summary of data collected from 257 elementary student respondents to a survey regarding their use of YouTube. All answers were provided independently by students, and may include all the biases and irregularities that go along with that.

TOP 10 Most popular YouTube channels by ISPP survey respondents (257 responses):

Out of a total 197 YouTube channels recommended by 257 elementary survey respondents, these received the most mentions. Though some of these channels may contain risque content targeted at teens and older, the creators mostly self-censor to reach a wider audience. Ten minute reviews of each only identified one channel containing harsh language, violence and aggression that was clearly inappropriate for elementary school children (#6, pewdiepie). If you investigate further, please send your opinions and reviews to the technology coach, or leave a comment below.



Notably, our school accounts do not support YouTube, so this requires a private email address to create. Many parents ask about this during conferences. It's not currently an option in Cambodia, but should this change in the future the school will review our policy to see if this is the best option for protecting our kids.

Students are encouraged to use their school accounts as much as possible, but it's more child-appropriate, secure and accountable to use a private account with YouTube than no account at all.

Outside of school, a private account is necessary to use restricted mode (formerly safe mode), which removes all content tagged inappropriate for kids by YouTube.

Please see the Parent’s Guide to YouTube video for more information.

Phone/ iPad or other tablet / Laptop or Desktop computer / TV

Most students watch YouTube on a laptop or desktop computer, with iPads and tablets coming in a close second. Note that students were able to select more than one device here, and many students have access to more than one device for consuming video. This has implications for parental controls such as restricted mode, which require an account to be signed in, and identifies a clear weakness in website filtering or blocking software unless it can be consistently applied across all devices the child uses. It may be interesting to note the trend that younger children prefer tablet and phone devices, with older children preferring laptops or desktop computers.


These categories were taken from YouTube analytics and Common Sense Media studies of the most popular genres of YouTube videos.

• "Let's play" videos (playing videogames with commentary) were by far the most popular category of video, highly popular with Grades 1-3 where they often do not have access to the games themselves.
• "Challenges" were a big trend popular with grades 2-5. Flash mobs, mannequin challenge and bottle flip are examples of these.
• Fashion and cosmetics, a huge category for YouTube and teens, was oddly only popular in Grade 3 (and a couple G5s).
• vLogs (video blogs) were non-existent in G1/G2, but very popular in G3+. This category is worth note because of the personal nature of the videos and likelihood of these YouTubers being role models for kids. This category often blends with Fashion and Cosmetics, where YouTube personalities may endorse products or discuss their personal lifestyle choices (including fashion). May include examples from all other categories.
• Educational (how-to) videos were very popular with 4th and 5th graders, but almost non-existent below that.
• Music was popular in all grades, Funny/Silly stuff in all grades.

The 9.7% here that are publishing on YouTube without parental help are 25 students made up of 5th graders (11), 4th graders (8), and 3rd graders (6). Though this is a minority, it indicates an increased need for digital citizenship and privacy conversations regarding online publishing in these grade levels.
Please see the Parent’s Guide to YouTube video for more information on publishing and privacy.

Resources

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you so much for reading, watching, and being engaged with what your children are doing online.

It’s taken me a few months to complete this project, and I appreciate the patience of those who’ve been discussing it with me this whole time. I hope the time spent on research and in my own efforts to better understand our students will be valuable to everyone! Our students, our children, are living in a world with unprecedented access to media. It is our responsibility to become a part of that.

I welcome feedback, suggestions, your own experience and comments via ISPP email or comments here on the blog.

Yours truly,

Matt
PYP Technology Coach

Let's talk about growth.

Personal growth, professional growth, becoming lifelong learners. These things are crucial to our time. 

Technology in our schools and workplaces has become a norm, rather than an exception, within the past 25 years. As the pace of change increases with new opportunities, tools, and methods of learning, so does our expectation for performance and development. The time of being a content-matter expert appears to be shifting toward a time of learning experts, with the skills of inquiry, experimentation, adaptation and collaboration providing the foundation for constantly changing personal and career expectations. 

To affect change, develop our communities and ourselves, one needs to be constantly growing. To be constantly growing, we need to be constantly learning.

These "learning skills" are sometimes considered as technology-related or as aspects of information literacy, with prospective job descriptions to match. With current definitions, a huge portion of future jobs will be labeled as "technology" jobs simply because they use tools that require constant evolution and growth. Technology is one of the leading proponents of new learner culture, providing efficacy tools and access to information on previously unprecedented levels. Let me share this infographic (again):

We're going to be making and playing games, learning about how computer programs work and respecting the fact that code exists all around us: online and off, in our phones, cars, clocks, and microwaves, from games to calculators, the code is there... and schools are barely studying it!

Learning the basics of how computer programming works is actually super easy... and it makes for great team learning between friends and families. At our Hour of Code events we'll have everything you need to help you get started, but feel free to bring your own computer or program if you like! This is an all ages event and you're most welcome to bring friends, those who complete the hour will earn a certificate and get a great start to understanding how all these apps and websites actually work.

We have two events:
Tuesday, December 9th, Elementary campus and Thursday, December 11th, Secondary campus.

Sign up here, and I'll see you there!

There's nothing quite so inspiring as being surrounded by innovators, all talking about something you love.

The past four days have been a whirlwind of sorts, as the intrepid Ms. Chelsea Woods and I leaped into the maelstrom of discussion that circulates around the best educational technology event in Asia: Learning 2.0. We were there with education and tech leaders from loads of international schools to attend sessions ranging from school culture to technical tools, and everything in between.

The theme of this years event?

Empowering your community.

And if you're reading this now, that means you.

Although this has long been our philosophy in-house, over the next month ISPP’s tech team will be extending our reach to help foster growth and empowerment of the learning community here in Cambodia.

NEXT WEEKEND (October 10th and 11th) Several of our staff will be offering sessions at an community lead event called teKHin2014, a collaboration among teachers and tech leaders of local international schools to share tools, techniques and lesson ideas involving educational technology. If you’re looking for something new to try out with a class or at home, this is going to be a great event with many sessions aimed at absolute beginners as well as the techy folks. We’re talking Blogging, robotics, minecraft, flipped classrooms, 3D printing, animation, Google Apps … and that’s just getting started. Remember, this is not just for teachers, anyone interested is welcome! See the link to register.

October 27th at ISPP Elementary I will be hosting a session for parents on Cyber Awareness to talk about what children are doing with tech, how we can help keep them safe while they’re doing it, and to help start a dialogue between parents about their children’s tech use. You can contact me or the Elementary office for more information.

What would you like to see and learn more about in this age of technology integration, a time where the “real” world and the “digital” world are one and the same?

I hope you’ll join the discussion!

-M