I’ll be running a Processing, workshop at Central Saint Martins for 2 half-day sessions in April, with my colleague from the London Knowledge Lab, Phillip Kent. The workshop is being convened and sponsored by the Design Science Research Group. If you are new to computational visual art and would like to get an introduction, this will be a good chance for you to learn key principles and techniques of programming and artistic visual rendering. Exact dates and costs TBD.
The interactive modular physical computing kits are coming fast and thick these days! Now, in addition to relative newcomers such as Sifteo and LittleBits, along with more familiar kits such as the Bug System, Phidgets, and classics such as LEGO Mindstorms, there’s a new kid in town: Cubelets from Modular Robotics. Unlike other modular cube-shaped pluggables, cubelets don’t come with a screen. And they are very physical, which is not surprising for a project which spun off from Carnegie Mellon.
“Cubelets are magnetic blocks that can be snapped together to make an endless variety of robots with no programming and no wires. You can build robots that drive around on a tabletop, respond to light, sound, and temperature, and have surprisingly lifelike behavior. But instead of programming that behavior, you snap the cubelets together and watch the behavior emerge like with a flock of birds or a swarm of bees.”
The collection of magnetic modular units are made up of three categories of blocks, which represent the three basic elements of physical computing: sensing, “thinking”, and actuating. They join with magnets and, no doubt, a satisfying “click”. Snap them together in a valid configuration and away they go (check out the video with the quirky-accented presenter). Judging by the photograph featuring kids using them, they will be targeted at young learners too. It will be interesting to see if the learning activities created for them will be as thoroughly considered as the engineering for the cubelets themselves.
As usual with hot-off-the-press tech, these are only available for pre-order for $160.00, but I think I’ll get in queue now.
This week, the Guardian has an excellent series on digital literacy (on the heels of Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s harsh criticism of the current state of computer science education in the UK, last August). Industry is not being served and neither are students, in schools or in Higher Education and this is finally starting to get some exposure, though to anyone who is working in teaching and learning computing, this has been apparent for a long time. What might be surprising is how long it has taken the policy makers to figure out that this is a key area for economic growth in the UK. It is just a shame that awareness wasn’t raised long before more rash actions were taken, such as the closure of Becta.
What is to be done about this? There are many answers to this question and it’s one reason that the Guardian series makes for good reading. The series highlights the many aspects of the problem, from shortage of qualified teachers, to obliviousness of ministers, to programmes that don’t produce qualified candidates (apparently 14% of computer science graduates still don’t have a job after 6 months), to offshoring of key skills that industry needs, which I mentioned in this article.
The good news is that with the Eye of Mordor turning its attention to the subject, we might perhaps see more support given for improving both pedagogy and research in Computing education. I have my fingers crossed. If you have a moment, saunter over and get a good look, it will confirm your suspicions and just maybe, you’ll cross your fingers too.
Along with my colleague Yishay Mor, I will be chairing a workshop on Learning Design at the London Knowledge Lab in October. We’ll be investigating several thematic strands in Learning Design, including:
- Theoretical Frameworks
- Tools and Resources
- Practices & Methods
- Representations
Check out the CFP at the workshop website and make your travel plans now. It promises to be a truly engaging event!
I’m very pleased to announce that iBats is now available for download from the iTunes App Store. It’s been about 18 months in the making since I first met with Dr Kate Jones at the Institute of Zoology (IoZ) to flesh out the user requirements and begin the process of creating the application. If you are interested in bats and becoming a “citizen scientist” too, you can check out the IoZ website for the Indicator Bats Programme, register, and download the iPhone or the Android application.
Read the Press Release
Our Taking on the Teenagers project at the London Knowledge Lab aims to increase teenagers’ awareness about energy use. The £1.5M research project was featured on Radio4′s Costing the Earth programme this past week. This is key work in the important problem of starting with young people to raise social awareness of the problems of energy consumption and limited resources and it is good to have a bit of media exposure about it.
This is part of a larger programme about teenagers and energy. Details about the Taking on the Teenagers project start at about 06:45. Listen to the programme on BBC iPlayer
Just finished a really pleasant seminar yesterday at the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the Univeristy of Nottingham. “TEL” in the title refers to Technology enhanced learning. I’ve been trying to unpick the connections between making and hacking and TEL for a while now and appreciate any comments of suggestions in this area.
There’s streaming video on their site and here are the slides:
Sometimes, the ideal little package comes along and you don’t have to do all the hard work fabricating a physical user interace. While working on the Spot-On project at LKL, I found a very nify little “finger torch” that solves the problem of powering up an LED in a small form factor. This little guy’s is perfect for retrofitting with an LD271 infrared emitter, for Wiimote hacking, IR Motion tracking, and generally mucking about moving around infrared sources, for you Johnny Lee fans. This package combines 3 button cells, a switch and an LED into a tight little case with a hook-and-loop strap. Not sure if it’s emitting continuously or in pulses (PWM) but there’s a microcontroller under that resin blob (pic 2), so it seems likely. A little de/re-soldering and, you’ve got yourself a perfect finger-mounted IR pointer!
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