Re: [Dfey-nw-discuss] [Fwd: [GeekUp] Teaching Kids: sign-up now]

[Stephen Mount]

Personally, I'd love to have such an opportunity, as the iPhone is  
clearly the mobile application of choice at the minute.

On 6 Dec 2008, at 15:08, Chris Hilliard wrote:

> smeg the iphone, give them all an eee pc (701?) running debian, with a
> decent sized SD card and teach them how to use that - far cheeper and
> more hackable/programable as well as giving them an entirely new
> platform that they can use to do a lot of their other school work on.
>
> idiots seem to rule our schools...
>
> Thanks,
> badspyro
>
> On Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 8:03 PM, Lucy <address@hidden> wrote:
> > Wow, what a stupendous waste of money. All they need is to be given
> > some old classroom pcs, a net connection and a few linux cds.
> >
> > Also, teaching programming is a little more involved that merely
> > explaining what an integer is..
> >
> > Sometimes simplicity is best, but people seem to forget that so
> > easily, especially when shiny things are available.
> >
> >
> > 2008/12/5 Tim Dobson <address@hidden>:
> > > I just spotted this, if anyone feels like commenting on this the  
> > > thread is
> > > available through the google groups web interface here:
> > > http://groups.google.com/group/geekup/browse_thread/thread/2e6abeaedc918972
> > >
> > > Personally (as someone else has said) I find this idea of coding for
> > > iPhones, a really locked down, closed and expensive platform,  
> > > quite a
> > > sobering idea...
> > >
> > > Yyour thoughts?
> > >
> > > Tim
> > >
> > > -------- Original Message --------
> > > Subject: [GeekUp] Teaching Kids: sign-up now
> > > Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 16:10:54 +0000
> > > From: Paul Robinson <address@hidden>
> > > Reply-To: address@hidden
> > > To: GeekUp <address@hidden>
> > >
> > >
> > > I've had a good day for the "let's get kids coding" project.
> > >
> > > Today I met an IT teacher at Newall Green High School near
> > > Wythenshawe. This is an interesting school because whilst this is in
> > > what is considered a relatively economically deprived area, they're
> > > quite well kitted out with equipment. Even better, my contact is  
> > > well
> > > up for this, and they're delivering an ICT diploma which means there
> > > is a group of just under a dozen kids (14-15 years old) who are
> > > enthusiastic about technology.
> > >
> > > Because they've had some money for this ICT diploma there is  
> > > basically
> > > an iPhone for each of the kids (!) and they're doing training up at
> > > the CLC[1] just outside the city centre for one day a week.
> > >
> > > Having had a chat with my contact, it would seem there are two
> > > projects that would be good from the kids' perspectives:
> > >
> > > - Writing an iPhone app (no, I can't believe that's an option  
> > > either)
> > > - Writing a Facebook app (maybe RFacebook to do it with Rails? A PHP
> > > framework?)
> > >
> > > There is obviously some theory that needs to be covered (Q: "Do you
> > > think they'd know what an integer is?" A: "No, no way.."), but I'm
> > > going to probably write that up and they'll have that covered before
> > > these projects start.
> > >
> > > I also think we need to cover more than just code - UX, design, etc.
> > > are all important factors in developing projects, and we want to  
> > > make
> > > this feel as "real" as possible.
> > >
> > > It would be great to get 3-4 developers with experience of one or  
> > > both
> > > of the above areas to get involved to do a whole day (a Thursday)  
> > > some
> > > time in February or March. If nobody else is up for this, I'm on my
> > > own here...
> > >
> > > Also, I'm thinking the only way to make this scale is to "teach the
> > > teachers" with some more advanced material. That would be a separate
> > > session.
> > >
> > > If any of this is something you feel you can commit to, please let  
> > > me
> > > know off-list. I'm going to be giving this project a name, website  
> > > and
> > > a mailing list soon so I want to collect people who want in on the
> > > ground floor.
> > >
> > > [1] http://www.centralmanclc.com/
> > >
> > > --
> > > Paul Robinson
> > >
> > > http://vagueware.com :: address@hidden :: +44 (0) 7740 465746
> > >
> > > Vagueware Limited is registered in England/Wales, number 05700421
> > > Registered Office: 3 Tivoli Place, Ilkley, W. Yorkshire, LS29 8SU
> > > Correspondence:   55 Velvet Court, Granby Row, Manchester, M1 7AB
> > >
> > >
> > >
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> > >
> > > --
> > > www.tdobson.net
> > > ----
> > > If each of us have one object, and we exchange them, then each of us
> > > still has one object.
> > > If each of us have one idea, and we exchange them, then each of us  
> > > now
> > > has two ideas.   -  George Bernard Shaw