They came …they kicked ass

… and boy did they kick ass!! The Coder Dojo Conference 2013 took place in Drogheda and Slane Castle last weekend and what a whirlwind it was. Friday night in the Brú Bistro in Drogheda was a great kickstarter for the conference.  People shared their experiences and highlights from Coderdojos across the world with MC for the night Stephen Howell keeping it all moving smoothly.  It was great to get a chance to meet people and start the sharing of ideas in such a relaxed environment.

Saturday morning saw the conference move to Slane Castle and I have to say, from the minute I drove into the castle I was blown away! 

Slane Castle

I think I spent most of the day looking up

Above my head!

The juxtaposition of old and new was commented on by many on the day

They say the devil is in the detail and at DojoCon this was so true.  I loved the details like the polystyrene hashtags …

the lanyards which incorporated the conference programme …

and so much more.   Hats off to all in CoderDojo Drogheda and anyone else who was involved in putting together such a great event

Úna Fox was an inspired choice as MC for the day, her relaxed and witty style was perfect.  Rumour has it she has her eye on the Late Late so watch this space!

The conference kicked off with James Whelton, CoderDojo co-founder, followed by entrepreneur, Jerry Kennelly from tweak.com.  It was great to hear James speak about how CoderDojo has developed and the plans for the future.  Jerry gave a thought provoking presentation reminding us of the many strengths us Irish possess, something we seem to have forgotten along the way!

Before lunch Bill Liao, CoderDojo co-founder, was interviewed by Úna.  During the interview Bill spoke about social inclusion and put forward the idea of a handshake rather than a hand out or a hand up.  With a handshake all parties in the transaction benefit which is so much more powerful.

Running throughout the day there were sessions in the Education, Technology and Running a Dojo streams.  In the first session I went to the ‘Girls Initiative’ session with Rebecca Garcia and Karen O’Connell. It’s good to hear about these initiatives to connect with teenage girls, and encourage them into the STEM areas.  Slides on the session can be found here.  In the second session I went to the ‘Just Code’ panel with Catherine Cronin, Jake Enget and Bernard Kirk.

Next up was Mags Amond’s ‘Putting the children first’ session and as always Mags reminded us of the simple things like clarity of message and that there is much to learn in failing.

In the next session I attended David Cuartielles’ session on ‘Hacking Secondary School. The Hardware Way’.  David is a co-founder of the Arduino platform.  We have some Arduino kits in Limerick and my lot are really enjoying working with them so I was interested to hear some more and David didn’t disappoint.  My son would have been delighted with this

… so maybe it’s best he wasn’t there

I sat on a panel with John Looney and Carina Girvan on ‘Re-Inventing Education’ in the final breakout session of the day.  It was an interesting session and one which has really got me thinking so watch this space for a blog post on some of my thoughts.

I really enjoyed the sessions I went to and from what I heard the other sessions were equally enjoyable.

And so we come to the closing keynote and for this I’ll finish as I started.  Kimberley Bryant delivered the closing keynote.  She came … she kicked ass … and boy did she kick ass!!  It’s not easy to take the floor at 6pm after a long and hectic day.  It’s not easy to take the floor after Lord Henry Mountcharles has regaled your audience with tales of his ancestors. It’s not easy to take the floor after Julie Feeney sang ‘Impossibly Beautiful’ in honour of Úna Fox’s birthday.  But that’s exactly what Kimberley did and in her understated, powerful way she blew us all away!  I connected with Kimberley as she spoke about her motivation to  start Black Girls code, she’s a mother who wanted to give her daughter an opportunity to connect with technology in a meaningful way.

My children were the catalyst for my initial interaction with CoderDojo.  We heard Kimberly talk about the ethos of Black Girls Code

This mirrors so much of what is good about CoderDojo.  I’ll leave you with Kimberley’s closing thoughts and hope they provide as much food for thought for you as they did for me.

The Generation Game

Last Friday we went along to ‘The Generation Game’ family fun day in Dell in Limerick.  The event was organised by the Event Management students in LIT in conjunction with the Limerick CoderDojo.  There was lots to see and do on the day as you can see from the photos

Getting started …

Flama Games

Choice of workshops

Busy workshops

Retro Gaming

PacMan cupcakes

Whack a Politician app

Stephen Howell in action

Games Fleadh winners

Not just coding …

Having too much fun

Well done to the Event Management students and Eugene McDonough for organising a great family day.

Coder Dojo Divas

Last Saturday saw the first Coder Dojo Divas event in the Limerick Coder Dojo.  This event was aimed specifically at girls between 12 and 17 to encourage more girls to get involved.  We’ve noticed in Limerick over the past while that, although we have a healthy balance between girls and boys in the younger age group, we have very few older girls involved.  There has been much talk about encouraging girls to get involved in technology, both inside and outside the CoderDojo community.  Rebecca Garcia from the New York Coder Dojo, convened the first Google+ hangout on this topic on the 4th March, the transcript of which can be found here.

To the best of my knowledge, the Limerick Divas event is only the 3rd such type of event in the CoderDojo community.  The New York and Waterford Coder Dojos have already run sessions targeting teenage girls.  It’s great to see female Coder Dojo mentors like Rebecca Garcia, Jennifer Keane and Karen O’Connell taking the lead on such initiatives.  Karen did a fantastic job of getting the ball rolling in the Limerick Dojo.  Her efforts over the past few weeks saw more than 15 girls turn up for the first Divas event.  A few of the girls had been to the Dojo previously but there were many new faces which was great to see.  I loved how Karen gave a context to girls in technology by referring to the programmers of the world’s first all electronic computer who were female. For more information on these female programmers check out eniacprogrammers.org.

Eniac Programmers

Karen then led us in a great session based on App Inventor.  After a bit of time spent getting the set up sorted the girls worked on a crystal ball app.  It was great to see them working alone and together as they worked out technical issues and got their first app working both on an emulator and an Android device.   As groups they also signed up for the Technovation challenge.

I really enjoyed the session on Saturday and look forward to future Divas events in Limerick.

This week I’m loving … being a mentor at Coder Dojo

I’ve always enjoyed mentoring at Coder Dojo but I have to say I got such a kick out of mentoring at last Saturday’s Limerick Dojo. Eugene had asked me to have a look at networking Scratch for the advanced Scratch group.  Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to scope out what was involved before hand so it was a leap into the unknown when I arrived on Saturday.  Luckily we had a great lesson prepared by Michael Madden from the Athenry Dojo to guide us but given that networking wouldn’t be my forte I was a little apprehensive!

It didn’t help that I couldn’t manage to get my laptop to do what it needed to do – I could have done without the Startup Repair in the middle of it all! but actually once I ditched my own laptop the real fun started I had nothing to refer to so relied on the ninjas to drive the session.  We were having some problems with Wifi in the room we were in – we tried a router which wouldn’t work either and we even resorted to trying iPhone hotspots (thanks Barry for all the help trying to get that sorted). The upshot seemed to be that we needed everyone to be on the same network (lots of learning involved there!!) so we moved bag and baggage to a room where the Wifi was working well.  By this stage we were half way into the Dojo and I wondered if we would manage to make it work in the remaining time.

In the next hour and a half I was reminded again of what I get from being a mentor at Coder Dojo.  The 6 teens led the session figuring out among themselves how to get it working.  All that was needed was the occasional nudge to refocus as they got carried away when they got someone else onto the mesh and into the chat  The icing on the cake for me was that one of those teens was a girl and she was really enjoying being involved in it.  I think all of the adults involved enjoyed being part of the learning experience on the day – so much so that some of the parents who really wanted to get away to watch the rugby stayed until we got it working!  Before they left on Saturday the ninjas were chatting about networked games ideas.  I can’t make it to the Dojo next Saturday but I’m really looking forward to getting back the week after to see what they come up with.

We got it working

Return to Coder Dojo

After a break for the summer the Limerick Coder Dojo begins again next Saturday 8th September.  We’re really looking forward to getting back to Saturday Dojo trips in this house.  It’s almost a year since these Saturday trips began and it’s fair to say that they have changed weekends in our house.  Over the year I’ve also got involved in the Thurles and Nenagh Dojos.  A restart date has yet to be decided for each of these Dojos.

My involvement as a mentor has largely been on the Scratch side so I’ve generally been working with the younger age group.  I love working with them.  Seeing how they go about making their games, and finding their way of achieving what they want to do, is pure gold for me.  I love how they mentor and encourage each other and how they love presenting their work.  If you want to get involved in a Dojo check out the Coder Dojo website to find your local Dojo so you can go along and have a look.

I’m also looking forward to the Coder Dojo conference on the 13th October, a chance to get together with mentors from other Dojos to share what we do and to plan for the future.  The organisers have set up a survey to help get ideas and shape what is discussed at the conference. Have your say here.

ACM Irish Collegiate Programming Competition

Saturday 24th March saw 2 teams from LIT Tipperary travel to UCC for the ACM Irish Collegiate Programming Competition.   “ACM, the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society, delivers resources that advance computing as a science and a profession. ACM provides the computing field’s premier Digital Library and serves its members and the computing profession with leading-edge publications, conferences, and career resources.”  (http://www.acm.org/)   I saw a link to the event a couple of months ago (probably on Twitter) and decided it would be worthwhile for some of our students to get involved.   Teams of up to 3 undergraduate students can enter the competition and on the day teams are given 8 programming problems which they must write code to implement within a four hour timeline.  This year there were approximately 30 teams from Dublin Institute of Technology, University of Limerick, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, NUI Maynooth, University college Cork, Institute of Technology Blanchardstown, Robert Gordon University Aberdeen and Limerick Institute of Technology.  We didn’t feature in the prizes but both teams came out smiling after the 4 hours and seemed to enjoy the competition.  Now that we know what’s involved I’m looking forward to going back next year.  For more details check out http://acm.ucc.ie/.

Isn’t it ironic

In the words of Alanis Morissette “isn’t it ironic” that someone like me has become an advocate for CoderDojo – a coding club for kids.  At the CESI conference last week the question was asked – ‘What was your first computer?’  Many tweets were sent in response but none from me.  In reality my first personal computer was only bought 12 years ago.  I was never the kind of person who tinkered with computers for pleasure.  My introduction to computing came as I studied for my undergraduate Applied Maths degree in University of Limerick and it’s fair to say that it wasn’t exactly love at first sight!! I can still picture my 18 year old self sitting in the lecture theater completely bewildered as John Kinsella introduced us to the joys of Pascal programming  For me it was never about programming – it was always about the Maths.

This view changed when I began my first work placement as part of my college course.  My job involved writing computer programs for real.  I worked for the Local Government Computer Services Board, an organisation that develops ICT services for local authorities. The first system I worked on involved the system for car registration numbers.  The system we currently use for car registration numbers was introduced in 1987 and my task involved validating the different components of the registration number – 2 digit year, 1 or 2 character county/city identifier and a 6 digit number.  Finally I got what it was all about.  Having my code ‘go live’ gave me a real sense of achievement – my code was being used across the country.

I have to say that my view of programming and computing in general changed as a result but I still didn’t really embrace it.  I see many people waiting patiently for the next update of an Operating System, or for new a tool to be launched, like children at Christmas.  That will never be me but I’m ok with that.  So while I’m not what could be considered a techie my approach to technology has definitely changed in the last few years.  For me, it’s about seeing interesting things, that I can use in what I do, or that I can pass on to others.  A few years ago I discovered Scratch - a programming environment that allows you to create games and animations.  What I love about Scratch is that it introduces students to the basics of computer programming and lets them create their own games.  That’s also what has drawn me in to Coderdojo – the club where kids can come to learn how to code and create their own content.

Back to Coder Dojo

Coder Dojo Limerick returned last Saturday 21st January but unfortunately we couldn’t make it so we went back yesterday.  I had followed the tweets from @CoderDojoLim and various mentors last week so I knew that the numbers were up, with 54 attending last week.  I was curious to see if that was just a one off or if the interest would continue this week.  I got to the Downtown Centre for about half 11 and and from 20 to 12 they just kept coming.  We ended up with 61 kids in total and lots of parents too.  It was great to see the parents staying and helping out as needed, and learning themselves along the way.

We had 3 rooms yesterday – two Scratch rooms and a Robocode room.  The new recruits were taken through the basics of Scratch and those returning worked through their own ideas for projects.   It was great to see that many of those who were working on Scratch before Christmas, have now progressed into the senior room coding in Java for Robocode (http://robocode.sourceforge.net/).  Using Scratch as a stepping stone seems to work, particularly for the younger kids, as it gets them comfortable  with programming concepts in a very graphical way which gives them the confidence to progress to programming languages such as Java.  The atmosphere at Coder Dojo is very relaxed and it was great to see all 3 rooms totally engrossed in what they were doing and having fun in the process.  We’re back to Coder Dojo next week and we’re all looking forward to it already.

Coder Dojo’s are springing up in lots of  locations both in Ireland and further afield, so if you’re interested in Coder Dojo, either to attend or to help out check out http://coderdojo.com/.

Connecting students with Maths

As Maths teachers we are constantly telling students that Maths is all around us but do we really show them? Yesterday I read a blog post by Ira Socol titled ‘Changing Gears 2012: maths are creative, maths are not arithmetic‘. This blog post gets at the crux of the problem and has given me plenty to think about as a Maths lecturer first and a Mathematician secondly. For me this order is really crucial – I have come across some amazing mathematicians in my years in the Maths sphere. Many were Maths geniuses but sometimes these people were so comfortable in the Maths zone that they found it difficult to pass on these often complex concepts to others. I will always be a Mathematician by trade but over the years I have become a Maths lecturer first and foremost. I am very aware that it’s not enough for me to understand the concepts, for my students it’s all about whether or not I can help them to understand topics which they will need as Computer Scientists.  I am very conscious that concepts that I just get leave others completely baffled.

A simple example is that I have been dealing with functions with my students over the past few days. I have discovered over a number of years that students often just don’t get functions – they can take a function definition such as f(x) = -4x + 9 and calculate f(3) and f(-2) etc. but when asked to deal with a real application many struggle. Because of the success of my Java coding in Maths class last term I have decided to teach functions through coding this term. We dealt with the above example by writing the Java code to implement it using x and y as variables, reading in x as the input and calculating the output y = -4 * x + 9 and printing out the y values. We then used the test data (f(3) and f(-2)) to make sure that our program worked as it should. We then worked through some basic pay calculations such as ‘A person gets paid €8.50 an hour. They get paid time and a half for any hours worked over 40 hours and double time for any hours over 60. Calculate their pay.’. If we ignore the complication of overtime this is a basic function y = 8.5x. Adding in the overtime complexity is often where students struggle. Seeing the different ways that students see this problem and work through their way of performing the calculation is fascinating. I’m not sure that us Maths teachers do enough of this allowing students to find their own way – there isn’t only one way of doing things and the discussions that follow when exploring these different ways often throw up issues with the approach taken or performance issues associated with a certain approach.

In Ira’s blog post he mentioned Fibonnacci and coincidentally I came across a Youtube clip by Vi Hart about Maths doodling which also referenced Fibonnacci.

I love this clip and it has provided me with an opportunity to talk to my own children about Maths in a way that they can connect with.  We’re going out to buy cauliflower and pineapple at the weekend to count the Fibonnacci spirals contained therein I came across another great clip by Vi Hart called infinity elephants which I’ll be using when I’m teaching infinite sequences in future.

I feel that as a Maths  lecturer I do a good job.  I’ve helped many students to overcome the  genuine terror that they feel towards Maths.  But can I honestly say that I do enough to connect my students with Maths?  I’m not sure that I do but that can change!

Party time at Coder Dojo Limerick

Saturday 17th December was party time at Coder Dojo Limerick. We had more than 20 kids and nearly as many parents on the day. We decided to have the junior and senior groups in the same room as the plan was to connect with the Dublin and Cork Dojos on the day. The vibe on the day was very relaxed – it was decided to go for a much less structured approach than normal – it was a party after all It was great to see the older group continue on work on Robocode under their own initiative. The younger group were happy to happy to just potter about – some working on Scratch projects or checking out what the older group were up to.

We began a Google+ hangout to connect with other Coder Dojos. After a few false starts we connected with the Dojo in Cork. It was great to hear from the Cork group about 3D printing. After a while the aroma of pizzas wafted into the room so all work was abandoned for a while. The pizzas for the party were donated by Dominos Pizza (http://www.dominos.ie/). That wasn’t the end of the donations – smoothies and crisps were kindly given by Wild Orchard (http://www.wildorchard.ie/) and drinks and sweets by Hummingbird Learning Centre (http://www.hummingbirdlearningcentre.com/). As well as the food and drinks donated by local companies, the kids came bearing delicious homemade cookies, crisps, sweets and drinks. I think it’s fair to say that the emphasis on Saturday was more on the food and less on the coding

The Limerick Dojo is taking a break for the holidays and will return on Saturday 21st January 2012. Looking forward to it already