Animation
Animation Workshop. Suitable for all ages and abilities
Animation is a simple process of producing many pictures and then putting these into a program that runs them all together.
This workshop uses simple drawing software to help students produce an animated 'gif', which can be used as their profile picture for Facebook or twitter, or an animated icon which can be used like a 'smilie' or emoticon. This is accessible for children with even the smallest artistic talents (or confidence). This technique can also be used to produce a full size animation, especially for more confident artists.
This workshop is run as two 1 hour sessions.
Animation is a simple process of producing many pictures and then putting these into a program that runs them all together.
This workshop uses simple drawing software to help students produce an animated 'gif', which can be used as their profile picture for Facebook or twitter, or an animated icon which can be used like a 'smilie' or emoticon. This is accessible for children with even the smallest artistic talents (or confidence). This technique can also be used to produce a full size animation, especially for more confident artists.
This workshop is run as two 1 hour sessions.
Programming Workshops
I was a programmer for 10 years, but when I started it really frightened me, and I just didn't understand what was happening. Because I had to learn it, I made sure that I really understood what was going on, and that's when I began to find it really exciting.
Now I love the freedom that understanding programming can give you. Most of the time, children use computers in a way that has been fixed by someone else - to run a game or program that does what it's been told. The amazing thing about computers is that we can change what they do for us, and kids find this really exciting. I use fun, often silly examples and projects to illustrate programming concepts in a simple and obvious way.
These workshops also help to fulfil the governments new IT and Mathematics curriculum recommendations.
Scratch. Suitable for ages approx 10 and up. All abilities
In a six week course using the Scratch programming language, a free resource from MIT, I can take children through from the basics to advanced programming skills - by the end they will have produced a simple game with scores which they can upload to the internet.
Because I have programming experience I can guide students through standard programming concepts, which will set them up to learn other programming languages. This can even lead on to using Google/MIT app creator.
Suggested group sizes maximum 10. Run as six, one hour sessions. Here are pictures of an example
Build a Web Page using HTML 5 / CSS. Suitable for ages 11 and up. Recommended for more able students
Web pages are written in a simple coded language, and it's very easy to get to see this, and begin to understand it. Using freely available resources already found on the computer students can begin to write their own web pages from the bottom up.
Although these web pages are not put live on the internet during the workshop, students can put these pages live if they have their own home website, which many do now.
These web pages are not as slick and 'flashy' as pages made by free site generators, but they do give an insight into what is going on when you look at a website, and give more freedom to adapt your own web pages.
This course also introduces the mathematical concept of binary and hexadecimal number base systems, which may be introduced to the new Mathematics KS2 curriculum.
This workshop is run as two 1 hour sessions. Here's an example
Visual Basic. Suitable for ages 13 and up. Recommended for more able students.
Many modern programming languages are object oriented (OO), which means that instructions are written for each 'thing' you put onto the computer screen. It can be very simple to 'break into' and understand. A simplified version of Visual Basic (VBA) can be accessed through Microsoft Office applications, such as Word and Excel.
In this course we will make flashing buttons and silly messages. Although the content is frivolous, the concepts certainly are not, and the students are doing some tough learning underneath it all.
This course introduces some of the key principles for programming with VBA, and any Object Oriented language, and is really useful for any student who is thinking of taking programming further in the future.
This workshop is run as two 1 hour sessions.
Now I love the freedom that understanding programming can give you. Most of the time, children use computers in a way that has been fixed by someone else - to run a game or program that does what it's been told. The amazing thing about computers is that we can change what they do for us, and kids find this really exciting. I use fun, often silly examples and projects to illustrate programming concepts in a simple and obvious way.
These workshops also help to fulfil the governments new IT and Mathematics curriculum recommendations.
Scratch. Suitable for ages approx 10 and up. All abilities
In a six week course using the Scratch programming language, a free resource from MIT, I can take children through from the basics to advanced programming skills - by the end they will have produced a simple game with scores which they can upload to the internet.
Because I have programming experience I can guide students through standard programming concepts, which will set them up to learn other programming languages. This can even lead on to using Google/MIT app creator.
Suggested group sizes maximum 10. Run as six, one hour sessions. Here are pictures of an example
Build a Web Page using HTML 5 / CSS. Suitable for ages 11 and up. Recommended for more able students
Web pages are written in a simple coded language, and it's very easy to get to see this, and begin to understand it. Using freely available resources already found on the computer students can begin to write their own web pages from the bottom up.
Although these web pages are not put live on the internet during the workshop, students can put these pages live if they have their own home website, which many do now.
These web pages are not as slick and 'flashy' as pages made by free site generators, but they do give an insight into what is going on when you look at a website, and give more freedom to adapt your own web pages.
This course also introduces the mathematical concept of binary and hexadecimal number base systems, which may be introduced to the new Mathematics KS2 curriculum.
This workshop is run as two 1 hour sessions. Here's an example
Visual Basic. Suitable for ages 13 and up. Recommended for more able students.
Many modern programming languages are object oriented (OO), which means that instructions are written for each 'thing' you put onto the computer screen. It can be very simple to 'break into' and understand. A simplified version of Visual Basic (VBA) can be accessed through Microsoft Office applications, such as Word and Excel.
In this course we will make flashing buttons and silly messages. Although the content is frivolous, the concepts certainly are not, and the students are doing some tough learning underneath it all.
This course introduces some of the key principles for programming with VBA, and any Object Oriented language, and is really useful for any student who is thinking of taking programming further in the future.
This workshop is run as two 1 hour sessions.