Getting started with Raspberry Pi at The University of Hull - Emma Alexander

The Launch "Getting started with Raspberry Pi" at The University of Hull Posted by Emma Alexander on 18 April 2013

http://academy.bcs.org/blogs/launch-getting-started-raspberry-pi-university-hull

by Emma Alexander BLOGS COMMUNITY BLOGS

This week saw the launch of our ‘Getting started with Raspberry Pi’ event for teachers at the University of Hull in the Department of Computer Science. The launch events enticed nearly 40 teachers and computing systems professionals from over 14 different primary and secondary schools from Hull and all across Yorkshire to learn more about the hardware, its capabilities and different methods of exploitation.

The attendees had a wide range of prior programming experience, and some already had Pi’s but were unsure how to get started and what to do with them. Attendees reported their knowledge and understanding of the technology increased by the end of the session.

The session on ‘Deploying the Pi’ covering issues such as getting it to work, alongside how and where to use it was very well received, and provided a clear grounding for staff to take forward. This was followed by sessions on ‘What is a Raspberry Pi good for’ and ‘Hardware interfacing’. Of most interest was the session delivered entitled ‘Programming on the Pi’ which explored things like Scratch, Python, Minecraft and PyGame.

The session was concluded with a visit to the Hull Immersive Visualization Environment (the Department of Computer Science’s visualization research centre), where attendees experienced samples of research, business and school curriculum oriented data in the 3D immersive auditorium.

Of delight to the staff who supported the launch event was feedback from teachers which included “entertaining and inspiring” and “exactly what I needed”. Input was sought from the teachers and computing professionals into potential areas of focus for the technical workshops to follow, where pupils will be invited along too; it was excellent to allow the attendees the opportunity to shape the programmes future, ensure that the continuous professional development on offer was not only technically challenging and stimulating, but relevant for deployment in a school classroom. The goal for the launch event and workshops is to raise interest and awareness in schools by students of computing, and to empower teachers to deliver excellent content; we feel we are heading in the right direction. So, one side of the room were the Pi’s being showcased doing various cool  things, and on the other side, there were some lovely real raspberry pies for consumption. Emma-Jane Alexander commented that “It has been an exciting week with the launch of the project, and it has been very well received. Ultimately we hope to support the transformation of how computing is delivered in schools, for both the teacher and the learner, and we are very privileged to be able to play a part in that process”.

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