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Max Hemingway

~ Musings as I work through life, career and everything.

Max Hemingway

Tag Archives: learning

Knowledge Fit for 2020

01 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by Max Hemingway in 21st Century Human

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Tags

21st Century Human, learning

learnHere we are at the start of 2020 and the time of many New Years resolutions and good intentions. A good proportion of these will be about dieting and getting fit, but what about getting a learning plan for the new year and boosting your knowledge.

Depending on your life, career path this can be something simple as reading more books on a topic or taking some courses to learn a new skill. This is something you dont have to set at the start of the new year and could be set at anytime, however we normally feel more motivated at the start of a year to set these goals.

Keeping to them can be challenging as when we fall back into our normal cycles, however this is something in your control that can be changed so you can have time to do some learning and boost your knowledge.

“Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our actions. The things in our control are by nature free, unrestrained, unhindered; but those not in our control are weak, slavish, restrained, belonging to others. Remember, then, that if you suppose that things which are slavish by nature are also free, and that what belongs to others is your own, then you will be hindered. You will lament, you will be disturbed, and you will find fault both with gods and men. But if you suppose that only to be your own which is your own, and what belongs to others such as it really is, then no one will ever compel you or restrain you. Further, you will find fault with no one or accuse no one. You will do nothing against your will. No one will hurt you, you will have no enemies, and you not be harmed.”

― Epictetus, Enchiridion and Selections from the Discourses

I have written about having a growth mindset in a previous blog which may help you with planning your 2020 learning plan and the infographic helps understand the concept.

The term Growth Mindset comes from the study and theory of Dr Carol Dweck that intelligence can be developed. This can be applied to every person young and old to reach higher levels of achievement.

Adopting a Growth Mindset by taking every opportunity to experiment, embrace failure, learn, change and seek challenges will enable yourself to realise potential and success.

Below is an info-graphic from Dr Carol Dwecks work and theory:

Carol-Dweck-Two-Mindsets

 

Set a schedule of learning for a few hours a week and stick to it by putting time in your diary and blocking it out.

What will you plan to learn for 2020?

 

Some further reading from previous blogs

  • Pack Learning
  • Having the Right Digital Mindset
  • K is for Knowledge
  • How you can begin to Code

Further Reading

  • The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change
  • Mindset – Changing The Way You think To Fulfil Your Potential

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Digital Fit in 2018: Pack Learning

12 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by Max Hemingway in Digital, Productivity

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Digital, Digital Human, learning, Productivity

Pack LearningHaving been involved with code clubs, STEM and learning in the workplace over many years, I have interacted with different types of learning. Each style has its place and different styles, suit different people.

Since our birth we have been learning and have done so every day since. The subjects and topics change but our ability to take in information is vast.

We have learnt as a pack at School and gained benefit from each others insight. As we move onward’s in our life, we loose some of opportunities to learn in a pack. The days of going on a classroom based course have been few and far between as these day’s the use of the internet and online courses makes solo learning an easy option, but how many of us actually go further and interact with the message boards behind the courses to help others out, perhaps only venturing there when you have a problem that you don’t understand.

Adopting the habit of checking the forums behind a course and helping others learn, does help re-enforce the subjects and topics that we learn and brings in different points of view. Interacting with others in these forums helps drive the Pack Learning mentality and increases the strength of the Pack.

Remember there are no silly questions. It’s just a level of understanding of the subject or topic. Next time you take a course, help someone and re-enforce your own learning. Be part of the Pack!

 

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Cardboard & Electronics Education

30 Monday Apr 2018

Posted by Max Hemingway in Innovation, Programming, STEM, Tools

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Tags

Coding, Innovation, learning, STEM, Tools

cardboardCardboard has been a part of childhood learning for a very long time, however its use has evolved from building things, making dens or sliding down grassy hills on it. The evolution on how this material is being used in learning is changing at a fast rate.

Google have been leading the way with the Google Cardboard Viewer that you can put your phone in and experience Virtual Reality at a low cost (phone excluded). There is now an increase of  cardboard kits available and coming on to the market, especially with kits like the Raspberry PI.

Here are some of the kits:

Google Cardboard

A cardboard viewer that allows you to use your mobile phone as a VR device.

https://vr.google.com/cardboard/

Google Voice

A cardboard kit incorporating a Raspberry PI and speaker that uses Google Home as a Voice Assistant. The kit contains a Google Bonnet board that provides functionality to the Raspberry PI and components.

https://aiyprojects.withgoogle.com/voice/

Google Vision

A cardboard kit incorporating a Raspberry PI and camera that uses Machine Learning to recognise objects. The kit contains a Google Bonnet board that provides functionality to the Raspberry PI and components.

https://aiyprojects.withgoogle.com/vision

IBM TJ Bot

A cardboard robot that you can build and incorporate a Raspberry PI to experience AI using IBM Watson.

https://www.ibm.com/ibm/responsibility/initiatives/activitykits/tjbot/

Nintendo Labo

A set of cardboard modules that can be used with a Nintendo Switch

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Nintendo-Labo/Nintendo-Labo-1328637.html

These kits provide a great platform to build on existing skills and learn new skills using reasonably priced components.

Move over Plastics – Cardboard is here (again) !!!

Do you know of any other cardboard kits not listed above?

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Having the Right Digital Mindset

04 Monday Dec 2017

Posted by Max Hemingway in 21st Century Human, Digital, Innovation, Mindset, Productivity, Social Media

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

21st Century Human, Coding, Digital, Digital Human, Innovation, Knowledge, learning, Mindset, Productivity, Social Media, Thinking

Digital BrainDigital is used as a title to cover the current business and computing era. Being Digital is about having the right mindset. There is no magic course or exam that you can take that will pronounce you as being “Digital”. Its how you apply yourself against the changing landscape of business and technology.

There area many areas that could be included to help shape your Digital Mindset, however for me these fit into six main areas:

  • Business
  • Technology
  • Social
  • Personal
  • Application
  • Learning

The Digital Era is enabling “A Growth Mindset in the Age of Abundance”.

Business

The business area covers the skills and thinking that are needed in your workplace and what you need to succeed. Businesses are being constantly challenged in the way that they operate today and look forward to tomorrow against what their customers demand, the market wants and competition are doing.

There may be a number of business processes that are in place that have been there for a while and are expensive to change constrained by a number of factors. This has meant that the processes haven’t grown. The changes that the digital era is bringing helps to remove these constraints and costs, allowing business to rethink how they achieve these processes. With the constraints being removed through innovation and advancements, with costs coming down, how can you change/transform these processes to meet the market challenges of today. What can you change/transform/automate?

Technology

The technology area covers existing, new and emerging technologies in your life. What you use in everyday life and what you could use or imagine that would help you complete tasks and achieve goals quickly and efficiently. Defining which technologies you should be using and learning will depend partly on what your job role is and the road maps and trends for the industry/sector. The aaS (as a Service)  economy is providing the ability to consume technology at a faster easier route with an abundance of choice of service to go with. The need for a growth mindset is key to navigating a direction and path through this and making decisions on which technologies best meet your needs. The key is to understand and keep up with the trends and technologies.

Social

The social area covers how you interact with the rest of the world, including your work and family life. Reading everything that is going on Social Media is literally “drinking from the fire hose” – so much happening you can get easily swamped with noise.  Building a Personal Knowledge Management System is one way of keeping in touch with what is happening and trending on topics that you are interested in on Social Media. Setting yourself a series of Social Media Rules will help define when and what you should put in the public domain and when not to.

Personal

The personal area covers yourself. Ensuring that your health is good and you are living life to the full or best you can helps. Eating well and keeping fit help keep the mind fresh and positive.

Understanding that change is happening everyday and we need to embrace this with a positive attitude and work through the ambiguity that it presents. A blog post by Richard Branson recently wraps this up nicely “You can’t control what happens to you but you can control how you react”

Fear of failure is another area that often lets us down and stops us from trying things, however we can learn from our mistakes so it is important to experiment and innovate. Doing small things and trying them – Theory of small bets – allows you to fail fast if things don’t work and keep any cost/consequences small. “Successful entrepreneurs don’t begin with brilliant ideas — they discover them.” ~ Peter Sims

Application

The application area covers how you apply these mindset areas into your everyday life using method that are well documented such as Agile and Design Thinking. The key is choosing the right method for the situation you are in. Using aids to help you may be one way of doing this – Playing a game with innovation and thinking.

Learning

One of the biggest areas is learning. Keeping your skills up to date with the latest advancements in all the areas above. You should be looking to do 50 to 60 hours learning a year as a minimum (some professions require higher number of hours). Learning is easier with the internet through online courses, videos and podcasts allowing it to be undertaken at anytime. Re-enforcing your learning through explaining it to someone else or blogging about it is part of  The Nature and Cycle of CPD.

There are arguments for and against learning to code, however having an understanding of what is going on in the coding world helps with today’s advancing technology.

 

Further Reading

Twenty First Century Digital

Having the Right Digital Mindset: Business (Change, Agility and a Growth Mindset)

** (Blog post updated with links to latest series of blogs on Having the Right Digital Mindset)

 

 

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A-Z of Digital – K is for Knowledge

02 Wednesday Aug 2017

Posted by Max Hemingway in Tools

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Digital, Journal, Knowledge, learning, Tools

books-2158737_1920Following on from my blog post outlining an A-Z of Digital, here is “K is for Knowledge”.

Understanding what is going on in your streams, market places and industries is a big task. We can be deluged with information, news and articles coming in on a daily basis through many streams/channels (as well as all the work emails you get in a day)  means that we tend to drink from the fire hose and not be able to assimilate all of the data coming in.

One way of helping is to create your own Personal Knowledge Management System, that will help navigate the sea of information and pick out what is key to your requirements and what can be dropped.

Here is my updated Personal Knowledge Management System that I use to sort and store useful artefacts, blogs, information, inspiration, articles and bits that get in a day.

Personal Knowledge Management System

Personal Life

Personal Journal

Journalling in both a Personal and Work life is a useful tool to keep notes on your thoughts and ideas. In my personal life I opt for recording these in a Moleskine – See my blog post No batteries required for further details.

Social Media

I separate from my work life from my personal life using things like Instagram and Facebook for friends and family with appropriate security settings in place. Even with those settings you still need to consider that once something is online, it could be public in the future.

Work Life

Research

This is split into several areas and these are a few of the inputs that I use to grab information, feeds, data from:

  • Podcasts
  • Audio subscriptions
  • RSS Feeds
  • Web Searches
  • Blog Posts

Podcasts cover both Audio and Video casts that I watch/stream online or download to my Media Player (Audio and Videos) to listen to on journeys (Audio)

Flipboard

Flipboard provides another stream of data that I consume bringing in news feeds from many sources around a series of topics. It does work well on a mobile device allowing you to flip the pages through the articles.

Feedly

Feedly provides an aggregation tool which I use to collect the stories from blogs and web sites I regularly pull information from.  This provides a list of stories that can be scanned tin a few minutes on a single screen without going via multiple sites. Clicking on a story will bring up a snippet from the source site and provide the link to read the source article if required. Using a series of key strokes you can read the headlines, then move down the articles at a reasonable speed, stopping and opening when needed.

Sources can be categorised to allow an all view or just whats new in a category.  There is a new noise filter to take out articles that are not relevant which I will be looking at shortly (paid for version).

Instapaper

Instapaper is one of several tools I use to store the articles I need to keep to refer back to and want to save. There is a link from Feedly to provide this (paid for version) which saves the articles. Instapaper then tweets the link out on a separate @Hemingwayreads Twitter Account when I want it to.

IFTTT

IFTTT (If This Then That) provides a level of automation to my lists from saving articles to creating alerts on topics and triggering different actions as needed to my devices.

Thinking Time

This is where view the data streams through the tools and assimilate and think about what has been reported/said.

Blogging and Being Social

From thoughts and research I will write about things through my blogs and publish these into Social Media streams such as Twitter, Linkedin and G+/

Future Tools

Future additions to my tools will probably include some machine learning and further automation to bring out more of the articles I am interested in and filter out the noise. Then bringing in a voice based capability to read out targeted articles to me when I am mobile and travelling.

Do you have a Personal Knowledge Management System or using tools not mentioned above?

Further Inspiration from others

Some other good Personal Knowledge Management Systems from colleagues:

  • Chris Swan – I read tech news so you don’t have to
  • Graham Chastney – How I process information
  • Stuart Downes – My Personal Knowledge Management Systems
  • Steve Richards – My personal work style

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Building a Quadruped

07 Friday Apr 2017

Posted by Max Hemingway in Arduino, Open Source, Programming, Robotics, STEM

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Arduino, learning, Open Source, Programming, Robot, Robotics, STEM

Robot3I decided to have a go at building a robot for a STEM session last weekend, to show the power of code and how it can be used to control something.  A moving robot is a great visualisation to demonstrate this.

After some searching I settled on a quadruped shown on thingverse (a 3d printing site). This is a build based on a robot called Chopstick Junior by Lumi.

Parts being printed, I set about thinking about the controls and motors. The parts are compatible with an SG90 servo. I needed 8 of these, for the knee and hip joints of the quadruped.

The assembly of the parts was a bit of a challenge as in the instructions it said you needed 3mm x 6mm screw/nuts to connect the shoulders together. You really need 3mm x 8mm screw/nuts as I have to countersink the holes a bit more to get the nuts to attach to the 6mm screw length.

Inserting the servos into the holes in the hips and legs required the unscrewing of the 4 small screws in each servo and temporarily removing the gear top. Once inserted this can be replaced and screwed down.

Once the servos were in place I centered the servos the best I could to allow backwards and forwards movement in each joint. I knew that later adjustment may be needed! This can easily be achieved removing the servo arm and hip/leg, then re-positioning and attaching the arm again.

The power is provided by 4 x AA batteries in a square battery holder. This was glued down onto the frame and fitted well into the build.

The power bus is provided by a small piece of circuit board. I used two lines for -v and +v. Each servo was then wired into the lines and the control wire to an Arduino Nano which is used as the brains of the robot.

The following pins were used on the Digital I/O on the Arduino Nano:

  • D2 – Hip 1
  • D3 – Knee1
  • D4 – Hip 2
  • D5 – Knee 2
  • D6 – Hip 3
  • D7 – Knee 3
  • D8 – Hip 4
  • D9 – Knee 4

I also wired in a sensor on the front of the robot to D10 and D11.

Wiring is grouped together to allow movement, but cut to a length that reduces excess that could get in the way of the legs.

A toggle switch provides an on/off for the power fixed to the rear of the robot. Remember to break the lines on the circuit board so it does not join any of the lines.

Once assembled I then got round to coding. I decided to use the opensource code for the Chopstick Junior as a base and make alterations. The quadruped responded well to the code and several physical servo adjustments were needed. Its now in a reasonable state, however balance is an issue in terms of walking steadily, so need to work more on this.  I have not yet coded movement to respond to the sensors yet, this will be done later.

The code is available via my Github:  https://github.com/Cloudmage/Robots

The robot went down well at the STEM session. Now to tweek that code……

Top view

Robot2

Side View

Robot3

Front View

Robot1

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How you can begin to Code

06 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by Max Hemingway in Programming, STEM, Tools

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Coding, learning, Programming, STEM

code1With all the recent STEM activities I have been involved with and blogged about, I have been asked to write some posts around how someone can start learning to code.

The school curriculum covers an element of coding with some subjects and pupils may be lucky to get a BBC Micro:bit or Raspberry Pi, however you don’t have to wait until school before learning any coding.

You don’t have to be young to start coding either. Using the same methods and tools anyone can learn to code.

The phrase “Learning to code” may strike fear and thoughts of hundreds of lines text and numbers, but it doesn’t need to. There are lots of websites available to help people start to code and present a fresh way of learning to code.

So where to start…….. If your reading this blog then you have access to a computing device. All you need to get started is a computing device with a web browser and access to the internet.

At this stage, its not worth getting hung up on the choices of the many different languages out there such as Python, Java, C etc, but concentrating on some fundamentals of coding.

Depending if you like Minecraft, Star Wars, Dr Who or Frozen, you can learn basic commands through gaming and interaction. These games teach you some basics of coding and commands by getting you to move a character on a screen to complete a number of tasks. Each of the games work in a similar way, using someones favorite characters to help them learn. These also help keep focus and attention.

The first code that you will learn is through blocks.

Minecraft – https://code.org/minecraft

Dr Who – http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/games/doctor-who-game

Frozen – https://studio.code.org/s/frozen/stage/1/puzzle/1

Star Wars – https://code.org/starwars

Moana – http://partners.disney.com/hour-of-code

Once you have completed the tasks in blocks, you could then also try using a different language with some of the games such as Java if you wish. Its a great way of experiencing some of the differences in the languages.

 

 

The main program behind blocks is Scratch. To see more on the block programming method have a look at Scratch itself.

https://scratch.mit.edu/

At the scratch site there are learning tools and lessons to help you learn as well as access to the full programming language. The Scratch site also hosts a lot of other peoples programs which you can run/play and look at how they have constructed their code.

Scratch is a free visual programming language developed by the MIT(Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Media Lab.[1] Scratch is used by students, scholars, teachers,and parents to easily create animations, games, etc. It provides a stepping stone to the more advanced world of computer programming. It can also be used for a range of educational and entertainment constructionist purposes from math and science projects, including simulations and visualizations of experiments, recording lectures with animated presentations, to social sciences animated stories, and interactive art and music.[2] Viewing the existing projects available on the Scratch website, or modifying and testing any modification without saving it requires no online registration.

Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scratch_(programming_language)

Scratch allows users to use event-driven programming with multiple active objects called sprites.[1] Sprites can be drawn, as vector or bitmap graphics, from scratch in a simple editor that is part of Scratch, or can be imported from external sources, including webcams.

Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scratch_(programming_language)

All you need now is to dedicate some time each week to learn to code.

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Programming Nostalgia – Back to the 1980’s

08 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Max Hemingway in Programming, Tools

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Coding, learning, Programming

As part of the update to the Usborne’s coding books for today’s kids releasing two new books:

  • Lift-the-flap computers and coding
  • Coding for beginners using Scratch

Usborne have released some of their 1980 computer books as PDF’s that can be downloaded for personal use.

The released titles include:

Introductions to Programming

  • Programming Tricks and Skills
  • Machine Code for Beginners
  • Computer Programming
  • Practical Things to do with a Microcomputer

Computer Games ListingsSpeccy

  • Computer Spy Games
  • Weird Computer Games
  • Creepy Computer Games
  • Computer Battlegames
  • Computer Spacegames

Adventure Games

  • The Mystery of Silver Mountain
  • Islands of Secrets
  • Write your own Fantasy Games
  • Write your own Adventure Games

First Computer Library

  • Computer Fun
  • Simple Basic

Definitely a blast from the past. Thank you Usborne for taking me back to my early years! Now where is that emulator software….

Source

Click to access programming-tricks-and-skills.pdf

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Digital Scouting

25 Monday Jan 2016

Posted by Max Hemingway in Development, Innovation, Programming, Tools

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Development, Innovation, learning, Programming

digitalThere have been a series of new badges introduced by the Scouting movement. Two of these replace the traditional IT Staged Badge with a Digital Citizen and Digital Maker staged badge. These are aimed at giving young people skills in the digital age and help with STEM education.

These badges also teach young people to follow the Scouts digital manifesto:

The Scouts’ Digital Manifesto

  1. Use digital to learn and embrace new skills
  2. Share your adventures digitally and inspire others
  3. Know when to switch off, balancing screen time with outdoor activities
  4. Use digital skills to support your family and community
  5. Use digital to be creative
  6. Stay safe online and know the risks

Each of the badges provides 4/5 stages and builds on each stage. The badges can be earn’t from Beavers, through Cubs, Scouts and Explorers (ages 6 up to 18) so start with the basics, then build into writing apps.

These are a set of badges that I am looking forward to helping the local Scout Group out with. All I need to find for my local Scout Group is some spare Laptops or some Raspberry Pi’s…….Any offers welcome.

Perhaps there is a Scout group near you where you can help volunteer your skills with these badges.

Badge requirements

(Source: https://members.scouts.org.uk/supportresources/4282/digital-citizen-staged-activity-badge)

Digital Citizen – stage 1

How to earn your badge
Complete every task to achieve Stage 1, showing that you have thought about the potential risks and how to stay safe for each activity.

  1. Show that you can:
    • turn on and log into a computer
    • use a piece of software, for example email or a game
    • name the main parts of a computer system
    • connect a peripheral (for example a scanner or printer) to your computer and use it.
  2. Create a piece of digital media. It could be artwork, a photograph, music or animation.
  3. Use the internet for research:
    • decide on an area of interest
    • find three websites with content that matches your area of interest
    • collect relevant information by printing or saving as files.

Digital Citizen – stage 2

How to earn your badge
Complete every task to achieve Stage 2, showing that you have thought about the potential risks and how to stay safe for each activity.

  1. Plan and then create a piece of digital media. It could be artwork
    or a photograph that you alter using creative tools, music, animation, CAD (Computer Aided Design) or a 3D sculpture.
  2. Show that you can:
    • send or reply to someone with a short email and include an attachment
    • download photos or other media from a camera or smart card
    • open and save a document then share it using a cloud service (like Google Docs or Microsoft Sharepoint) or a USB stick
    • create a document that includes media that you’ve downloaded or copied from another source.
  3. Use the internet for research:
    • decide on an area of interest
    • use two different search engines to find three websites you think are reliable
    • collect information by printing the pages or saving  as PDF documents
    • select relevant information by copying text or an image and pasting into a document
    • display your findings as a poster or a short report.

Digital Citizen – stage 3

How to earn your badge
Complete every task to achieve Stage 3, showing that you have thought about the potential risks and how to stay safe for each activity.

  1. Plan, make, edit and share a piece of digital media. It could be
    artwork or a photograph that you alter using creative tools, music, animation, CAD (Computer Aided Design) or a 3D sculpture.
  2. Explore social networking sites that are appropriate for your age, then create an example of a good social network profile. Show that you know how to:
    • use anti-virus software
    • set up or adjust settings for accessibility
    • recover from a frozen programme or screen.
  3. Use the internet for research:
    • decide on a specific area of interest
    • use at least two different search engines, using operators like AND, NOT and OR in the search box
    • collect information by using bookmarks or favourites. Save URLs or use a social bookmarking tool like Diigo, Reddit, StumbleUpon, del.icio.us or digg.
    • select specific, reliable information relevant to your area of research
    • create a structured display of the information you have gathered. You could do this in a document, on a website or using a social tool such as Pinterest.
    • share your research with other people, for example by email, on the web, by MMS or social media.

Digital Citizen – stage 4

How to earn your badge
Complete every task to achieve Stage 4, showing that you have thought about the potential risks and how to stay safe for each activity.

  1. Create a portfolio of digital media. It might include artwork or a
    photograph that you alter using creative tools, music, animation, CAD (Computer Aided Design) or 3D sculpture.
  2. Create a film, video, stop-motion animation or podcast and share it using a suitable media sharing tool.
  3. Create a social network profile for your section, a band, local interest group or something similar. Alternatively you could make a small
    website that can host content, like the film you made in step 2, photos, poetry or information about your local area.
  4. Use the internet for research:
    • Choose a local, national, community or Scouting issue, or something from the news or current affairs.
    • Collect information from different sources, such as spreadsheets, databases, online news services and ‘open access’ data sources.
    • Put your information together in a structured way, for example grouping similar information. Make sure you know where each
      piece of information comes from.
    • Select the information you think is most appropriate and reliable.
    • Create a multi-page website with your information and make it public. Present your information in a variety of ways – you could
      use infographics, images or graphs.
    • Share your website with a wide audience.
    • Explain your sources of information and why you picked out what you did.
    • Get some feedback on what you have done and make changes to
      improve your website based on that feedback.

(Source: https://members.scouts.org.uk/supportresources/4283/digital-maker-staged-activity-badge)

Digital Maker – stage 1

How to earn your badge

  1. Connect computer peripherals or accessories, such as a screen and
    keyboard, and explain what job they do.
  2. Design a game:
    • Use role play to act out how your digital game would work. Play the game with a group of friends and change the rules.
    • Using paper, prototype a game and explain to someone how it works. You could video your explanation.
    • Evaluate and share your idea.
  3. Edit an existing website. You could change the design using a paper printout or software.
  4. Play a game with a friend where one of you acts the part of a robot and the other sends the robot commands. Record on paper what sort of commands worked best and which were hard for the ‘robot’ to follow.

Digital Maker – stage 2

How to earn your badge

  1. Connect two devices and exchange data between them using WiFi,
    Bluetooth or a cable.
  2. Show that you can use two different platforms or operating systems. They could be systems that run different devices such as computers,  tablets, phones or games consoles.
  3. Design a game:
    • Make a cartoon, animation or video of a game using a video camera or other equipment.
    • Create some pseudo code to explain how some parts of your game will work. Pseudo code is an instruction for the computer to follow, but is not written in a specific language.
    • Design a sequence of a game, like a whole level or an in-game puzzle.
  4. Design a single page website. You can use a design tool but writing HTML code would be fine too.
  5. Create a set of instructions for a programmable Robot, turtle or toy to
    follow. Games like Minecraft can help you do this.

Digital Maker – stage 3

How to earn your badge

  1. Show how to troubleshoot problems with computing equipment, such as hardware  devices and software updates.
  2. Make a prototype of a game using a suitable tool. It must include:
    • event conditions (when your game reacts to something that happens)
    • user movement controls
    • iteration (when your code or instructions are repeated)
    • variables (for scoring, health or counting things within the game).
  3. Build, design and publish a multipage website with working hyperlinks for navigation between the pages.
  4. Make a robot using prebuilt components.

Digital Maker – stage 4

How to earn your badge

  1. Set up a home network and connect it to the internet.
  2. Install or run an alternative operating system on a computer. Alternatively,  use a ‘Live DVD’ or USB stick.
  3. Design a game:
    • Build a game that includes progression and is fun and interesting to play.
    • Get someone else to play and evaluate it.
  4. Create a fully functioning website including linking to a database.
  5. Make a robot using a kit with components that respond to sensor input (for example, a robot that backs away from an object in its path).

Digital Maker – stage 5

How to earn your badge

  1. Install the software to run a web server and host a webpage on a  computer or other device. Tools like LAMP, WAMP or Google’s Webserver project for the Raspberry  Pi could help you. You can find these for free online.
  2. Make a game or app that serves a purpose. It should:
    • have a clear objective
    • be challenging for the user
    • have a clear sense of progression
    • keep a score
    • offer a reward to the user for playing (for example the score could unlock levels or icons).
  3. Make a website that serves a purpose, provides a good experience for the user and meets any legal requirements.
  4. Use off-the-shelf components to make your own robot that responds to the environment (for example a robot that reacts to light, its proximity to other objects or sound).

 

 

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Learning to Program

14 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by Max Hemingway in Development, Programming, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Coding, DevOps, learning, Programming

CodeIf one of your new years resolutions is to learn how to program? If not why should you consider to learn to program and add it to your list? As businesses become more focused on  Cloud, DevOps/OpsDev, aaS (as a Service) or SDnn (Software Defined) a knowledge of programming and a language will help you understand these advancements, services and technologies, as well as allowing you to participate in their delivery.

Here are some good resources to help you:

A good book resource on how to program can be found on Gthub at https://github.com/braydie/HowToBeAProgrammer

The site covers the following topics:

Contents

  1. Beginner
    • Personal Skills
      • Learn to Debug
      • How to Debug by Splitting the Problem Space
      • How to Remove an Error
      • How to Debug Using a Log
      • How to Understand Performance Problems
      • How to Fix Performance Problems
      • How to Optimize Loops
      • How to Deal with I/O Expense
      • How to Manage Memory
      • How to Deal with Intermittent Bugs
      • How to Learn Design Skills
      • How to Conduct Experiments
    • Team Skills
      • Why Estimation is Important
      • How to Estimate Programming Time
      • How to Find Out Information
      • How to Utilize People as Information Sources
      • How to Document Wisely
      • How to Work with Poor Code
      • How to Use Source Code Control
      • How to Unit Test
      • Take Breaks when Stumped
      • How to Recognize When to Go Home
      • How to Deal with Difficult People
  2. Intermediate
    • Personal Skills
      • How to Stay Motivated
      • How to be Widely Trusted
      • How to Tradeoff Time vs. Space
      • How to Stress Test
      • How to Balance Brevity and Abstraction
      • How to Learn New Skills
      • Learn to Type
      • How to Do Integration Testing
      • Communication Languages
      • Heavy Tools
      • How to analyze data
    • Team Skills
      • How to Manage Development Time
      • How to Manage Third-Party Software Risks
      • How to Manage Consultants
      • How to Communicate the Right Amount
      • How to Disagree Honestly and Get Away with It
    • Judgment
      • How to Tradeoff Quality Against Development Time
      • How to Manage Software System Dependence
      • How to Decide if Software is Too Immature
      • How to Make a Buy vs. Build Decision
      • How to Grow Professionally
      • How to Evaluate Interviewees
      • How to Know When to Apply Fancy Computer Science
      • How to Talk to Non-Engineers
  3. Advanced
    • Technological Judgment
      • How to Tell the Hard From the Impossible
      • How to Utilize Embedded Languages
      • Choosing Languages
    • Compromising Wisely
      • How to Fight Schedule Pressure
      • How to Understand the User
      • How to Get a Promotion
    • Serving Your Team
      • How to Develop Talent
      • How to Choose What to Work On
      • How to Get the Most From Your Team-mates
      • How to Divide Problems Up
      • How to Handle Boring Tasks
      • How to Gather Support for a Project
      • How to Grow a System
      • How to Communicate Well
      • How to Tell People Things They Don’t Want to Hear
      • How to Deal with Managerial Myths
      • How to Deal with Organizational Chaos

 

List of useful books on GitHub on programming:

  • https://github.com/vhf/free-programming-books/blob/master/free-programming-books.md

If you are now wondering which language to base your learning on this post may help

  • https://maxhemingway.com/2015/01/08/learn-a-programming-language-but-which-one/

There are lots of online courses available to help you learn – alot are free

  • http://thenextweb.com/dd/2012/10/21/so-you-want-to-be-a-programmer-huh-heres-25-ways-to-learn-online/#gref

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