Computing As Taught

Gordon McKinlays’ post about the teaching of Computing in Scottish schools very much endorses my feelings as an ex Computing PT. The subject has had a very mixed existence highlighted by the fact that the name kept changing from Computer Education to Computing Studies to Computing. In its very early days the programming element for an O grade certificate once included programming a BBC computer to display a simulated car dashboard with flashing indicators and a moving fuel gauge and speedometer if my memory is not exaggerating it. Nowadays programming hardly features in the curriculum. Partly I suspect the emphasis on word processing etc., came about through an ex Business Studies teacher being on the national subject panels.

Today, I think the only justification for Computing as a subject is teaching the analytical skills of programming and the fundamental structures of hardware and software, i.e Computing Science. This would be very much a minority subject and would free up the hundreds of computers in Computing rooms for more useful purposes as you need very little access to a computer to teach the subject in that form. Then they could be used across the curriculum to improve access to Glow.

Glow Early Adopters

Something of a steep learning curve today.  There has been a problem for users transferring address books from RM EasyMail to Glow Mail.  I attempted to illustrate the procedure with a screencast complete with commentary.  Having spent most ofthe afternoon on this I discovered that when converted into Flash the sound and picture no longer synchronised.  So just now I have finished a silent movie with captions which you can see on the Dundee FAQ site.  The video is linked to the Glow Functions category of questions.

Open Source CPD

This is an idea which John Johnston has put forward and which he talked about at teachmeetperth. The more I think about it the more I like it.

Adding to its acceptance and relevance I think perhaps a national Glow group of the same title and with a webpart link to the opensourcecpd site should be a high priority.