Waikato Business News August/September 2018
Waikato Business News has for a quarter of a century been the voice of the region’s business community, a business community with a very real commitment to innovation and an ethos of co-operation.
Waikato Business News has for a quarter of a century been the voice of the region’s business community, a business community with a very real commitment to innovation and an ethos of co-operation.
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Credit card<br />
sized computers<br />
for all Year 7s<br />
Support for innovative project<br />
from software specialist.<br />
WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS <strong>August</strong>/<strong>September</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
7<br />
The combined power of<br />
one million credit card<br />
sized computers saved<br />
the Doctor, TARDIS and the<br />
world.<br />
The special live and interactive<br />
episode of Doctor Who,<br />
starring Peter Capaldi as the<br />
Doctor, saw British Year 7<br />
pupils use one million British<br />
Broadcasting Corporation<br />
(BBC) micro:bit computers to<br />
help the 12th Doctor thwart<br />
the Daleks. The Doctor’s archenemies<br />
engineered a supernova<br />
of epic proportions on<br />
March 28, 2017, that damaged<br />
the TARDIS.<br />
The interactive episode was<br />
the BBC’s way of supporting<br />
technology teachers in bringing<br />
curriculum content to life<br />
with the micro:bit.<br />
The project gave UK pupils<br />
a taste of coding and encouraged<br />
more pupils to study<br />
Information Technology or<br />
Computer Science as a subject.<br />
The micro:bit, specially<br />
designed for use in education,<br />
has an ARM processor, accelerometer<br />
and magnetometer<br />
sensors, Bluetooth and USB<br />
connectivity, a display consist-<br />
ing of 25 light emitting diodes,<br />
two programmable buttons,<br />
and can be powered by either<br />
USB or an external battery<br />
pack.<br />
Learning Developments<br />
director Troy Smith’s vision<br />
for New Zealand is to teach<br />
75,000 Kiwi kids how to<br />
design and develop their own<br />
applications on a micro:bit by<br />
2020.<br />
Along with the computer,<br />
pupils will receive a battery<br />
holder, AAA batteries and<br />
USB cable.<br />
It can be programmed using<br />
the JavaScript Blocks Editor or<br />
a Python Editor.<br />
“We would like to replicate<br />
what happened in the<br />
UK,” Troy, a former technology<br />
teacher, says. “The plan is<br />
every <strong>Waikato</strong> Year 7 student<br />
gets a micro:bit at the start of<br />
next year in a pilot project,<br />
with every Year 7 pupil in<br />
New Zealand benefitting from<br />
a micro:bit in 2020.”<br />
Hamilton software specialist<br />
Company-X is supporting<br />
the BBC micro:bit project,<br />
and other IT education<br />
projects like it. Company-X<br />
Learning Developments director Troy Smith demonstrates a micro:bit to<br />
Connor Geffrey at a David Street School, Morrinsville, holiday programme.<br />
is designing and developing<br />
software enabling technology<br />
teachers across the country<br />
to collaborate on the technology<br />
curriculum through the<br />
CS4S (Computer Science for<br />
Schools) network.<br />
Company-X project manager<br />
Mehrdad Behroozi said<br />
the CS4S software solution<br />
would become a free, fun,<br />
online network designed by<br />
teachers for teachers.<br />
Mehrdad says the software<br />
will support Kiwi school<br />
teachers in the digital technology<br />
curriculum grow their<br />
expertise and create a collaborative<br />
community where lesson<br />
plans can be uploaded and<br />
ideas shared.<br />
“Whether it's robotics, coding<br />
or a new tech toy, CS4S<br />
Teachers' Network will be<br />
the place where teachers go<br />
to find creative and engaging<br />
resources for use in classes and<br />
to share learnings,” Mehrdad<br />
says.<br />
Troy’s <strong>Waikato</strong> Innovation<br />
Park-based company has<br />
already sold 1100 of the<br />
micro:bit computers for around<br />
$20 each.<br />
“It’s not the first time the<br />
BBC has been involved in such<br />
a project,” says Company-X<br />
director David Hallett.<br />
“Some of our team<br />
cut their teeth on the BBC<br />
Micro, designed and manufactured<br />
in 1981 by the Acorn<br />
Computer company for the<br />
BBC Computer Literacy<br />
Project, operated by the British<br />
Broadcasting Corporation. It<br />
was designed with an emphasis<br />
on education, it was notable<br />
for its ruggedness, expandability,<br />
and the quality of its operating<br />
system.<br />
The system was adopted<br />
by most schools in the United<br />
Kingdom, and it also won significant<br />
market share in New<br />
Zealand’s education market.<br />
Some used BBC Micros<br />
to input data for the BBC<br />
Domesday Project that ran<br />
between 1984 and 1986. Like<br />
William the Conqueror’s<br />
Domesday Book a millennia<br />
before it, the project included<br />
information on every location<br />
in England.”<br />
David, also chair of the<br />
IT Professionals Hamilton<br />
branch, said any initiative that<br />
engaged the next generation<br />
of IT professionals was to be<br />
applauded.<br />
“This will, no doubt, help<br />
with the global skills shortage<br />
in the IT industry,” David says.<br />
CS4S is looking for personal<br />
and corporate sponsors<br />
to help get the project, and<br />
others like it, off the ground.<br />
CS4S has different sponsorship<br />
options available depending<br />
on the budget of sponsors.<br />
They will also have the<br />
opportunity to leverage off the<br />
sponsorship.<br />
Company-X is proud to support the CS4S<br />
(Computer Science for Schools) Trust<br />
0800 552 551 info@companyx.nz www.companyx.nz<br />
Level 2, Wintec House, Cnr Anglesea & Nisbet Street, Hamilton
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