Run in association with Microsoft Education, Renfrewshire Council and Paisley YMCA, this first session welcomed 23 teachers from primary and secondary schools across Renfrewshire who were keen to develop their technology skills for teaching.
The sessions used exciting and engaging activities such as creating games and music, using the BBC Micro:Bit. The BBC Micro:Bits were issued to S1 pupils in Renfrewshire secondary schools last year so an aim of this project is to maximise their use in the classroom and encourage the pupils to become more involved with coding.
Natalie Burgess, Teacher Ambassador for Microsoft Education Ltd who facilitated the session said:
I think a lot of teachers at the start were nervous and thought they would struggle and were proud of themselves when they achieved something!
We got all teachers signed into the Microsoft educator community to learn more after the sessions and they received a coding badge for attending.
The feedback from teaching staff in attendance was also extremely positive; Marie Renton from Lochfield Primary School said:
I really enjoyed the course. I was worried I might not keep up as it's more complicated programming than I have used in school. The pace, teaching and hand-outs were great though and there were several people on hand to help when I was stuck. I am very chuffed at what I learned and really excited about trying it out with my class.
Microsoft gave each of the teachers their very own BBC:Microbit to take away to try out in their own school and we provided crocodile clips so they can experiment with attaching the BBC Microbit to physical objects, such as the jelly babies used in the session to demonstrate playing sound!
Project Lead and WCS Curriclum Quality Leader for Computing, David Renton said:
The event was extremely positive, the class was full and everybody was fully engaged in what they were doing. There was a great atmosphere in the room, the teachers were excited about what they were doing and everybody got it to work.
The next session will take place on 7th March at the College and the coding clubs are due to launch in selected schools across Renfrewshire throughout March.