The Micro:bit Educational Foundation is a non-profit organisation enabling children around the world to get creative with technology and gain digital skills in school, in clubs and at home.
The Foundation was legally established with the support of their founding partners in September 2016. Micro:bit Educational Foundation is a UK based organisation and redistributes the bulk of any surplus money generated into providing free devices to exceptional Micro:bit educational programmes across the globe.
During the sessions, Microsoft Education Experts, WCS Curriculum Quality Leader David Renton and WCS Computing Lecturer Amanda Ford taught the teachers how to use the Microbit for fun and engaging activities to take back to their schools including games of rock, paper, scissors and how to make music.
The sessions were a great success with the teachers who provided positive feedback around the learning and provision of the Micro:Bits.
Emma Dowson Class Teacher, Cochrane Castle Primary School said “The Microbit session was very informative and gave lots of practical details of what to do with classes to make it work.”
Claire Carrigan, P7 Primary Teacher, Barsail Primary School commented, “It was great to get to try out the Micro:bit and be given lesson ideas. Thanks for the opportunity and the Micro:bit packs!”
Karen McDowall, Principal Teacher, Bishopton Primary said “It was very hands on and you quickly got to understand and love the Micro:Bit. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and I am keen to try out the Micro:Bit with the pupils.”
Further Digital learning on the course included games development using Kodu for Primary teachers where they were shown how to create a 3d game world and how to program their character to follow paths and collect objects to gain the highest score against other non-playable characters that they had programmed. The Secondary School teachers also covered Unity games programming where they made an animated flapping bird!
The Continuous Professional Development Sessions are supported by the Digital Xtra Fund and help to create a sustainable approach to coding and Digital making in Renfrewshire schools.
For more information on the Micro:Bit Foundation visit: http://microbit.org/
