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Securing subject-specific knowledge in an unending battle but a vital one
Teachers of computer science face a challenge not commonly found in other taught disciplines – the need to continuously ensure that one’s subject-specific knowledge is continuously up-to-date and in line with both current trends in technology and substantial advancements in the field. Whilst many aspects of taught computing remain the same and are likely to remain the same for…
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My experiences teaching ‘unplugged’
A common misconception is that computer science, or computing, is a school subject that requires a lot of time in front of a monitor and that programming should be the vast majority of what students get up to, but alternative curricula that focus more on teaching computational thinking without the use of technology exist, commonly referred to as Computer Science Unplugged, or merely ‘unplugged’ for…
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Strategies for questioning when you are having difficulty learning names
Part of my ongoing philosophy as an educator is that my teaching is the natural intersection of my technical skills as a computer scientist and the social and pedagogical skills that I have nurtured throughout my own education and employment. Indeed, many of my own teachers and lecturers positively remarked at my communicative ability and that I would repeatedly take…
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How I collate feedback from my students and colleagues
Continuous improvement is a fundamental aspect of my teaching and learning philosophy – a notion referred to frequently in the business world as ‘kaizen’, loaned from Japanese. While it might not necessarily directly translate into teaching, it is a notion to consider since we as teachers are always looking for new ways to improve with the goal of benefiting education as a whole. In addition, some…
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A brief analysis of my use of Bloom’s Taxonomy
Part of my trainee teacher series: a post on Bloom’s Taxonomy and how I use it in my lesson plans