While I’m now starting to get back to sorting out what I’m getting up to this year I decided to have a wee look back at all I managed to get to do in 2015 which it turned out was actually quite a lot. I had lots of fun and new experiences and got to work with lots of fabulous folk. So here a roundup of my 2015 (in no particular order):

I passed my level 3 City and Guilds Education and Training Qualification after completing quite a few night classes (CPD which I have greatly benefited from).

I passed my Drivers theory test (albeit 2^nd time lucky). I’ve been taking driving lessons for we while now (yes I have failed the test once but fingers crossed for next time) for my poor instructors sake – the guy is a legend well he must be he’s still alive after having me as a student for so long!!!

I became a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert for 2016.

Spoke at the Raspberry Pi day in Glasgow about my Computing Club in Royston Primary School. I even got a really nice write up about my talk as well. https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/glasgow-raspberry-pi-day/

I helped facilitate a Minecraft workshop for girls at the Ada Lovelace event organised by the University of the West of Scotland.

I’m running a class in school as part of the Build it Scotland project using Minecraft on the Raspberry Pi to build Scottish landmarks AND I got to be on the BBC website eek! Here’s me and the kids I’m working with talking about it http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03cddly

I ran my Computing club in Royston Primary for the year – between Jan 2015 and June 2015 I had 3 clubs running and then from Aug 2015 to Dec 2015 I have sadly due to work commitments had to stick to 1 club running.

I mentored a team into the final of the Scottish KoduKup as part of my club in school.

I was part of the organising committee for the Computing at School Scotland conference in Dundee (helped out more on the day than beforehand – my timing was awesome arriving at the venue the night before just in time for pizza!!).

I spoke at a TeachMeet event in Glasgow (even finally got to meet the legend that is Ian Stuart) – twice actually about the work I’ve done with Scratch and also the work I’ve done in Royston Primary.

St. Brigids Primary in Glasgow invited me along to talk about careers in games for their careers networking event – cool as I got my pic in the local paper and was described by one child as the best person there.

Got to work with a group of pupils from a cluster of Secondary schools on app development as part of a larger project which will be continuing again soon.

I ran some CPD sessions for teachers to teach them about making games with Scratch in order for them to get their children ready to participate in the Mini Game Jams.

I organised 5 Mini Game Jams across Glasgow and co –organised 1 with the Caledonian Club at Glasgow Caledonian University which in total had 305 children participate in making games with Scratch for a day.

I advised on a Mini Game Jam that was held at The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment in California.

The thesis has now been submitted– yes the force was finally with me and I finished it (did you just hear a whole load of folk go thank goodness for that – well I’m being polite the probably said worse they know who they are and thanks for sticking by me). 2016 will be year of the Viva!!

Oh yeah did I say I do work part time lecturing (a couple of places) and I’m mum to 3 very wonderful and understanding girls who know that all the work I do during the year is for their benefit as well and due to the nature of my jobs I’m super lucky enough to spend the holidays with them and maybe make the occasional Lego model!!

Looking forward to taking on 2016 and hopefully some new projects as well as the ones already in the planning.

Part of the talk I gave to head teachers also discussed making the most of your resources in school. I think that sometimes when technology is mentioned people think that this must mean we all have got to have iPads and all the latest software and gadgets. That’s not the case and not all schools can afford these things, yes they can be good to have but it’s not the be all and end all. I’ve researched in schools with very differing ICT situations from a school with a full suite to one that had 2 pc’s per class and that’s probably the reality for a lot of schools and this post is based on my own experience which may not be reflective across the board however I hope it’s of some help. So where could you start?

Well firstly check your resource room are there are wee hidden gems – I know in one school I found 6 bee bots doing nothing!! Bee bots are a great tool that can be used from Early Years right through. If there are no Bee bots why not head off to the gym hall and have the children work in pairs or groups (age dependent) and have them be the robots. The robot would then have to follow instructions given by their classmates to undertake a task or move around the room.

A couple of things that can be done when there is a lack of pc’s around the school. Firstly make use of the ones you have in your class create a timetable for during the week when children can get turns – yes this would take some advance planning. Another option would be to work with your local Secondary School. They generally have a few ICT rooms and I’m sure again with planning would be more than happy to have classes from their feeder schools come and make use of them (I’ve done this before and it worked really well plus it gave the children a chance to see inside the school they will eventually be heading off to.

As far as software goes make the most of what is on your authorities network as well as using Glow – some great resources and sites of interest on Glow for schools.

If you’re looking for help with getting started with what you have, why not contact your local STEM teams to get ambassadors or make links with local Colleges and Universities.