Jonny Austin

micro:bit teach Everything teachers need to inspire their students

Also if you know anyone with V1s sitting idle you can encourage them to update the firmware for web USB support and then checkout the teaching resources (microbit.org/teach) to help them get started - we still see lots of great V1 usage and it’s still supported! microbit.org/get-started/...

micro:bit teach Everything teachers need to inspire their students

Sadly not zero (yet!), but check out some of the usage stats & teacher confidence numbers from rollouts/programmes: 90% or more teachers said they were confident or very confident to use their learning and the materials provided with their students. (Consolidated research from several projects)

Celebrating 10 million micro:bits around the world Micro:bit Educational Foundation's 2024 highlights

10 million micro:bits is a nice number of micro:bits 🎉🌏

🔗 microbit.org/news/2024-12... has great stats on impact and goals for @microbit.org

Cheers to the awesome people and partners who have got us off to this excellent start. 🚀

I missed these when JLCPCB announced it - so as I'm late to the party, would love to see creative and beautiful PCBs people have made with it (or similar services) jlcpcb.com/blog/multi-c...

Primary teachers: tell us about your experience of teaching physical computing - Raspberry Pi Computing Education Research Centre Calling all UK upper primary school teachers! Share your experience of teaching with the BBC micro:bit in our quick survey and help shape future research. Complete by the end of the term for a chance ...

Primary teachers - we're investigating physical computing in schools. Do you have 10 minutes to help us by completing a quick survey? More details and the link are here: computingeducationresearch.org/blog-primary.... Please do share with colleagues in your school and networks too!

Hello! I am Jonny and I try to learn stuff and make things that other people can use to make things and learn stuff. Recently: micro:bit, past: MakeSpace Cambridge. Love creative tech and problem solving. Have a physical keyboard on my phone. I “skipped” Twitter/X so I’m a social media newbie.

Ah, shame - I am here for edu track day only but I’ll give you a shout if I end up in the “conference fringes” on Monday.

💫Excited to see the Micro:bit Educational Foundation launch CreateAI today on #WorldChildrensDay!

🎉 Use movement data with micro:bit to train a machine learning model and bring AI to life in code.

Find out more: microbit.org/news/2024-11...

#Microbit #CreateAI #EdChatIE

@carlosperate.bsky.social just joined and would make a great addition!

An illustration for CreateAI. Shows a pair of hands with data waves in the background to represent with motion data, and a micro:bit and MakeCode blocks to represent the AI/ML model running on the micro:bit with a MakeCode programme. It includes the text: micro:bit Create AI, try our new machine learning tool And the URL: createai.microbit.org

My first day here on BlueSky & I’m thrilled to share something really exciting we’ve been working on!

✨ CreateAI ✨
A hands-on tool to explore and create AI with #microbit. Train ML models with movement data & bring them to life with code!

👉 Learn more: microbit.org/news/2024-11...
#AI #ML #EdTech

micro:bit and AI Dive deeper into micro:bit CreateAI

The Micro:bit Educational Foundation just launched micro:bit #CreateAI 🎉! microbit.org/ai/. I love it for playful, physical & creative learning about ML. Use movement data to train/test a model, then use that model in #MakeCode to make an AI thing! Mad excited to see what people make! #microbit

go.bsky.app/93bgdee

I’m going to be at PyCon AU this Friday for the education track. Give me a shout if you’re going to be there and want to talk #microbit or #python. Looking forward to a fantastic track of talks. #pyconau

YouTube video by PrintLab Micro:bit Assistive Technology Dual Switch | Tap

www.youtube.com/watch?v=asji... This is such a beautiful and clever solution by @loretod.bsky.social, Bill Siever and PrintLab. I love that the micro:bit gets to go inside and play a part. For others that still love text see Loreto's blog www.zeroday.camp/empowering-a... #accessibility #microbit

Empowering Accessibility: Using the Micro:bit and 3D Design as Switch Interface, Mon, Nov 11, 2024, 4:00 PM | Meetup Join us for an informative virtual event that explores the innovative potential of the Micro:bit in creating accessible technology solutions. This session will delve into t

Join us on Monday (11/11/24) at 4PM EST as we talk about how to use the #Microbit and #3D_Design to create custom computer interactions for people with physical disabilities. #OpenAT #AssistiveTech www.meetup.com/assistive-te...

There are fun days at work, then there are "building a magic-wand controlled pumpkin" days at work :D

That sounds excellent, we'd be really eager to learn about whether there are ways the product could change to help with this too. I'll DM you so we can have a chat :)

The 'images' section in 'advanced' has a neat `show image` block.
#MakeCode has a built-in 400ms delay in `basic➡️show leds` and `show icon`, but it's configurable with `images➡️show image`. Plus images can be in arrays... enough to make your heart beat faster.
#microbit #faveblocks #TeamCompSci

New MakeCode blocks with clearer highlighting on the blocks for compound expressions

Old MakeCode blocks, harder to read and see order of operations

I think my favourite change in the 2024 #MakeCode release for #microbit is one of the tiniest: make the border colour lighter/stand-out when blocks of the same colour are nested. Makes reading complex block maths so much easier 😃. All the changes at makecode.com/blog/microbi... #TeamCompSci

A picture of the microbit Python Editor showing the following code, as well as a REPL that's been used to interact with the code. # Imports go at the top from microbit import * name = input('What is your name? ') print('Hello', name) if temperature() > 25: temp = "hot" else: temp = "cold" temp_response = input(name + " are you " + temp + "? ") while True: display.scroll(temp_response)

Any folks in #TeamCompSci tried using the #microbit
Python Editor for more general #Python teaching, rather than "micro:bit first" stuff? With the simulator and the REPL you've got a browser-based REPL and some interesting possible inputs. Works with micro:bit Classroom too.

An image showing how to get to the 'Freefall' gesture in MakeCode and a sample showing the micro:bit showing an umbrella when free fall is detected.

This week, a more playful one for the #microbit #faveblocks: I love the "free fall" gesture (click on 'shake' dropdown). This micro:bit is deploying an umbrella as a parachute when it is falling ☂️🪂. (Under the hood this just checks the magnitude of acceleration is below a threshold.) #TeamCompSci

Don't suppose you're able to make the files for this lovely #microbit case available? I'm sure there are plenty of folks out there who would like to print a few for themselves #TeamCompSci

My family stumbled across this activity on a recent visit and absolutely loved it. Awesome to hear the micro:bit sounds put to playful use! Thanks for sharing the amazing detail behind it.

Side elevation drawing of a simple modernist building with walls with various geometric patterns of holes, and also large openings between the walls. A stylised sun shines on the building from the top left and a fan blows from the bottom right. There are two blocky figures with BBC micro:bits (tiny computers) for torsos. One figure is inside the building in the shad and blown by the fan and one is on the roof in the sunshine. The illustration is labelled 'Cool Buildings'

The lovely folks at the V&A Museum asked me to design an activity for kids (and their parents) that tied in with their 'Tropical Modernism' exhibition and had a digital component. It's running every Wed/Thur/Fri in the main museum. I went to do it yesterday with the 6yo and 3yo 🧵

The map block in Microsoft MkeCode, with a picture of the MakeCode simulator displaying a simple spirit level program. Code is: basic.forever(function () { basic.clearScreen() led.plot(Math.map(input.acceleration(Dimension.X), -900, 900, 0, 4), 2) })

This week, `map`: Great for scaling physical input into the right ranges for micro:bit output - here's a super simple spirit level. Ideal if the maths/scaling part might be a distraction from the lesson and you want to focus more on the making or the output. #microbit #faveblocks.

I'm going to try and champion a few of my favourite #MakeCode for #microbit blocks that don't seem to get as much love as (I think 😅) they deserve! Hopefully others doing #computing in #TeamCompSci will have their own #faveblocks

No idea if a Bluesky hashtag will reach some of the #emfcamp shanty singers (from the auntieshanty.org song book) but this looks way up their street!

Awesome thanks! And congrats on the milestone - hope the feeling of loss being joined more strongly with relief, even joy :)

Do you plan to publish it?! Sounds really interesting.

@stockers.bsky.social plenty of great computing folks on this list, probably a bunch of #microbit interest there :D