School' "Computer Club" structure

Ctrl Alt Del

Hello,

Been asked to advise on how to setup an after school Computer Club for a local secondary school !

I've had a look around the IT' market / industry and decided to organise the class timetables as follows:

-1st Topic: Android Tutorial and Android Development Course for Beginners

-2nd Topic: Web development with HTML, PHP, SQL and SSL

-3rd Topic: Mechatronics / LEGO Mindstorm

Left outside:
-programming with Scratch
-Computer security / networking / OS


Each class will have 5-10 students that are interested in the topic.
Each will use a laptop for live coding,we have a smart board or tutor/presenting material,internet access.


For 1st topic,Android,there is a nice online training course that can be purchased and then used in class.

For 2nd topic,WWW,i reckon there are lots of resources to setup a course with syllabus and topic and home work,projects.

For 3rd topic,we plan in buying LEGO II/III and used for live programming.Also,getting some development boards,various architectures adn play with them.

I reckon that every class should be around 3 hours,once a week !

What is your opinion,what i should keep or change please !?

Thanks in advance !

FSL

I think you might find a three hour session after school pushing it a bit with regards to concentration levels. You might find two one hour sessions more productive.

ChRoMe

Ctrl Alt Del wrote: »

Hello,

Been asked to advise on how to setup an after school Computer Club for a local secondary school !

I've had a look around the IT' market / industry and decided to organise the class timetables as follows:

-1st Topic: Android Tutorial and Android Development Course for Beginners

-2nd Topic: Web development with HTML, PHP, SQL and SSL

-3rd Topic: Mechatronics / LEGO Mindstorm

Left outside:
-programming with Scratch
-Computer security / networking / OS


Each class will have 5-10 students that are interested in the topic.
Each will use a laptop for live coding,we have a smart board or tutor/presenting material,internet access.


For 1st topic,Android,there is a nice online training course that can be purchased and then used in class.

For 2nd topic,WWW,i reckon there are lots of resources to setup a course with syllabus and topic and home work,projects.

For 3rd topic,we plan in buying LEGO II/III and used for live programming.Also,getting some development boards,various architectures adn play with them.

I reckon that every class should be around 3 hours,once a week !

What is your opinion,what i should keep or change please !?

Thanks in advance !

Expecting people to jump into Android development, with no prior java experience is going to be extremely difficult for both the teacher and student.

runawaybishop

I'd be looking at HTML and Scratch (or maybe KODU) initially. Jumping into droid dev as your intro would be too much. You should be looking to pick something simple to teach them the fundamentals first.

gaelicyoda

runawaybishop wrote: »

I'd be looking at HTML and Scratch (or maybe KODU) initially. Jumping into droid dev as your intro would be too much. You should be looking to pick something simple to teach them the fundamentals first.

Yes, I would probably lay out the course something like this:

HTML -> JavaScript -> Java -> ?

At each stage it gives you the opportunity to show something "cool" to keep the kids interested, and builds on the previous topic

(1) HTML: Basic web pages, picture, video, blogs (wordpress.com)

(2) Javascript: Add scripts to pages (import libs like jQuery to show some 'fancy' effects). Gives an intro to basic programming principles (though not technically OO, it can be used that way)

(3) Java: Initially create basic UI Apps -> e.g. JFrame containing a HTML pane that can render the web pages created in previous lessons

(4) ... from here a few options:
- you could continue with J2EE, showing servlets and JSPs.
- you could start on basic android development
- you could introduce SQL and back their servlets with a database.

Ctrl Alt Del

OK,thanks to all for input !

So,once I've setup the targets,the Q is how i get there !!

Course 1: Android
Basic knowledge of JAVA is a must !! Hmm,good point !
So i need to start with basic,like Scratch,KODU and JAVA.
Then check if the basis for Android is there,just begin JAVA!
Can be that we may move to Windows and Android maybe...then i need to know C## .

Course 2: HTML and so on
I reckon i can start with as above,in course 1 then at some point OR in next year/class split in two:Android or Medium WWW ( PHP and SQL ) programming.

Course 3: Mechatronics
I'll buy few LEGO Mindstorms and start playing with them,then once the logic behind is well digested ,move to Raspberryes and PLC as next year.


Thanks,it starts to make sense now...


Regarding time ,i reckon if we can deal with opening of the school in the evening AND insurance it will be great !
But that means having the laptop all day on student,in the school,not pretty suitable from school perspective !
Otherwise,we have to run it on Saturday full day and possible in one of the local community centre rather than in the school !

Another quick Q:
-how do i go and run the selection of the students that want to take part in the classes !??
-what if i have students from another Secondary Schools that wants to take part in the program ?


I've asked in the ITB Dublin 15 section for some assistance from students or teachers from there and i got my post ... closed !
Nice feedback got from them,used to be more friendly when i was doing my classes in there,of course ... before r€c€ssion !!! :rolleyes:

Same ,from local D15 community section ! Dunno what i'm doing wrong !!

Now,time to look for online video training programs that does HTML,Scratch and KODU !
Again,appreciate any of your past experience as an input !!!

Please note this project is absolutely voluntarily,no short/medium term profit and it may be possible that i have to bring some cash beside my time !


Again,many thanks !

gaelicyoda

Ctrl Alt Del wrote: »

Then check if the basis for Android is there,just begin JAVA!

Yes, the basics of OO programming and java's got to come before android IMHO. That's kinda why I was suggesting to start with HTML before this - it's pretty much instant gratification compared to java UI stuff and might keep people interested and make them more willing to sit through the less exciting class/interface/object stuff when they can envision a payoff at the end of it.

Ctrl Alt Del wrote: »

Can be that we may move to Windows and Android maybe...then i need to know C##

Java is platform independent - "write once, run anywhere" was a slogan they (Sun) came up with to describe it - so you're not confined to Windows. The eclipse IDE (which is one of the most popular development environment applications) has distributions for Linux and Windows. Umm... not sure where the need to know C## is coming from? (but anyway, syntactically, they're not very different. It's not a big stretch to go from java to C## or vice versa - if you know one, the other's quick enough to pick up).

Ctrl Alt Del wrote: »

... then at some point OR in next year/class split in two:Android or Medium WWW ( PHP and SQL ) programming.

DBs are usually pretty useful things to have in your back pocket - I think SQL is valuable thing to learn in either case, not just bundled together with PHP, but that's just mt 2 cents :-)

Ctrl Alt Del wrote: »

Course 3: Mechatronics
I'll buy few LEGO Mindstorms and start playing with them,then once the logic behind is well digested ,move to Raspberryes and PLC as next year.

This is actually a pretty cool bit of kit - a fella in my degree final year created a rubick's cube solving robot using this, a digital camera and a bit of C++!

TonyStark

Why not start off with something like this: http://robocode.sourceforge.net ? It can be as simple or as complex as you need it to be

I'd also probably try to split it up into two labs twice a week. Teaching the concepts can be slow enough work. Thinking of fun and creative ways to demonstrate them is the challenge! At the end of the day the object should be to spark curiosity among them so they can start their own adventure into computer science.

I say start off simple and then tailor the course according to feedback it should be fun!

Just had a thought for this, why not just use a few raspberry pi's. Do a bit of python? Or another approach is the redbrick/skynet approach and provide them a login server and host some of the tools they need. I would veer away personally from a prescriptive approach, plenty of time for that in university later. Not every one with an interest in computers wants to be a developer.

ethernet

I'd also agree that HTML and JS would be a good starting point.

It might be worth looking into the nearest CoderDojo group or Hackerspace - they might be able to take on a few people or have some willing volunteers or other resources available to you.

mach1982

Why not try a CoderDojo approach