Computing

@http://www.google.com/edu/computational-thinking/lessons.html - An initiative by Google to promote 'computational thinking' in schools. Well organised list of lessons with summary descriptions and starting from a very basic level, e.g. fractions and percentages, but using computer programs to explore. Totally depends on use of (free) python scripting language. Nice idea, but not recommended in its current format. It does not look as if it has yet been sufficiently used/proved in the classroom.

[] some UK resources.

Languages etc
[] Processing is a free down loadable tool which develops programing skills while producing some very cool graphic objects. Well worth a look. [] A descriptive introduction to scratch, Scratch is a graphic programming language. [] A link in to the scratch home page at MIT [] Nine links to kid friendly coding resources, including some of those mentioned above. [|http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/] MIT app inventor [| www.wix.com/yoursitename] A Flash website builder from John Dalton of JDIT [] The computing section from the MIT highlights for High schools section of the open course ware resources. []Perspectives, one of the founders of nvidia talks for 4 minutes [|http://tldp.org/]The linux documentation project, a nice starting point for getting deeper into the nuts and bolts of things. http://harmful.cat-v.org/software/c++/linus A word on C vs. C++ from Linus Torwald... A very good one page briefing on ipads in education [|5 common Ipad mistakes] Coding on Ipads, This list was contributed to the CESI list by Chris Reina, I will try and link the resources later
 * A short word on IPADS**

> **[|Tynker]**


 * [|Dash (API)] An API documentation Browser**


 * [|Lightbot]**


 * [|Buffer] (C++, Java, Arduina, HTML, Perl, Python, Ruby, SQL and lots more)**


 * [|Tickle]**


 * [|Koder] (CSS, PHP, SSH and Syntax capabilities) A code editor for ipad or iphone**


 * [|Mobile Markup]**


 * [| ScriptKit] Drag and drop programming for the ipad**


 * [|CodetoGo]**


 * [|Kodiak]**


 * [|Pyonkee](Scratch) (Source code available at: [])**


 * ScratchJr (Scratch)**


 * [|Textastic] An advanced code editor for the iphone**


 * Nitro ? possibly [|Nitrous]**


 * Editor**


 * Codea**


 * Diet Coda Now Coda on IOS, There is a link to a review with links to follow here[| Review of Coda]**


 * [|Codosaurus]**


 * and of course: Pythonista**…

[] Microsoft developers network lots of free tools and tutorials here. [] Googles eqiuvalent site. It feels odd to be puting a search engines developer site in here, but for some google is the web and so this is also a good place to start. [] The apple equivalent. Last time I played with this you needed a mac to run apples free developer tools on this site. If you have one, then this is the place to go. [] The Android equivalent.
 * App Development/Windows development/Mac development**

Two more places to learn how to code: [] A great resource for learning most web related coding. [] Learn how to code. this is one of the best free sites out there, and its very good.

More tools for App development, Americans consider the costs on these sites reasonable. These sugestions came from the ITForum, a predominantly american email list. The first suggestion is not realistic in an irish context. Bright cove This has free accounts, however these only run on a simulator. To deploy the App, you have to buy an enteprise licence, which is $15,000 and upwards. [] mLearning Studio from[| RapidIntake] "very simple--no programming involved, and creates Web Apps, meaning they run on iOS and Android" If you need to pay a lot of money to convince yourself that a tool is good, then this is the way to go at about $1800 per year! Trevor Boland for the CESI list sugested the following: A great app maker that is free and online is the mit app maker : [] It involves no code but is only good for android tablets "Mags Amond" also suggested the following on the CESI list > [] "is wysiwyg, haven't used it yet but it's been on the "need to get round to that" list for a while..."

Gamesalad there is a free version at ** [|gamesalad.com] ** “great for interactive not data driven app/game creation - Mac only”

The Learning Mag at ** [] ** “Super easy, price is right... the app then works online/android/ios...” This looks like a free tool to build an interactive course/book.

LiveCode from Runtime Revolution at http**:// [|www.runrev.com] //** // “In the case of iOS (the iPhone, iPad and iPod) you still must do the final step of using Apple's software to publish the final app. But LiveCode is a thousand times easier than C++.” The rice here is about 600 euro for 20 seats of secondary, or 1600 for 20 seats at third level. Not a cheap option //

// Corona SDK by at : //** [|anscamobile.com] ** “The dev. community around it is very active (and growing faster than Livecode's, which is why I went with it instead)” and “Great API…I use XCode for my IDE.” comes in at about $349 cross platform, or $199 for a single (android/IOS) platform.

And for windows 8 aficionado's there is this from microsoft: [|http://www.microsoft.com/student/en-us/app-development/windows-8.aspx#fbid=D3s9Tohvtkk]

[] From the ECDL people. http://www.bbc.co.uk/computertutor/computertutorone/index.shtml A BBC intro to computers. Suggested by Sean Griffin on the CESI list.
 * Before the ECDL some suggestions:**

[], and in particular:[] Good looking free resources suggested by Clare Wallace on the CESI list. Clare has also suggested that [] is worth a look. Teach-ict.com Resources for module 5, Access are here: [] Neil O'Sullivan sugested this website: [] Sheila Hyland suggested that [] Can be used for the Mock test. For the 2007 version there are some resources here:[] This link was provided by Fergal O'Neill.
 * ECDL**

[|http://www.digitalcre8or.ie/]Digital creator, an alternative to the ECDL. The underlying concept is digital media, and that when you can create in a medium you have mastered it. [] Microsoft Digital literacy course, three levels available. This has been an ongoing topic, and the following list of topics has been developed by scraping the list. I have attempted to give credit where I can do so, though users should be aware that in editing these suggestions and adding websites I may have created errors and omissions for which I take full responsibility. [] a 3d programing and Animation envioronment from [|Carnegie Mellon University]
 * What to do above and beyond or instead of the ECDL**

A serious website/application building toolkit from twitter: []

Classroom topics from Tom Kenndall [|plagiarism] - incites great classroom debate know how to use MS Word, but that doesn't mean they understand how to design an attractive poster or sign. Seamus O'Neill came up with the following sugestions: - audio and video editing and video making - still image editing and creative presentation techniques - computer drawing (with graphic skills such as curve editing as in Adobe Illustrator) - desktop publishing (importing still images and vector drawing) - web design and suggested the following programs: 1. [|Open Office 3] (open source) for all ECDL-type skills 2. Audacity (open source) for audio editing 3. [|CamStudio] (open source) to record AVI video files 4. PhotoPlus SE (free Serif) for image editing skills 5. DrawPlus SE (free Serif) for computer drawing, curve editing etc. 6. Scrapbook Artist Compact (free Serif) for creative presentation skills 7. WebPlus (free Serif) for web design 8. PagePlus (free Serif) for desktop publishing The Free Serif Software is available at www.freeserifsoftware.com 9. [|Google SketchUp] - which recently featured in the CESI list discussio
 * [|creative commons law] - lots to talk about here as well
 * design and [|typographic principles] - many students (and teachers)
 * intro to HTML - can't beat it!
 * exposure to a programming language, i.e. Scratch, [|Alice], BASIC

[] A classic old school computing syllabus from Malta

Where to start with a computer club! Without reinventing the wheel, here is a good place to start. []