CAS ConferenceJune 2012

Paul Clarkewww.yousrc.com

previca limited

300 teachers and 6,000 students used YOUSRC this year

Bayhouse School- Introducing 350 Year 9’s to coding

Luke Sartain writes:“We chose YOUSRC for a number of reasons... it allows pupils to access their work from home as well as in school... we did not need to provide a risk assessment to the IT department as no executable files are created or run on school computers... the teacher admin section is fantastic... the support we have received has been exceptional... and the ability to create pupil accounts from a CSV file saved me countless hours.

From the pupils perspective they like seeing the library functions turn green if they have typed it correctly. The error messages upon checking their code are easy to follow, allowing them to correct their own code (they're getting better at this all the time). The majority of pupils like the Caesar Cypher challenge.”

300 teachers and 6,000 students used YOUSRC this year

Tonbridge Grammar School- Use YOUSRC in classes of ~25 students

Caroline Ghali writes:“The language is simple... there are only a limited number of functions, and variables are either string or numeric... error messages during compilation really help students figure out their mistakes for themselves... it is web-based and free – so no outlay for parents or fiddly installation.. it provides teacher control.

I can see the students’ work, and lock their work so they have limited time for assessments... I can publish resources for them to use... there are simple tutorials and a set of lesson plans to introduce features to students... students can publish their work, see work of others and leave comments... the apps they create run on Android phones... it looks like Java so it provides a stepping stone to 6th form work.”

YOUSRC existing foundations

YOUSRC+ benefitsYOUSRC roadmap

BACKUP SLIDES- FOR POST-CAS-CONF READERS

YOUSRC foundations - 1“All you need is a PC

with a browser and Java installed”

• Service runs on our dedicated servers, backed up nightly, based in UK datacentre.

• Compiler (aka “checker”) and runtime both run in Java applets in your browser.

• Fast and responsive hand-crafted ASP pages running on SQL Server database.

“Child-safe and family-friendly approach

designed-in from start”

• No person-to-person direct messaging.• All contributions moderated (forum posts,

comments, images, sounds, apps, files).• We support teachers by email, but only

support students through the forum. We follow-back teachers, but not students.

“The simpler the language, the easier you

can learn it”

• CONSTANT, GLOBAL, FUNCTION, LOCAL, LET, IF, ELSEIF, ELSE, FOR, WHILE, RETURN.

• Variables are declared as numbers or strings; booleans are enumerated numbers

• Powerful set of less than 100 library functions in clear family groupings.

“How can a computing teacher avoid 20+ hands shooting up for help?”

• Feedback is orientated for young coders not professional or experienced coders.

• We ask users to tell us if they don’t understand a “checker” message, improve.

• Strong feedback from the start about our checker feedback easing teacher workload.

YOUSRC foundations - 2“Toe in the water for many, or two years of

study by fewer?”

• For toe in water we need low barriers to achieving something satisfying, exciting.

• For deeper learning we need environment where more complex algorithms can be developed, debugged, and visualised.

• Need seamless transition between the two

“Teachers need to be able to do their job... accelerate learning, monitor progress”

• Easy set up of students personal accounts.• Copy code fragments to student accounts

to jumpstart learning.• Monitor use, run apps, lock assessments,

be alerted over bad behaviour, support through forum at “odd” hours, get help.

“How can I maximise chances of being

successful with my students at GCSE level?”

• We work to ensure YOUSRC provides what is needed to support GCSE work.

• We happily support teachers to show them how concepts can be implemented.

• Built in support for controlled assignments, teachers can provide moderator access.

“I could learn to code with YOUSRC, but just what is it capable of?”

• Continually optimise the runtime system, look to expand to new platforms (eg Pi).

• We also code exciting apps that push the boundaries – eg case studies in games.

• If students see system is capable of compelling games, more likely to learn.

YOUSRC+ benefits“An environment with

no ads to distract students in class or at

home”• YOUSRC is funded through investments,

sponsorship, advertising to teachers, advertising to students, offline licencing.

• YOUSRC+ removes the advertising-to-students element.

• Plus it’s a great way to support us!

“A forum just for you, your students, and our

forum moderators”

• There are already public forums on YOUSRC site, moderated by us, to get feedback and provide support.

• A YOUSRC+ subscription also brings a forum just for your school – with support from us of course if you wish.

“More space for images and sounds, useful for

more complex projects”

• All accounts have a 1 MB quota for images and sounds used in YOUSRC apps.

• All teachers and students of a YOUSRC+ subscribing schools get a 10 MB quota.

• This is useful for larger projects, school-driven coding challenges, etc.

“Help students learn faster with videos for

lesson plans / examples.”

• Learning is faster if you can hear us talk the lesson plans, examples, or tutorials through over videos hosted on our servers.

• We also provide a free wall-chart of the most commonly used library functions.

• Also get 25% discount on more purchases.

YOUSRC roadmap“Bringing the YOUSRC learning experience to

the Raspberry Pi”

• We will provide a runtime (including GPIO support), and then later a development environment on the Raspberry Pi.

• Runtime is in development, dev env is in concept phase pending perf analysis.

• Runtime environment ready by Sept 2012.

“An engaging logo-style environment for younger coders in junior school”

• A richer more-fun environment than traditional logo / turtle environments.

• Use best bits of YOUSRC – eg Teacher Admin, workspace, fully online, etc.

• Alpha version live and ready for your class, and will be fully live by Sept 2012.

“Ideas for opto-programmable toys and

R-Pi accessories”

• We know that children love playing with toys and taking control of them.

• We plan to take the YOUSRC runtime to programmable toys for boys and girls.

• Exploring innovative opto-coupling to avoid wires, plus Pi interfacing systems.

“Provide a YOUSRC runtime for devices

popular with students”

• We already provide a free Android runtime environment so YOUSRC apps run – unchanged – on Android devices.

• We want to extend this concept to Blackberry devices given prevalence among students. Timescales unknown.