Tag Archives: learning to code
Education for the robot economy
Ben Williamson Robotization is driving coding and emotional skills development in education. Image by Saundra Castaneda Automation, coding, data and emotions are the new keywords of contemporary education in an emerging ‘robot economy’. Critical research on education technology and education … Continue reading
Coding for what? Lessons from computing in the curriculum
Ben Williamson [This is a talk prepared for the Pop Up Digital conference, Gothenburg, Sweden, 19 June 2017] There was a key moment in the popular American drama Homeland this year when a group of talented young computer programmers finally launched their … Continue reading
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Tagged BBC, code, computer science, computing at school, computing curriculum, government, learning to code, Nesta, oracle, venture capital
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Free schools and computing skills
Ben Williamson On 5 February Nicky Morgan, Secretary of State for Education, announced plans to open two new free schools that will focus specifically on computer programming skills. The schools are being founded by Ian Livingstone, the videogames entrepreneur who … Continue reading
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Tagged code, digital making, education policy, government, learning to code
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Who is benefiting most from computer coding being part of the National Curriculum?
Ben Williamson I was asked recently to write a short opinion piece on the introduction of Computing into the National Curriculum in England for the Britain in 2016 magazine produced by the Economic and Social Research Council. In the short … Continue reading
Education and the big data imaginary
Ben Williamson Big data and ‘smarter’ software systems are beginning to impact on education, particularly within the schools sector. In a paper prepared for the Big Data–Social Data conference at the University of Warwick, I have sought to trace the … Continue reading
Educating smart cities
Ben Williamson Computer code and digital data have become powerful influences in the social organization and governance of education. At the same time, cities are being reconceived as composed of code, driven by data, and made ‘smart’, ‘programmable’ or even … Continue reading
Coding/Learning – free e-book
The final Code Acts in Education seminar takes place on 1st October 2015 at the University of Bristol. Registration is open for the event; it is free, and funding is available to help support travel, but places are limited. To … Continue reading
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Tagged algorithms, code, data, learning to code, software, software studies
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The laboratory life of innovation labs
Ben Williamson New ‘labs’ for public, social, government and policy innovation have proliferated widely in recent years. Many of them seek to apply new technological solutions to identified problems. To date, though, little research has traced the ‘laboratory life’ inside … Continue reading
Cultures of coding – BBC Micro Bits and Young Digital Makers
Ben Williamson The notion that young people should learn to code has exploded from a minority concern into a mainstream agenda in just the last five years. In March 2015, the BBC announced that it is planning to give away … Continue reading
Programmable schools? Governing education through code in the smart city
Ben Williamson I recently presented some work in progress on the idea of ‘programmable schools’ on invitation from the Programmable City research team at the National University of Ireland Maynooth. The presentation sought to investigate how education has been positioned … Continue reading
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Tagged big data, code, digital making, learning analytics, learning to code, smart city
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code acts in education 