Page 9 - ELG1601 Jul Issue 438

July 2016 ELteaching matters Page 5

Tech’s best and brightest Computer coding

– the next great
Sarah Lally reports from the EdTechX Europe conference in London,

stripping fear and instilling hope in the hearts of tech-scared educators
world language?

he atmosphere inside player, but saw the unveiling
Kings Place in north of the iPhone, iPad and Apple
TLondon was buzzing. Watch, and I’ve watched the oding has become a pop- the problem into its constituent
Coffee aroma and murmurs rise and fall of countless prod- ular subject in schools parts.
filled the main hall where two ucts (looking at you, Nintendo Cacross the world. Courses ‘All programming languages
men welcomed the crowd. The WiiU). But Culatta and I both from HTML and CSS (the basic are is a reflection of the way you
EdTechX Europe 2016 Confer- fear that we aren’t taking full building blocks of the internet) to break things down,’ May said.
ence had begun. advantage of exciting digi- C Sharp and Python (more com- The language is still a vital part
Conference-goers occupy tal opportunities. ‘You have a plex internet programming tools) of the coding process, but its
various roles. Some are teach- device that has more comput- are not only offered but required educational sphere is lacking.
ers, principals or headmasters; ing power than the computer in UK education, beginning in ‘The biggest problem with
still more are the heads of start- that took our first people to the primary school. teaching programming is the
ups, or financial officers of an moon,’ he said about the iPad. Many people consider teachers,’ May said, but not for
international powerhouses. And ‘And you’re using it for work- learning to code more akin to lack of trying. Rather, the gov-
in the middle of it all was a US sheets?’ acquiring another language, ernment requires an ‘unintuitive
intern from the EL Gazette. He continued: ‘The power of rather than just learning basic curriculum’ with minimal fund-
The two presenters, whose this device is not just delivering concepts or skills. Codio takes ing. Essentially, it does not take
introduction went unheard content, but creation.’ confusion and lack of education the subject seriously. ‘It’s criti-
thanks to the deafening crowd, Putting worksheets on an iPad and shows that coding is for eve- cal that teachers become fully
spoke about the work that needs isn’t creation, he said. And this ryone – and is the new language incorporated with programmes,’
to be done. There is one inter- digitising of traditional education everyone needs to learn. May says.
national school for every three is a huge problem. It seems to be Based in the UK and the US, But in the meantime, Codio
Starbucks, they say. And we are that teachers and school leaders Codio is a web service that offers a bridge between stu-
in the midst of a race against fear what they don’t know. teaches computer science to dents, teachers and the basics of
educator obsolescence in the But that shouldn’t be the students from age ten to pro- coding. With the cloud, students
face of improving technology. case, Culatta insisted. Educa- fessionals in any career. As a can work anywhere and with
What pessimism, I scribbled tion technology is an amazing cloud-based program, its users any resource. Teachers and stu-
down. A polite smattering of tool. If a school leader cannot have ‘unlimited computers in dents alike can use tutorials to
applause followed, along with use technology, they shouldn’t the cloud to work in’, according learn programming skills from
an announcement to head to Hall lead the school, he says to a to company founder and CPO the most basic to high-level con-
1 for a keynote address. The hall nodding crowd. Freddy May. cepts.
lights were dim and soft techno But he emphasised that nothing May wants to teach the world Coding seems to be the next
music played from the stage. could ever replace real teachers. how to code in the most efficient great world language to master
I flipped to a new page as the Teachers are the backbone of way possible. A proficient pro- – even if it’s arguably a form
speaker came out onto the stage. schools. But so many are missing Courtesy EdTechX Europe grammer himself, he claims that of syntax rather than an actual
Richard Culatta, the chief out on these amazing tools. the best only spend 10 per cent language. First the world spoke
innovation officer of the US I’m currently a student. I use of their time coding. The rest Latin, then French, English –
state of Rhode Island, welcomed different technological tools of their time is breaking down and now HTML. n
everyone to the conference. every day – from my iPhone to
Culatta’s insights started from game consoles – and I firmly BACK TO BASICS
his first sentence: the world of believe that schools should Throughout the conference,
ed tech is one of ‘awesome pos- be using these same tools to two artists worked on Virtual classes a reality
sibilities’. educate. Young people are tech- canvases representing every
Culatta holds the same mind- nologically fluent and have a aspect of EdTechX Europe:
set that I do: that technology sense of wonder as to what can exploring new technology, featured company at tinuing, but rather pushes them EdTechX Europe conference.
is something exciting. In my be created with tech. And the sharing teaching ideas and A closer to the right path. Players Immerse showed off how the
EdTechX Europe was
twenty years of life, I’ve seen people of EdTechX are trying to networking with ‘the brightest Immerse Learning, an get a plethora of opportunities to headset could be used to take
a lot of technological changes. give that sense of wonder back lights in the international online-only school. Formerly keep trying. apart a complex machine. But
I grew up with the VHS to the educational sphere. n education industry’. known as Languagelab.com, its At the conference, Immerse the Vive is a potentially great
students and teachers use online Learning featured the HTC Vive, tool for English education.
Baleap’s going global English through a city on Sec- developed by Valve and HTC. tise their English at a simulation
a virtual reality (VR) headset
Using VR, students could prac-
avatars for real-time lessons.
Immerse Learning teaches
of a cinema, a supermarket, or
VR simulates an environment
ond Life, which is an online
virtual world similar to massive – like an interactive, electronic even on stage in front of an
‘audience’.
stereoscope. The Vive itself uti-
multiplayer online roleplaying lises ‘room scale’ technology to VR looks set to be one of the
Sarah Lally investigates a forum for English for games. English City teaches turn a room into a virtual space. next great steps in English as a
Academic Purposes in the UK and worldwide by paralleling a video gamer’s Users can walk around the vir- second language education. It
will allow students to practise
process of learning skills by
tual room and interact with the
participating. In video games, virtual objects as if they were their English in low-stress but
failure is a learning experience, physical. real-world environments. Make
aleap is not the sound ciation, restricts its inspections This is an area where Baleap’s not a punishment. Losing a life I got an opportunity to play sure to keep an eye on this (vir-
a sheep makes while to pre-sessional courses, as aca- work has helped not only its own does not deter players from con- with the HTC Vive at the tual) space. n
Bjumping, but the acro- demic English programmes for accredited centres but EAP teach-
nym of the British Association students progressing to university ers throughout the university
of Lecturers in English for Aca- are called in the UK. sector, developing and sharing
demic Purposes, which works to The Council already inspects good practice in programme design
support those in EFL academia. many university departments and delivery, materials develop-
The 44-year-old organisation, as part of the Accreditation UK ment and classroom teaching.
set up by university lecturers, scheme, so what is the difference Apart from the methodologi-
works with academic profes- between the two? Put simply, it is cal differences between the two
sionals in the world of English that the Council scheme concen- schemes, Baleap differs from the
for academic purposes (EAP). trates on general English. Their British Council in another sig-
‘We decided that it no longer teaching observations, for exam- nificant way – its inspectors are
made sense to limit our focus only ple, concentrate on speaking and university lecturers rather than
to EAP provision and EAP practi- listening and inspecting classes retired senior teachers. This fits
tioners working in Britain,’ Baleap where teachers use the phonemic in well with the British tradition
chair Diane Schmitt told the alphabet and correct pronuncia- of using visiting academics from
Gazette in February. ‘Our strapline tion. In an academic environment, other universities to check the
demonstrates our aim to be a forum it is the skills of reading and writ- standard of courses, and allows
for EAP professionals worldwide.’ ing that come to the fore. universities whose bylaws pro-
The group’s aims are to enhance Teacher qualifications and hibit them from inspection by
the world of EAP and support its training, as well as teaching tech- outside bodies to put themselves
professionals and those dedicated niques, differ between academic forward for accreditation.
to teaching academic English. English and its more general sib- There is, in fact, a lot of cross-
Baleap also provides a similar ling. ‘Although the number of over between the British Council
service to the British Council people learning English world- scheme and Baleap’s. About a
with its accreditation scheme for wide is huge, until relatively third of Baleap’s 24 accredited
university departments teaching recently teaching EAP was a members are inspected by both
EAP in the UK. The accreditation small niche area in the larger field schemes and almost all UK
scheme, which was set up in the of EFL,’ according to Schmitt. ‘As university EAP departments,
late 1980s by university lecturers a result, EAP received little atten- inspected or not, are members of
who were members of the asso- tion in teacher education courses.’ the organisation. n

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