Lessons from three years of volunteering to teach students code
Channel: LinuxConfAu 2018 - Sydney, Australia
Date: 2018-01-24

David Tulloh

http://lca2018.linux.org.au/schedule/presentation/79/

There has been a fair bit of discussion over the last few years on IT in schools.

Having spent three years volunteering at my local high school trying to force good coding practice on students I'm going to share the kind of war stories that teachers normally keep to themselves.

* The fantastic network engineering skills of students with a firewall between them and youtube.
* Managing illiterate students in a self driven learning environment.
* The fantastic manipulative skills of students determined to get somebody else to do the work for them.

On a more serious note we will also discuss:

* Time poor teachers and the shortcuts taken.
* Programming environments designed for school students.
* Big business in the classroom.
* Difficulties in encouraging girls to choose IT electives.

And finally why students are learning XML, CSV and project management but not OOP, automated testing or version control.

This talk was given at Linux.conf.au 2018 (LCA2018) which was held on 22-26 January 2018 in Sydney Australia.

linux.conf.au is a conference about the Linux operating system, and all aspects of the thriving ecosystem of Free and Open Source Software that has grown up around it. Run since 1999, in a different Australian or New Zealand city each year, by a team of local volunteers, LCA invites more than 500 people to learn from the people who shape the future of Open Source. For more information on the conference see https://linux.conf.au/

#linux.conf.au #linux #foss #opensource