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In this episode, Dr. Peter Dalmaris and Marcus Schappi talk with Nicola O’Brien.
Nicola is the founder of Code Rangers, a company based in Sydney that teaches children how to code, develop games, and apps. Nicola’s created Code Rangers after a long career in Corporate Law and Finance. She is particularly passionate about programming and understands the importance of technology literacy as a basic prerequisite for our children’s digital future.
Let’s listen to Nicola as she describes her teaching philosophy as she applies it in Code Rangers.
This is Stemiverse podcast episode 12.
Stemiverse podcast is brought to you by Tech Explorations, a leading provider of educational resources for Makers, STEM students, and teachers. Go to techexplorations.com to see a complete list of our books and courses covering the Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and electronics.
Show notes
- [spp-timestamp time=”00:00″] Introduction – Introducing Nicola O’Brien
- [spp-timestamp time=”01:38″] Nicola talks about her background and her company Code Rangers
- [spp-timestamp time=”02:40″] Nicola’s professional journey: From acquiring Law and Accounting degrees to becoming a finance lawyer, a financial analyst, to learning Visual Basic and exploring coding, as well as her father’s influence as a computer scientist
- [spp-timestamp time=”04:52″] What triggered Nicola’s change from Law to Education
- [spp-timestamp time=”06:08″] Nicola as a child
- [spp-timestamp time=”07:39″] Nicola’s teaching experience before starting Code Rangers
- [spp-timestamp time=”08:31″] The influence having children had on Nicola
- [spp-timestamp time=”10:08″] Why Coding was Nicola’s subject of choice
- [spp-timestamp time=”11:10″] The leap from Ethics lessons to teaching Coding
- [spp-timestamp time=”13:34″] What outcomes parents are looking for and what their expectations are
- [spp-timestamp time=”15:27″] Nicola’s teaching tools: Scratch and Makey Makey for younger kids, Python for older ones
- [spp-timestamp time=”15:53″] Scratch
- [spp-timestamp time=”17:43″] Tab vs 3 Spaces
- [spp-timestamp time=”18:18″] Web development using Thimble by Mozilla
- [spp-timestamp time=”18:59″] Micro:bit
- [spp-timestamp time=”21:11″] Combining scripted lessons with student exploration
- [spp-timestamp time=”22:17″] How students deal with challenges: Troubleshooting
- [spp-timestamp time=”24:45″] Code Rangers’ Schedule
- [spp-timestamp time=”25:58″] If you had an unlimited budget how would you design an ideal educational system? PD for teachers
- [spp-timestamp time=”29:13″] How to get kids interested in technology
- [spp-timestamp time=”31:47″] Character qualities for technology teachers: Being observant, empathetic and encouraging
- [spp-timestamp time=”33:50″] Code Rangers’ company size
- [spp-timestamp time=”34:37″] Rapid Fire Questions
- [spp-timestamp time=”34:50″] Who has been the most influential in shaping the way you teach: Seymour Pappert
- [spp-timestamp time=”35:03″] Apps you cannot live without? Zapier
- [spp-timestamp time=”36:38″] Professional Development Conferences and Workshops: Networking, Twitter chat: #aussieED@aussieEDchat, @edchatNZ, #whatisschool
- [spp-timestamp time=”40:00″] Parting Thoughts, Dos and Don’ts
- [spp-timestamp time=”40:38″] Nicola’s Contact Info: Code Rangers’ Website