Physical Computing educators - Uni & High / Middle School - what confs do you attend? Feels pretty lonely teaching CircuitPython & would love to share & learn w/others. Also: is there an appetite for summer workshops / maybe a weeklong boot camp to bring faculty up to teaching speed? #STEMed #CSed

A tutorial on using PyCharm & Tio with CircuitPython. This is the editor I use for my course. Setup isn't intuitive & there are a few spots that can trip folks up, but I've found it to be the best available editor. Also sharing a tip sheet. Hope this helps some: https://youtu.be/zTRMT5xupRo #CSEd #STEMed

Has anyone played around with encouraging (but not requiring) students to teach one another?

One way of demonstrating mastery of the material is teaching it to others. I feel like if student A says "Student B really helped me understand the material" that increases my Bayesian posterior that student B understood the material really well (and also that student A understood it, since presumably after student B explained it, student A understood it at least better than they did before).

I wouldn't do this as the only, or even major, part of their grade, but it seems like if the grade is to reflect learning, that teaching it to others certainly reflects on their learning.

(Additional context: this is for a university-level elective technical course in Comp Sci, for 3rd and 4th-years mostly. I generally do flipped classroom and alternative grading - some combo of ungrading, mastery-based, standards-based, but I'm open to ideas. The class has about 55 students, so whatever it is can take some time but not be *too* time-intensive on me & the one TA.)

#AlternativeGrading #grading #teaching #education #CSEd #ComputerScience #CompSci

Working with a @raspberrypi pico & #CircuitPython? Here’s an updated tutorial on installing CircUp - a tool for installing & updating libraries. I have all my students use CircUp. It’s great! Hope you find the lesson helpful #csed & #stemed friends. Hack on! https://youtu.be/OD6CqkVaihM?si=3do_SdBY-JULa7xR

#CSed friends looking for @raspberrypi pico #CircuitPython lessons, or anyone wanting to learn #Maker electronics, another lesson of the revised pico-school is up. Includes challenges re: prior lesson on NeoPixels, & new concepts inc variables, naming conventions & more! https://youtu.be/cMrd02IHxaM?si=8g5RHkmOvJbBS89Y

& challenges + #CSed solutions are in the open Google Drive for the course at Gallaugher.com. There is a folder for both my #Maker electronics CircuitPython course & my #SwiftUI course at that URL. Teachers - don’t be shy about using in your courses. It’s for you!

I’m updating the @raspberrypi.com pico lessons for my course on #electronics #making: beginner thru IoT & robotics. We use #CircuitPython. Here is the first lesson youtu.be/d6e6En1OjNQ Will also have a low-cost book & online quiz. Feedback & shared always welcome. #CSed have at it

#Introduction Hashtags, so I can pin this post and take them out of my profile:

#Education #Research #Phd, #BCS #Computing #Teacher #CCT
#CSEd #Programming #BCS
#ActuallyAutistic
#ActuallyADHD
I live with #MultipleSclerosis
#Zen / #Nonduality #Buddhist, weirdly into #Jung
#Research topics:
- #EdAI / #AIEd - #LLMs in #Education
- #CriticalStudies of #EdTech
- #Neurodiversity in #Education, and the experience of ND educators.

The recent global conference run by the DevTech group run by Prof. Marina Bers (Scratch Jr., KIBO) is an example of pioneering work to empower #CSed educators & students being done at @BostonCollege. https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/sites/bc-news/articles/2025/summer/a-palette-of-virtues-international-symposium.html

250+ tech leaders are calling for mandatory K-12 CS & AI education across the US via Unlock8. Essential skills boost earnings & prepare students for an AI-driven future. Let's make tech literacy universal. #CSEd #AIforAll #FutureReady

Recently, an article has been making it's rounds in the #CSEd community on having different intro CS classes for different purposes.

My thoughts here:

https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/pathways/

oh hey my EduPar paper has gone up!

"SFS: A Simple File System for Teaching Parallelism in Computer Systems", the result of a lot of late nights between 2021 and 2023.

https://tcpp.cs.gsu.edu/curriculum/sites/default/files/Edupar115.pdf

(permanent author copy:
https://research.owlfolio.org/pubs/2025-sfs.pdf )

#csed

"Shake and Bake: The Ballad of an Accelerometer" a CircuitPython School challenge & solution. #STEMed and #CSed folks, feel free to use for your own courses. Uses a CircuitPlayground Bluefruit which has a built in LIS3DH accelerometer https://youtu.be/kHNb18eZQ3U

#STEMed and #CSed friends or anyone looking for a CircuitPython set of challenge problems. Today’s exam has epic fun referencing Talladega Nights, Chappell Roan, SNL, Steve Kormacki, and much more. Solutions posted soon.
https://youtu.be/sDg-TuBySp8

What are the "essential" skills that computer science students need? I think they need to understand coding, algorithms, and other parts of CS well enough to ask the right questions (of an LLM, search engine, or other human), and understand and validate the answers. Perhaps a useful frame of mind is: "Eventually you will be supervising people or machines. You need basic technical understanding, critical thinking, and project management skills."

#education #pedagogy #CSEd #ComputerScience

Not huge compared to many, but it was nice crossing 1 million views on the YouTube odometer for my primary channel. It’s now focused on SwiftUI https://bit.ly/prof-g-swiftui And the maker/electronics programming (mostly CircuitPython) now has its own channel. #CSed free to all! YouTube.com/@BuildWithProfG

NeoPixel LEDs are cool. Making them twirl up & down a light strip by using a potentiometer? Even cooler. And doing it with python slices using a @RaspberryPi Pico? Super fun! Dig in to the latest lesson of #CircuitPython School. #CSEd friends, STEM goodness for your class https://youtu.be/1-sgErNV-b0?si=jeHuiRYTzMKbF4Q9

Checking in from Scrapyard, San Diego. https://scrapyard.hackclub.com/

#HackClub #Scrapyard #CSed

CSTA San Diego meeting now at Karl Strauss on Scranton. #CSed #CSTA

Hey #Computing teachers! 15 episodes of the #HTTCS podcast are now out in the wild, featuring specialists like Miles Berry, Becci Peters, and Rachel Arthur. pod.httcs.online
#CSED