Teaching TouchDevelop at Moseley Park School

It gave me great delight to return to the school where I took my first steps towards becoming a teacher. It was great to see some familiar faces but it was also great to see how the school has progressed. Everywhere I went, students were busily working away (despite the intense heat) and I could sense a positive vibe all around the school!

The reason for my visit was to run a workshop on TouchDevelop. For those unfamiliar with the web app, TouchDevelop is a novel programming environment that runs on iPad, iPhone, Android, PC, Mac, Windows Phone. If you have a mobile device, you write scripts by tapping on the screen. You do not need a separate PC or keyboard. TouchDevelop can be used in the classroom to teach programming concepts, and TouchDevelop is also ideal for classes on Mobile Computing, as it cuts the time required to write apps. To find out more about TouchDevelop and why I think it's perfect for introducing coding at KS4, visit my TouchDevelop Challenge website: touchdevelop.weebly.com

During the session, staff and students explored how to use the in-built turtle library in #TouchDevelop as well as how to create amazing 8-bit graphics using the Pixel Art library. At the end of the session, students had a go at creating their very first game using the hour of code tutorials on the #TouchDevelop website. To download the resources for this session (FREE), visit touchdevelop.weebly.com/lessons

An amazing time was had by all and the students were a credit to both the school and their teacher.

Quotes:

"WOW! I've done it" - Madison (After completing the final Pixel Art Challenge on her own.)

Below is a selection of some of the students creations:

Turtle Art

Awesome Turtle Drawing

Vortex by Shelley

Pixel Art

Emoji by Ellie

M by Madison

Minecraft artwork by Storm

Games

Flappy Bird by Madison