Picademy: New dates announced!

Mad Fer It in Manchester

It’s been a while since we blogged on all things Picademy, so here’s a quick update…

For the uninitiated, Picademy is our free, two-day CPD event series for educators who want to use the Raspberry Pi for projects in the classroom. Over the past three months, we’ve been busy delivering four events in Manchester, creating over a hundred new Raspberry Pi Certified Educators in the process. The whole team was blown away by the passion of the people who attended. In fact, such was the rabid enthusiasm for Raspberry Pi in the area that we added two extra dates in April to cope with the demand – good job, Manchester!

A recent Picademy Manchester cohort.

A recent Picademy Manchester cohort

Picademy uses project-based learning to underpin its workshops, so that delegates can immediately see how the projects can be used in a classroom setting. This way of learning might be a little bit daunting for those who haven’t been in the classroom as a student for while, so we love it when people who might initially lack confidence using the Pi undergo a transformation and embrace the role reversal of teacher becoming student.

A willingness to embrace new ideas, being open to failure, and allowing yourself to make mistakes on the road to success are important messages to take away and think about from each event. One recent Picademy Manchester graduate has written a great blog post reflecting on her experiences at Picademy, and another praised the support she received:

“Thank you so much for a brilliant two days in Manchester. It’s one of the most supportive and inspiring events I have ever attended.”
Carol Macintosh, Picademy delegate

The Pi on the Tyne is all mine

With Picademy Manchester finishing in April, we can announce that our next location will be in Newcastle at Newcastle City Library, where we will be holding events in the spring and early summer.

To find out more and make an application, visit our Picademy Newcastle page.

Our condensed version of the Newcastle skyline

Our condensed version of the Newcastle skyline in all its glory

Code Club Teacher Training

If you want something more compact to fit into your busy schedule, Code Club Teacher Training will also be running in Newcastle alongside Picademy events. The training is only two hours long and provides teachers with practical activities and engaging resources to develop young people’s understanding. The sessions are delivered in school, as INSET or twilight sessions, and are mapped against the new computing curriculum. We offer three modules: Computational Thinking, Programming, and Internet and the Web.

Request a Teacher Training session in your school: www.codeclubpro.org/request_training

11 comments

Avatar

Excellent news about the new Picademy dates coming up in the North-East of England. Thank you Raspberry Pi :-)

I’ve already had my allowed one day of CPD this year. Any idea about offering any ‘summer holiday’ Picademies? I’d really love to come to one but can’t get any time off school?

Oliver Quinlan

We try to have a blend of dates to cater for both those who can’t get time out of school, and those who can and would prefer term time to holidays/weekends. In the past we’ve done events in school holidays as well as term times. It depends on the dates available at the venues. There are still some dates to be announced, so keep an eye out and hopefully some of the future dates will work for you.

Avatar

Thanks Oliver. I visit a few times a week, so will keep an eye out.

Avatar

That’ll be a “reet gradely dee”! :)

Avatar

excellent

Avatar

Is there any teacher training happening on the east coast of the US? How expensive is it if we were to pay for the 2 hour training?

James Robinson

We’re currently working out where our remaining 2 Picademy in the US are going to be. Our plan is to have them in various locations across the US

Avatar

Hi, I have just started my own business educating people about the raspberry pi. I am not part of a school, but a code club volunteer in a library. I would love to become pi certified and spread the word across Scotland about this amazing little computer, but because Im not part of a school can I take part in your course?

Thanks

Kerry

James Robinson

Our training is specifically aimed at teachers delivering computing in the classroom. It is not a course about the Raspberry Pi (although we do use them).

The course instead focuses on engaging ways to deliver the computing curriculum through physical computing and project based learning.

We do occasionally train professionals outside of the classroom, however teachers are our main target demographic.

Avatar

Hi

I was wondering if there were any places left on the two day course at Newcastle Library on the 27th and the 28th of June?

Thanks

Dan Fisher

Hi Jane,

I’m afraid we are fully booked for that particular event. Have you seen our announcement about Picademy events in Scotland today?

Take a look here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/picademy/register-your-interest/

Leave a Comment

Comments are closed