Following a successful
pilot in 2015, web hosting firm UKFast has announced five further ‘Raspberry Pi
Cafés’ for Manchester schools this year. The project
represents a £100 000 investment from UKFast.
Aaron Saxon, UKFast’s
Director of Training and Education, reveals, “We are distributing 120 Pis
across the five sites: Holy Name RC Primary School in Moss Side, St Bede’s Prep
School in Hulme, Alderley Edge School for Girls, The Hollins Technology College
in Accrington, and The Factory Youth Zone in North Manchester.”
The sites were chosen
“where gaps in digital engagement exist”, Aaron explains. This includes areas
lacking “the resources to deliver cutting-edge digital training, as well as
all-girl schools which have traditionally seen low uptake in technical
subjects.”
Raspberry Pi cafés in Manchester schools
We asked Aaron how the
Pi Cafés would actually operate, and it seems that’s largely up to the schools:
“Some schools may use it as a creative space, others will use it as their
computer science classroom as well as an extra-curricular hub and space for the
community.”
The Raspberry Pi
boards in question “won’t look like traditional desktop units,” Aaron tells us,
“as we want them to be more computer-science focused.” For UKFast, that means
“there will be arcade, old-school gaming, and robotics cases” Aaron says.
“We’re providing the technology for the children in a fun and exciting way.”
Paul Grier, Network
Manager at St Bede’s Prep School (one of the five new sites), adds that “in 20
years’ time, 45% of jobs will be done by AI and robots. So if kids today don’t
understand [these things], they won’t understand how the world works.”
Paul says he hopes the
new Pi Café will “allow both children and the staff [of St Bede’s] to delve
more into computer science.” While students and staff of St Bede’s “learn ICT,
which is processing and spreadsheets,” Paul tells us that “programming hasn’t
taken off as much as I would have liked it to.”
Comments
Post a Comment