麻豆约拍

It’s just over three weeks since 麻豆约拍 Director General Tony Hall brandished the Micro Bit at a press launch and announced that the 麻豆约拍 and partners would be manufacturing 1 million of the pocket-sized devices and distributing one free to every year seven (or equivalent) pupil in the UK.

Since then we’ve been hugely encouraged by the levels of interest and excitement that announcement caused. It’s been truly gratifying to find that others are as enthusiastic about the project as the 麻豆约拍 and its partners.

However, the Micro Bit was one of a raft of exciting opportunities and programmes revealed as part of the initiative, so inevitably there wasn’t the space to go into lots of detail about the project.
So now is the time to start and first we‘d like to restate and underline two of the fundamental objectives of the Micro Bit:

Firstly, that its purpose is to enthuse, excite and empower a new generation of digitally creative young people. This is why the Micro Bits are for the children themselves to own.

Secondly, that we absolutely intend the Micro Bit to support schools and teachers in delivering the computing curricula.

Though the children will own the Micro Bit, the general distribution will be through schools. As well as being a fun, codeable and wearable device they are an educational aid. As such, the teaching community is vital to this initiative and we have them very much in mind as we’re planning the roll out.

There is a lot to plan in terms of that roll out and it is a big logistical challenge. Not only will we get the devices to all UK schools, we will also ensure that home-school children in that year group are also involved.

We also realise how important it is for teachers to get a chance to see and use the Micro Bit in advance. We are working through the detail but we aim to ensure that IT teachers get their hands on the device before the summer holidays. We also want to give them the opportunity to explore ways of using the Micro Bits in lessons so there will be some curriculum resources made available at the same time.

We’re still looking at the logistics of how to achieve this and which are the best networks to use. But it’s important to note that our broad range of fantastic partners working across the project are also planning teacher events to support the roll out.

One of the most inspiring things about trials of the prototype in schools was the creative potential the students quickly saw in the Micro Bit. Among many examples we saw students create a rudimentary rock, paper, scissors game and an entertaining little tale told in LED lights called simply “The Story of Pizza”.

With this in mind, we and around 16 partners are working to create a diverse range of supporting materials for teachers, that will not only assist them in delivering the computer science curriculum (this includes all UK curricula) but also help students realise the Micro Bit’s full creative potential.

Among resources the 麻豆约拍 is planning is a series of Live Lessons for students on the Micro Bit –these are curriculum-focused but fun and interactive webcast programmes that feature 麻豆约拍 talent and brands for example, .

Finally, for now, it’s important to stress that there will be lasting legacy – though the Make It Digital initiative will have a major focus in 2015, many aspects will continue in some form and we are in the process of finalising future plans for the Micro Bit beyond the autumn.

We’ll have more to share on the detail and timings over the coming weeks but we’d love to hear any questions or comments you have below so that we can make sure we’ve got everything covered.

Cerys Griffiths is Executive Producer, 麻豆约拍 Learning.

• Find out more about the initiative at the 麻豆约拍’s .
• Look at other resources the 麻豆约拍 has produced which support the computer science curriculum on the .
• See what happened at the launch of Make It Digital in London on 12 March 2015 via .