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Not that long ago I was a writer of interesting and engaging educational programmes. Fortunately, that is no longer the case. The programmes that I wrote and shared with a team of teachers were generally well accepted and the feedback offered was always politely positive. I enjoyed writing these programmes but in recent times I have enjoyed even more stepping away from this process and in doing so empowering the team of teachers that I learn with. The programmes that this team produces far exceed the quality I could ever have hoped to produce but more importantly the students are benefiting from their experience of highly engaged and thus engaging teachers.

"Thought I would share a little about our iPad programme. Further details of our programme can be found on our iPad portal: http://ipad.redlands.qld.edu.au/"

"Jewelbots are colorful, programmable, smart friendship bracelets to get girls excited about coding. Sure, they're pretty and interactive: but what Jewelbots founders really want is to inspire tween and teen girls to understand the basics of coding, and take on building features of their own. Girls can program the bracelets right away without writing code, using simple if-then statements-the foundational logic of engineering-from the linked mobile app. The bracelets light up, vibrate or flash, letting girls communicate with each other in Morse code. They can also communicate when other Jewelbots wearers are near. The bracelets are connected through Bluetooth, and can be used with or without a linked phone."

Identifying what our children need to learn is one of the most important processes within education. For the teacher this is the question they engage with as they design their teaching and learning units. By no means is this an easy task and the teacher must balance multiple factors to ensure that the programmes they design provide their students with the learning they require. Even the most effective sequence of lessons is of little value if what it sets out to teach has little importance in the lives our learners are likely to lead. 

"It's official: coding is all the rage today. We are living in a world where apps dominate every aspect of our lives and are disrupting the way we do things. And creating these apps require-you guessed it-coding know-how. With the rising prominence of 'superstar' programmers such as Bill Gates and Sheryl Sandberg, coding has captured the attention and imagination of many youth, who are beginning to recognise its value. According to this Microsoft study, a resounding majority of students in Asia Pacific want to see coding as a core subject in school, believing it is instrumental to helping them acquire essential 21st century skills necessary to thrive in the fast-changing world of tomorrow. While some may argue that being a programmer is not for everyone, we can all agree that coding has some life lessons that we can benefit from, especially children and young people. Here are three reasons why you should get started coding."

"Hearing a child say they spent their school day playing with Lego may not go down well with parents. But these little bricks could become a fixture in maths lessons thanks to a new programme devised by the toy company. Primary schools have long used Lego informally to teach. However, this month Lego Education is launching a new programme, MoreToMaths, a global scheme especially designed to help teachers tackle key stage 1 maths on the national curriculum using the toys. The MoreToMaths kit, including lesson plans and teaching guides, costs £750 for a class of 30. While some may be sceptical about Lego's move into education - and the price that may deter state schools - many teachers have already found cost-effective ways to use Lego in lessons. We gathered these fun ideas from our teaching community."

"Coding is having it's 15 minutes of fame. Journalists regularly quote facts about the shortage of computer programmers in the US, entrepreneurs fund coding camps for low opportunity kids and even the President has given learning to code a thumbs up. For many parents and teachers this new focus on learning to code feels like an overhyped fad that will be replaced any day now by "learning particle physics" or "learning solar energy storage." And does anyone really believe that turning a whole generation of kids into programmers would be a good outcome for society? What about artists, doctors, musicians and mechanics? What about chefs, writers, electricians and plumbers? Why exactly do kids need to learn to code?"

""What's wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology. No amount of technology will make a dent." So said Steve Jobs in 1996 - during an interview in which the Apple co-founder claimed the bureaucratic, political and sociopolitical problems facing the education sector were beyond technology's capacity to fix. In the 19 years since Jobs uttered those words, the issues weighing heavily on the shoulders of educators, schools, universities and other educational facilities have undoubtedly multiplied. But so too have the ways in which technology can be harnessed to address some of the tensions within teaching and learning. VoksenUddannelsesCenter Syd, or VUC for short, is one of 29 adult education programmes across Denmark, situated across the four towns of Haderslev, Aabenraa, Tonder and Sonderborg. The state-funded centres use legislative frameworks issued by the Ministry of Education, and are run by principals who answer to the centre board. The programmes originally issued students with MacBooks before plumping for iPads to replace traditional textbooks and paper-based essays two years ago, in a bid to help educate those who may struggle with more conventional means of teaching."

"When my niece was finishing school in Finland, more than anything else she wanted to become a primary teacher. Despite her genuine interest in teaching she failed to get into a teacher education programme at the University of Helsinki. She was smart and bright, yet she was not deemed qualified. This is not unusual. Finnish universities regularly turn away applicants such as my niece to try again or to study something else. In fact, Finnish primary school teacher education programmes that lead to an advanced, research-based degree are so popular among young Finns that only one in 10 applicants is accepted each year. Those lucky students then have to study for five to six years before they are allowed to teach a class of their own."

"Today we share the second report in our series of findings from the Gender Balance in Computing research programme, which we've been running as part of the National Centre for Computing Education and with various partners. In this £2.4 million research programme, funded by the Department for Education in England, we aim to identify ways to encourage more female learners to engage with Computing and choose to study it further."

"The Brave Programmer"

Universal Leonardo is a programme aimed at deepening our understanding of Leonardo da Vinci through a series of European exhibitions (2006), scientific research and web-based resources.

"A high-quality computing education equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world. Computing has deep links with mathematics, science and design and technology, and provides insights into both natural and artificial systems. The core of computing is computer science, in which pupils are taught the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work and how to put this knowledge to use through programming. Building on this knowledge and understanding, pupils are equipped to use information technology to create programs, systems and a range of content. Computing also ensures that pupils become digitally literate - able to use, and express themselves and develop their ideas through, information and communication technology - at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world."

"Coding and computer science have yet to make their way into every school curriculum in the U.S. But the country isn't short on initiatives-such as Google's Code Next program or the White House's Obama era Computer Science For All campaign-which aim to change that. And while these programs attempt to arm students will the ability to code, they sometimes overlook a critical skill that developers, computer science scholars and tech recruiters say is key to landing a job in their field: writing."

"The five ideas below are a suggested starting point if you are integrating new technology into your classroom. From a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) programme, to a class set of hardware, an internet enabled classroom has the potential to enhance learning alongside existing practice."

"This presentation will look at how easy it is for a district or school to enhance communication with their community through the development of a mobile app, without having to hire a mobile device programmer or a company to develop an app. Participants with their own device will spend part of the session starting to build their own app and should leave the session feeling comfortable in their ability to finish their app after ISTE."

" "I've tried to get into coding but my cleavage is just so distracting," quipped one young woman in this provocative YouTube video. "When I'm not menstruating, I'm ovulating, so there's no time to code at all," lamented another. If this all sounds entirely ludicrous, it's supposed to. Girls Who Code, a nonprofit dedicated to bridging the gender gap in tech, created this satirical clip to feature in a three-part series that explores the ridiculous gender stereotypes that exist in the world of computer science. "We wanted to try something different and use humor and satire to question the stereotypes that tell our girls that coding is not for them," said Reshma Saujani, the organization's founder and CEO, in a statement. "Our hope is these videos will spark a much-needed conversation about the messages we send our young women and what we can do to create a more inclusive, well-rounded image of a programmer.""

"From the programmers behind Pokemon Go to the creators of chatbots, the impact of computer science (CS) is ubiquitous in our daily lives. This is because computer science education provides a way of thinking that focuses on problem solving, teamwork and a powerful way to express yourself - important skills for any career. And with a projected 1 million jobs going unfulfilled in computing-related roles by 2020, we need computer scientists from all backgrounds to bring their unique perspectives to solve real-world problems. That's why today, we're excited to announce Careers with Code in the US, a free high school "CS + X" career magazine that shows how to combine your passions, your "X", with computer science. We partnered with STEM specialist publishers Refraction Media to create a CS career magazine that illuminates the range of computer science careers and highlights the impact they have across industries. Readers can get to know people who use CS in their daily work in sometimes unexpected ways, such as Jonathan Graham. "