Building on the success of LiveCode at Gracemount High, Steven Whyte, Gracemount Computing Teacher and LiveCode Guru, recently held a LiveCode training day for teachers in Edinburgh.  

The event was attended by 20 experienced and enthusiastic computing teachers from across Edinburgh, eager to learn about this solution to the issue of getting students excited about learning to programme.  I caught up with Steven Whyte and our very own Ben Beaumont, to find out how they felt the day had gone.  They told me that the attendees got a lot from the day.  The feeling in the room was that LiveCode is a real possibility with the Government’s new focus on teaching programming, and with the course materials already produced by Gracemount, it seems like a sensible move for all involved.

Here’s what Ben had to say about the day: “I think most left with a sense that LiveCode was a very realistic option for them to teach programming with, as well as enabling them to move into mobile programme.  This is something their students can definitely engage with, and I suspect all will have left and taken a look at the software!”

Most teachers have since fed back very positively to the Technologies Continuing Professional Development Coordinator who will be investigating the authority wide license for LiveCode over the next couple of weeks.  We look forward to hearing from them!

Here’s a short clip of how some of the Higher Computing students at Gracemount successfully managed to export their Higher Computing coursework exercise onto their mobile devices as an app. 



The success of this task and Gracemount’s continued use of LiveCode has paved the way for the Computing Department to begin creating a series of innovative and sector leading Mobile Application Development courses as part of the new Scottish Qualifications under Curriculum for Excellence.  Next year, computing students of all ages will be able to learn how to develop simple games and animations and will then see them come to life on their mobile phones and tablet computers.

All in all, a most successful outing and here’s to many more!