Global Codeathon Wrap-up

The codeathon was great.  Mindy, Heidi, Michelle and Dan did a great job setting it all up and keeping it all working.  As you've certainly read from previous posts, I brought three students and was on the intermediate level backchannel to chat with kids who needed help.

First off, I'll cover the two things that didn't go superbly.  With all of the tasks for the intermediate group posted on the GC (global codeathon) website, all the students went to re-read them as soon as Heidi was finished speaking.  Not just all in Hanoi (about 60-80 users) but also the schools who were listening to the instructions over the Google Hangout.  We DDOS'd the website I think.  With a bit of patience, everything was back on a roll and going fine.  We were all a bit surprised that we would do that, but it is hard to test 100+ requests of your site at once.  So we learned and moved on.

Intermediate and beginner were our two sessions.  This looked great in planning, but we had some kids fall into the 'no a total beginner' but 'not ready to work on my own' category.  Most of these students would have benefited from going to the beginner session and re-learning a lot of what they had been introduced to.  However, no one wanted to crush a kids aspirations and send them to the beginner session after they had considered themselves an intermediate.  This meant that a few students needed a lot of extra help, and I had to re-adjust my approach to helping them.  Once I learned where these students were in Scratch, I got off of the backchannel and helped them face-to-face.

That's it.  A surprise on website traffic and a few students who mis-estimated their abilities.  As far as being an untested event bringing many schools together online, a lot of things should have gone wrong and didn't thanks to the team's planning.  Now some of the other schools did have their own issues with joining our Google Hangout, but to those of us who were not part of the organizing team, we had no idea and didn't think much about it.  We were focused on all the schools who were able to join us.

Backchanneling is what I knew I was going to learn a lot from.  Here are my two biggest take-aways: Backchannelchat.com has a few characters which it does not print.  I did try a few 'escape' characters, combining a backslash with a greater than.  It didn't work.  After firing off a few half-blank messages, I altered how I was typing.  The annoying part is, in Scratch, you use operators that look like this:   so I naturally recreated it like this < (Y >70) > and < (touching sprite 2) >
It was my attempt to explain the graphic.  In fact, everything between <   > , the greater than/less than, was cut out.  I got around this by simply typing more of an explanation.  Typing more was fine since I had very few questions to answer.

I was not able to help those students who were accidentally in the intermediate group through backchannel.  Instead of pointing out a particular block to use (which was the only assistance some students needed) I was dealing with totally new concepts for these students.  I was able to sit down with them (Luckily they were in Hanoi, in the room, rather than another country).  I don't know what Dan Slaughter went through with the beginner backchannel, but it may have been similar.

The last observation was: I was pretty useless.... in a GREAT way!

All of the students in the Hanoi intermediate group helped each other, taught each other and did great work on their own.  So aside from a few questions, they didn't need me.  I love it when students take on learning without me, if I've been a good teacher, I'm no longer needed.  Now I didn't teach all of these kids, but obviously their teachers did a great job, or I would have been helping everyone.

First Timelapse with the Pi

  

I need to get a proper set up for the camera.  I used some glittery pipe cleaner through the support holes.

Raspberry Pi Cam, VNC, Wifi

It's here, the Raspberry Pi camera.  Here meaning here in my living room, it has been available for quite a while now.  Also, a lot of other things.  Here is what I'll be covering today, I learned all of it from browsing other blogs and some Python knowledge, but want to compile today's work into one post and one page for you to learn from.

First: remote access.
    I love to have the TV on, so I don't like using it as a monitor for my Pi.
ssh would not work for me and VNC allows me access from afar.
Setting up VNC:
On the Pi I plugged it into the ethernet to get VNC working.
I started here: http://pihw.wordpress.com/guides/direct-network-connection/ but never got it working.
So I looked at VNC again and started here: http://www.rasptut.co.uk/files/raspberry-pi-vnc.php

Hook up your Pi to a monitor with it's own input devices. On your Pi, in the terminal:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install vnc-server

To start the VNC-server on your, in your terminal type:
vncserver -geometry 1024x768

Add an 8 character password and it is your choice to add a viewer password.
Note that the first time you run this (the first time since a restart) it is producing a call for :1 (remember this for later)

Now on your laptop/desktop THIS IS FOR LINUX (download from: http://www.realvnc.com/download/viewer/ for MAC OR WINDOWS) download VNC-viewer....which doesn't exist, through apt-get and when you grab the .gz or binaries...well I couldn't get it to work.  This did:

sudo apt-get install xtightvncviewer

On your Pi type in
ifconfig
to get your ip address.  It will be under the eth0 header, we will take this ip address from wlan0 soon.

Back to your laptop, in the terminal:
xtightvncviewer

The GUI fro this is an undersized window that wants the ip address AND :1
It does not look like other shots I've seen of VNC, just this:

Type in the ip: 192.000.0.000:1      -- the ip plus the :1 (which is the port we are accessing on the Pi)

This took me a while to get.  A mix of iffy internet connections here, not reading everything thoroughly.  If you start vncserver on the Pi again you will connect with ip:2 (192.000.0.000:2) When the Pi is restarted it will be 192.000.0.000:1 again.

You will be prompted for the password that you put into your Pi earlier.

That is it, your done!

However, now that you can control your Pi with a remote GUI, you are still stuck with it wired to ethernet.

Wifi was a pain last year.
Wifi is simple now.
I read this: http://www.maketecheasier.com/setup-wifi-on-raspberry-pi/
Then I plugged in the lil wifi dongle, clicked on the Wifi icon that is on the newest release of Wheezy, selected my network and it was online.
Done.

So now you can connect to your Pi over Wifi.

It is time to get the camera running.  I did this all over the Wifi.
Guide: http://thepihut.com/pages/how-to-install-the-raspberry-pi-camera
Before you follow the guide, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8T6S5eFpqE At the 2 minute mark it shows how to pull up the tabs and insert the camera's ribbon. Not rocket science, but helpful to see.

Launch xtightvncviewer from your laptop
Start Leafpad up on the Pi
raspistill -o myfirstpipicture.jpg

A few seconds later you will have your first snap shot.
I wanted to do some time lapse and read a few sites but found it way easier to use my Python knowledge (learned http://learnpythonthehardway.org/ and codecademy.com) I wrote a script to take one picture, mostly to test my scripting:

import os #to pass the arguments into the terminal - at least that is how I understand it
os.system("raspistill -o imagesnap.jpg") #within the " " is what you would normally put into the terminal.

Time Lapse:

import os
import time

i = 0

while i <= 15:
           imageNum = str(i)  #to number your images
           os.system("raspistill -o image%s.jpg"%(imageNum))
           i += 1
          time.sleep(15)

Yes, it is fixed in the number of shots it takes and the time it sleeps.  I'll be writing a new script to take these as input arguments when the timelapse.py is started.  The ones I read were messy (in my opinion) but they work.  More importantly, it is easy to script all of this with Python and there are plenty of different ways to do it.

I had everything setup at sunset, but it was dark by the time that the timelapse script ran correctly (messed up the " " placement as I didn't understand that everything within "raspistill -o image%s.jpg" was what would be passed on to the Terminal to be run.  It seems perfectly obvious now.

The script ran and I got 15 pictures of a dark window and Janet cutting up vegetables and closing the curtains.  It works, now I've just got to capture something fun with the time lapse.

But Wait!
There's more!

Getting VNC to start on the Pi automatically so it never needs to see a monitor again.
Ugh I did a few different, long things that didn't work.  Even the parts that said: if you get the following error, try this....   I was still stuck.
Ada to the rescue: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-raspberry-pi-lesson-7-remote-control-with-vnc/running-vncserver-at-startup
it is easy easy easy, but took a lot of searching to find this guide. I won't retype anything from the Ada guide here because there is a lot of fun stuff over at Ada Fruit so it is worth your browsing time.

-Jeff

Global Codeathon

Travel updates will have to wait.  We did check out Sapa, Halong Bay and Hoi An with my mother and aunt, but school life is taking over for now.

This post is heavy on technology terms.  If you have questions, let me know in the comments.

After the first Vietnam Technology Conference I got more interested in programming.  I started by teaching myself Scratch and using codecademy.com to learn Python.  I started a Scratch after school club that all of you faithful readers have heard about.  Well, here are my new updates and thoughts.

Scratch:
In class over the last month, I've used it to review for geometry and for story telling.  With story telling in Scratch, the sequencing structure and timing of characters talking leads to very different work than student's produce when just writing.  The element of animation, which has added great visuals to their work, is then used during traditional writing time.  "Show not Tell" is not easy for a class of ELL students.  "In your writing, describe how it would look if you made it in Scratch" has been a better way of communicating "Show not Tell" for a few students.
More importantly, setting up a logical sequence, problem solving and teamwork/peer help are the positive side effects of Scratching (to do Scratch).

I wish there was a chat feature in Scratch like there is on Google Docs.  While using Docs, group work is a silent activity but there are an incredible amount of ideas and edits that I watch fly through the chat box, comments and document revisions.  During Scratch time the Scratchers (people who program with Scratch) are moving all over the computer lab (I wish I could say that we had laptops in the classroom...).  This creates a more active and noisy-er class than is normally found in a computer lab.  All of this is the sound of independent learning.

As a teacher, the less I have to instruct and the more that the students share ideas(thus peer teach), the better( in most cases and especially in this case).  The benefits of this are great.  We are within a school with a rigid workbook structure and a focus on the individuals' work.  Group work, open-ended work and projects are a new concept for many of my students.  Relying on their peers during Scratch has improved intra-class communication, teamwork, patience and in some cases, students who do not get along end up helping each other if their projects are similar.

Global Codeathon
The Hanoi Tech Group is a group of teachers from seven different schools in Hanoi.  It is made up of tech directors, ICT teachers, classroom teachers and principals.  We get together, talk about tech in the classroom, pedagogy and how to get Chromebooks into Vietnam without ordering 10,000 (The original number of units that the for a manufacturer wanted to sell to deal with import laws here).  It is about learning from each other and strengthening our network of colleagues.
As a result of the wonderful people in this group, this is happening: The Global Codeathon.  Check out the team at UNIS who has put all of this together.  Some of them were not coding a year ago either.  So, if you haven't started using Scratch or another tool to teach programming, catch up, you'll be confident after 15 minutes.
I have three boys from my class who have been in my Scratch club and have shown a lot of interest in doing projects at home and peer-teaching.  They will be joining the Codeathon as intermediate participants.  I'll be teaching in a very different role.
When teaching with Scratch in class I demonstrate coding, but I never sit down at the 'teacher' computer, the one hooked up to the projector.  Either I:
1. Connect with my Nexus tablet and Teamviewer (advantage is I can see the numbers or zoom in on code on the tablet in case I can't clearly read the numbers from the back of the room)
2. Mini-remote keyboards.  I have to watch the projector, but it responds better than Teamviewer.
3. Wander around and help with individual problems if another student cannot help.

At the Codeathon I will be helping people remotely, through the interwebs.  We (the teachers all over the world who will be helping in the same way) will be meeting to figure out the finer points of this tomorrow.  Google Hangouts has screen-share so seeing someone else's work can be done.  Communicating in the right way will be ... difficult? different?  I like the teaching approach of steering a student towards the answer, but letting them put the last piece or two together if they are able to and ready to.  I know my own class very well, I don't know who I'll be assisting on the 17th.  I want to be a fast effective teacher, so that I can give attention to all of the Scratchers who need help.  I'll be unable to modify my style of instruction to these new kids.  I don't think that I will be as effective as I am in class.
I hope I'm wrong, but I'll have to figure out how to be effective with only the power of remote video and chat.

Python:
First, the criticism I've heard runs along the lines of: it isn't used as much as C or Java or some of the other languages which are 'more useful'.  I still think that it is a great first language.  Javascript made perfect sense after learning some of Python as was Google Scripting (pre-add ons, I haven't scripted anything since the change but I assume that the language is the same).  Python was also a logical extension of Scratch too.
My next school teaches AP Computer Science with Java.  so I started to learn Java last week through The Hard Way guide.  Different, yes, of course.  Easier, I don't think so.  It would not be my first choice or a good one to start with.  There are a lot of new concepts when first learning programming (and more that I haven't even thought or read about yet).  Python was easy so I could focus on the concepts that are common across all languages.  I'll keep pushing through on Java though.
Immediate application was also part of the fun of Python.  Minecraft on the Raspberry Pi is set up with an API and library that you can use to write little programs, in Python, that run within Minecraft.  Seeing this output was fun and rewarding for me.  I'm not a gamer but I am starting to love Minecraft.  How much more excited to keep pursuing programming will a student be when they can see their favorite game manipulated rather than just more: println("this is a typing assignment");

The Pi Camera attachment was delivered by my mom last week.  Writing scripts for that will be in Python as well.  More fun places to use programming in a real way for my own amusement and to teach with.  I'll blog once I get the camera set-up.  It is still in the box it came in, if that isn't a sign of how busy I am.  I'll usually stay up all night with my new toys.

Minecraft for Pi
Minecraft Edu
The Hard Way