New Education Normal: Engaging students with computational thinking—offline and online

On 14 May 2021, Prof Tim Bell, Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, University of Canterbury, Aotearoa, spoke at the New Education Normal webinar series on “Engaging students with computational thinking—offline and online”.

Prof Bell spoke about his project, “Computer Science Unplugged” (CS Unplugged), which seeks to teach students the basics of computational thinking (CT) without students requiring the use of a computer. He developed this project to help students understand CT as a way of thinking, rather than specific knowledge about a device or programming language. Prof Bell also shared tips on how to conduct CS Unplugged activities even with the constraints of distance learning.

The session wrapped up with an engaging question and answer segment, moderated by Prof Looi Chee Kit, from the Learning Sciences and Assessment Academic Group in NIE, and was attended by over 70 people.

Watch the recording of the session here: