DreamSpace HomeSpace: for secondary school students learning remotely at home

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Dear Principal/Deputy Principal

We hope that you and your school community have enjoyed a well-deserved Easter holiday and continue to be well. We are delighted inform you that we are continuing our DreamSpace HomeSpace series after Easter to assist with remote learning in homes across Ireland. We have specifically developed STE(A)M content for secondary school students (1st year to 5th year) that students can engage with from their homes:

  • Tuesday: Learning to code with Python

This series will begin on Tuesday, April 21st. It will be live every Tuesday at 1pm for a six-week period and be delivered by a current LC Computer Science teacher. Videos will also be available on-demand through our YouTube channel. The lessons will aim to bring students from a basic or no level of coding through the coding fundamentals with a focus on the programming language Python (one of two languages covered in LC Computer Science). This is ideal for anyone who wants to revise or is thinking of getting a start before 5th year.

  • Wednesday: Retro Game Design with MakeCode Arcade

By Monday, April 20th, this series will be entering its fifth week but not to worry because all our previous lessons are available on demand through our YouTube playlist and are also available on the RTE Home School hub at https://www.rte.ie/learn/arcade-coding/. This series is suitable from for anyone with very basic coding experience. As each lesson progresses, we move into quite advanced coding concepts so it would also be suitable for students involved in the area of coding through curriculum or extra-curricular activities in your school.

  • Friday: Imagine Cup Junior

This series will begin on Friday, April 24th and introduces students to the Imagine Cup. Through a series of 5 webinars, that once again can be accessed live or on-demand, we will bring students through the competition focal point: Artificial Intelligence for Good. This would be an excellent way to engage junior cycle coding students or transition year students at home with a project that they can then submit for review by our panel of judges. Students can work together (remotely) on this project so it is an ideal project to occupy plenty of time and provide them with the opportunity to showcase their project in this international student competition.

Resources available

We hope that by sharing these learning opportunities with you, that you can relay them to your school communities in a bid to keep them engaged, challenged and busy at home. You can stay in touch with us through our Twitter channel (@MS_eduIRL) or the hashtag #MSDreamSpace.

 

Stay safe and stay well.

 

Warm regards,

 

Kevin Marshall

Head of Education, Microsoft Ireland