Teach-Secondary-Issue-14.5

W ith algorithms and coding currently occupying around one third of the GCSE computing curriculum, it’s easy to assume that the subject is a largely technical one. Yet the real purpose of computing should be to teach students how to think critically about the digital world – to unpick how technology is designed, and to ultimately become creators, rather than consumers. In a creative computing classroom, students will be learning about far more than ‘just’ coding. They’ll be learning deeply about how things function, how problems are solved, and what makes certain approaches and processes successful. Everything is intentional Of course, this doesn’t mean that the technical aspects of the subject are sidelined ABOUT THE AUTHOR John Bolton is a primary and secondary school teacher, and former freelance education writer completely. Students will indeed need to learn about algorithms and coding, computer hardware and data structures – but at the same time, we should be aiming for a higher purpose. We should teach students how to identify needs, and how to create meaningful solutions. Take Microsoft Office, for example. We’re all familiar with its ribbon layout – but howmany of us realise that every aspect of that interface is the result of years of research by behavioural psychologists, user experience designers, and data analysts? Fromwhere the buttons are positioned, to the number of pixels between them, every last detail is fully intentional. If we teach students to understand that interface construction is a deliberate, research-driven process, they can begin to see software differently. More importantly, they start to question and analyse – skills that are fundamental not just in computing, but right across the curriculum. Learning fromfailure Of course, even with expert design, things can go wrong. As well as unpicking the successes, we should also teach students about digital failures. Google+was an attempt by the search engine giant to offer a social media platform that could rival the thenmarket leaders Facebook and Twitter, but it arrived in 2011, after both platforms had already become well established. It had some nifty features, but these didn’t offer a compelling enough reason to switch. Many of its tools and functions were things people either didn’t need, or could already get elsewhere. It was a textbook example of an answer to a question no one had asked. Its design was complicated, it lacked a USP and it was never really clear who it was aimed at. Analysing the failure of Google+ shows students that even powerful companies can sometimes get it wrong. It also teaches them that success as a software developer hinges on not just being clever at coding, but also on taking the time to understand your users. Demystify the technology Creative computing assignments should begin with a question. Why is TikTok’s infinite scroll so addictive?Who benefits from features like voice control or dark mode?Why does Google’s homepage feature so few visual elements?What went wrong with platforms like Vine – or going further back, MySpace? During lockdown, why did people opt to use Zoom over Skype? To ask those sorts of questions, we have to first demystify the technology we use every day. Students tend to see apps and websites as finished products. We need to lift the lid on them, and reveal the long process of development they will have undergone before getting to that stage. Planning, research, design, coding, testing – all done by ordinary people, performing real- world jobs. Jobs that students may one day be engaged in themselves. We live in a world now saturated with apps and online services, and yet most of us will habitually use them while giving barely any thought as to how they came into being. We swipe, click, scroll and scrub, but rarely will we stop and think, ‘ What problem does this app actually solve? Why does it look and behave the way it does? In what ways could it be improved? ’ That’s the heart of computing. As educators, we should be shifting the mindset. We need our students to become designers, engineers and problem solvers. Because the last thing the world needs is another Google+. From consumers TO CREATORS John Bolton considers what it takes to teach students computing with a sense of creative purpose 73 teachwire.net/secondary C OM P U T I N G