Description
Marg has been teaching programming online to students for many years, starting with 'Klik and Play' in 1996. Although now semi-retired, she works from home, teaching programming online to students in years 4-8 from schools across Tasmania, as part of the Department of Education's GO! Gifted Online program. Marg has designed the courses, and classroom teachers across the state nominate up to 5 students each to participate in 'Python4WhipSnakes' and 'Python JumpStart'. These students are then allocated up to an hour a week of classtime to participate in the courses, and many also choose to spend much of their own time working on the program. In this talk Marg will outline why these courses are needed, how they operate, how the students are kept engaged and motivated through elements of gamification, and highlight some of the positive aspects and successes of this style of teaching, as well as some of the challenges.