Jam Packed
A new Raspberry Pi event that’s travelling the UK.
Raspberry Jams have introduced lots of people to the Raspberry Pi and its fantastic community of makers and hackers. Started by ICT teacher and keen supporter of the new computing curriculum Alan O’Donohoe in 2012, the first Raspberry Jam was a means to an end: namely, obtaining access to the then rare prototyping boards. While Raspberry Jams are spreading across the world, there are some areas that have yet to sample the Pi, so Alan has come up with a new idea: one which will bring the experience to your doorstep and cater for many different groups of users.
His new project, Jam Packed, is a two-day event centring on the Pi and digital skills. Funded by the Department for Education and the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Jam Packed brings the Pi into a school or community space enabling children, teachers and parents to learn more about it.
Day one is called ‘Hack To The Future’ and is a mixture of teacher training and experiential learning for pupils. Learning focuses on the many different languages and technologies available from the open source community, such as Python and Mozilla’s suite of Teach the Web tools. In the evening of day one, there’s a family hack jam, which aims to show families what fun computing can be.
Day two follows the tried and true recipe for a Raspberry Jam and involves everyone showing off their projects and helping others to be inspired to pick up the Raspberry Pi and make computer science more fun.
To learn more, visit Alan’s blog ( http://teachcomputing.wordpress.
com) to find out when the Jam Packed circus will be in your town.