CodeBug creater passes on expertise
Former Isle of Man student and CodeBug co-founder, Thomas Macpherson-Pope, ran two workshops on-island to promote coding and electronics to youngsters
Business News told in January how Tom, 25, whose family live in Laxey, is part of a small team that came up with the programmable and wearable device designed to introduce simple programming and electronic concepts for people of all ages.
The events held at Code Club in Ronaldsway Industrial Estate and QE2 High School showed the fledgling programmers how to scroll their names in lights and use buttons to change how their program worked. They also got the chance to experiment with a CodeBug colourful light-up extension, the ColourStar, developed by the three-man CodeBug team in Manchester.
At the Code Club participants were guided through the process of programming CodeBug by Thomas, his father Dr Michael Pope and the dedicated Code Club volunteers, who were already familiar with the CodeBug device. The workshop began with a brief introduction about CodeBug and how they are manufactured.
Owen Cutajar founder of Code Club Isle of Man told the Examiner: ‘One of our aims is to help our members unlock their potential and create impact on the world around them.
‘Meeting someone who has grown up in the Isle of Man, then went on to help create an invention that fosters learning, communication and discovery was a fantastic opportunity and will inspire them for many years to come’.
Code Club is run every Saturday and is free to anyone who wants to attend.
Matthew Long, head of ICT and computing at QE2, arranged a lunchtime workshop for his secondary school students to give them a taste of physical computing.
Mr Long was Thomas’s ICT teacher at St.Ninian’s High School and the pair reminisced about how Thomas used to be distracted from school work by other projects.
He said: ‘It’s wonderful to see how Tom has taken the things that inspired him when he was younger and turned them into a great tool for the classroom that will hopefully inspire our current crop of students’.
Thomas told Business News: ‘It is great to see the positive effect devices like CodeBug and the Raspberry Pi are having on computing education.
‘It is always amazing how quickly youngsters can pick up these technologies, and heartwarming to see that when kids grasp a concept, they will teach their friends and those around them.’
Owen Cutajar of Code Club Isle of Man said: ‘We are very grateful to Tom for sharing his time with us here at Code Club, telling us about his success with CodeBug, showing us how they are built and how they can be used.
‘One of our aims is to help our members unlock their potential and create impact on the world around them.
‘Meeting someone who has grown up in the Isle of Man, then went on to help create an invention that fosters learning, communication and discovery was a fantastic opportunity and will inspire them for many years to come.’
Mr. Long said: ‘ICT has often been a very dry subject to study, focussing on business practices and computer law. However, with the recent change of emphasis in the curriculum to cover computing in more depth, students are being challenged to solve problems. A tool like the CodeBug makes programming practical and helps create a more stimulating and rewarding experience for all.’
‘It’s wonderful to see how Tom has taken the things that inspired him when he was younger and turned them into a great tool for the classroom that will hopefully inspire our current crop of students.