Last month the BBC launched it’s
Make it Digital campaign, a major UK-wide initiative to inspire a new generation to get creative with coding, programming and digital technology.
BBC Make it Digital will capture the spirit of the BBC Micro, which helped Britain get to grips with the first wave of personal computers in the 1980s, for the digital age.
As part of the project the BBC will be broadcasting a range of content across TV, Radio and Online, showcasing how Britain has helped shape the digital world, raise awareness among mainstream audiences on why digital matters, and inspire younger audiences to have a go and get creative with digital technologies. Viewers of well-established programmes such as Doctor Who and the One Show will be encouraged to get creative with digital and there will also be a number of new programmes produced specifically for the project.
In addition to the inspirational programmes being broadcast on TV & radio, Make It Digital aims to encourage students in to technical careers. From this summer Make it Digital Traineeship will help up to 5,000 young unemployed people boost their digital skills and get a foot on the jobs ladder. A nine-week traineeship including training from the world-renowned BBC Academy, will teach basic digital skills, such as creating simple websites and short videos for the web; getting young people ready for work with employability skills and a work placement.
The BBC microbit:
During the autumn term, the BBC will be giving a free programmable board to all year 7 students. This compact hand held device, currently known as a BBC microbit allows students to run their own programmes and can be quickly coded to scroll text and respond to inputs, either via a graphical interface or by code. Below you see a prototype version of the BBC microbit.
Kitronik will be working with the BBC and over 25
partners (including Arm, Microsoft and the IET) to help deliver the
BBC microbit project. Over the next few months we will be using our expertise in e-textiles and electronic kits to develop a number of example projects with resources including step by step instructions that show how to make use of the BBC microbits ‘wearable’ features. These resources will illustrate how conductive thread can be used to connect additional LEDs away from the main board. There will also be resources showing how the BBC microbit expansion connector can be used with your choice of electronic devices and to demonstrate this feature we will be producing a resource for driving motors and controlling a buggy.
You can find more information on the BBC Make It Digital campaign at
www.bbc.co.uk/makeitdigital.
Keep checking back to
kitronik.co.uk for future updates on our involvement in the campaign!
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