Computing for Social Good 3 : Emmanuel receives prestigious tech award

Taken from: 

Emmanuel receives prestigious tech award for first class effort

A graduate teaching assistant at the University of Northampton, who overcame academic struggles and is now taking on a PhD, has been awarded an IT Award from the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists (WCIT).

Emmanuel Ofori-Attah enrolled on the Computer System Engineering course in 2014, with limited knowledge about programming, but a determination to learn.

“Whilst many would have quit or changed courses, I decided to continue with the course having faith and believing that God will guide me through even though I was struggling with understanding basic programming concepts,” said Emmanuel. “Despite all these problems, I was able to overcome the obstacles and barriers and achieved a first class degree.”

Emmanuel’s story caught the attention of the WCIT’s judging panel, which awarding him the Outstanding IT Student Prize 2018.

The awards were created to recognise outstanding undergraduate and postgraduate IT students within the UK, with students from 12 universities shortlisted.

Emmanuel said: “This award means a lot to me and most importantly, it shows that no matter how hard, your course is, you can still overcome it.

“What I love about computing is that it allows me to bring my ideas into life. I love how the modules are set up and the support you receive from staff is amazing.  I think the relationship the lecturers create with the students makes the course more enjoyable.

“In the future, I hope to stay in academia and hopefully become a teacher, allowing me to offer back the help I received from my lecturers.”

WCIT Master, and founder of the awards, Dr Stefan Fafinski said: “As well as celebrating academic success, the WCIT Student IT Awards also recognise the remarkable contributions to society these students have made. The fact that they are all acknowledged to be outstanding students makes me very proud to be part of these awards.”

All views and opinions are the author's and do not necessarily reflected those of any organisation they are associated with. Twitter: @scottturneruon

Green Apple Award for helping teach children to code

Taken from: http://www.northampton.ac.uk/news/university-of-northampton-receives-a-green-apple-award-for-helping-teach-children-to-code/

The University of Northampton has been praised for a competition it helped set up with the aim of improving the teaching of computer coding and school pupils’ technology skills.

The Race to the Top contest, which challenged children across the county to design a digital game or mobile app based around saving energy, was awarded a Gold Green Apple Award by the Green Organisation. These are awarded for projects which are considered to be demonstrative of environmental best practice within the public sector.

The winning teams were from Park Junior School in Wellingborough and Kettering Buccleuch Academy who came up with a game which challenges players to fix degrading solar panels on the school roof and an app which tracks household energy consumption.

The competition was organised by the University of Northampton, in partnership with Northamptonshire County Council, Code Club and the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists (WCIT).

The initiative was part of Northamptonshire’s school improvement strategy and the award was presented at a recent ceremony at the Houses of Parliament in London.

Dr Scott Turner, Associate Professor in Computing said: “The feedback we received from the children has shown that the Race to the Top contest has enthused them and having the opportunity to come to the University campus for the celebration event was a real confidence boost and they really enjoyed it.”

Read more about the Race to the Top contest and the winning projects

All views and opinions are the author's and do not necessarily reflected those of any organisation they are associated with. Twitter: @scottturneruon

Environmental Award for Computing

Gary Hill and Scott Turner from the Computing subject team were, and still are part, of a team working on the Race to the Top Schools Coding Competition the other partners are Northamptonshire County Council, Worshipful Company of Information Technologists and Code Club. The project has been recognised by a Green Apple Award for Environmental Best Practice.

More details on the competition can be found at: https://computingnorthampton.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/race-to-top-coding-competition.html

Other Partners
- Northampton County Council: 
http://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/en/councilservices/Environ/carbon/Pages/default.aspx

- Worshipful Company of Information Technologists: 
https://www.wcit.org.uk/members/anon/new.html?destination=%2Findex.html

- Code Club: 
https://www.codeclub.org.uk/

All views and opinions are the author's and do not necessarily reflected those of any organisation they are associated with. Twitter: @scottturneruon

Race to the Top Coding and the University of Northampton

In the December 2015 edition of the Monitor magazine, the newsletter of The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists (WCIT),  two items directly relevant to Northamptonshire were discussed.

On page 4 the Race to the Top Coding competition and its launch is discussed. This is really two competitions:

• developing a Year 4-6 Scratch-based game on energy-efficiency in the school;
• developing Year 9 mobile app on n energy-efficiency in the school.  

WCIT, along with Code Club, Northamptonshire County Council and The University of Northampton are partners in this project.


On page 5 some of the work and success of the Department of Computing and Immersive Technologies, University of Northampton is discussed.

To read more go to Monitor 



If you'd like to find out more about Computing at the University of Northampton go to: www.computing.northampton.ac.uk. All views and opinions are the author's and do not necessarily reflected those of any organisation they are associated with

The Race to the Top Code Competition takes off.

The Race to the Top Coding Competition was launched today (2nd October 2015) at University of Northampton. 

Northamptonshire County Council, The Worshipful Company of Information Technolgists (WCIT, a City of London Livery Company), Code Club and the University of Northampton have organised a competition for schools to encourage increased and improved teaching of computer coding.

The aim of the competition is to inspire young people to achieve digital fluency through collaboration and challenge. The competition will run from the launch event on 2 October, 2015 until the closing date of 8 January, 2016.

The entries will be judged by representatives from all four organisations and our sponsors, and the winning entries will be rewarded with The Northamptonshire Race to the Top Coding Competition Cup and prizes for the students and their schools.

The Challenge

• Primary Category, Years 4-6 – Groups of up to 6 students from Years 4, 5, or 6 will design a game based around saving energy using the coding programme Scratch. Students will also have to come up with their own team name and logo. They will then present their game to the judges with a 2 minute video uploaded to YouTube. This competition will be led by Code Club.

• Secondary Category, Year 9 – Groups of up to 6 students will use coding to design a mobile application based around saving energy. Students will also have to come up with their own team name and logo. They will then present the app to the judges with a 2 minute video uploaded to YouTube. This competition will be led by WCIT and the University of Northampton.

The games and apps will be judged by our panel, and the very best entries from each level will be awarded this year’s Race to the Top Coding Competition Cup and a personal Raspberry Pi computer. Level 2 winners will also be invited to represent the WCIT on their stand at the prestigious Livery Schools Link Showcase event at The City of London Corporation Guildhall in March, 2016

A pod cast of the event by Alan O'Donohoe (alias Teknoteacher ) see below: 

For more details on the competition go to Race to the Top Coding Competition

If you'd like to find out more about Computing at the University of Northampton go to: www.computing.northampton.ac.uk. All views and opinions are the author's and do not necessarily reflected those of any organisation they are associated with

Race to the Top Coding Competition

Race to the Top Coding Competition

Northamptonshire County Council, The Worshipful Company of Information Technolgists (WCIT, a City of London Livery Company), Code Club and the University of Northampton have organised a competition for schools to encourage increased and improved teaching of computer coding.

The aim of the competition is to inspire young people to achieve digital fluency through collaboration and challenge. The competition will run from the launch event on 2 October, 2015 until the closing date of 8 January, 2016.

The entries will be judged by representatives from all four organisations and our sponsors, and the winning entries will be rewarded with The Northamptonshire Race to the Top Coding Competition Cup and prizes for the students and their schools.

The Challenge

• Primary Category, Years 4-6 – Groups of up to 6 students from Years 4, 5, or 6 will design a game based around saving energy using the coding programme Scratch. Students will also have to come up with their own team name and logo. They will then present their game to the judges with a 2 minute video uploaded to YouTube. This competition will be led by Code Club.

• Secondary Category, Year 9 – Groups of up to 6 students will use coding to design a mobile application based around saving energy. Students will also have to come up with their own team name and logo. They will then present the app to the judges with a 2 minute video uploaded to YouTube. This competition will be led by WCIT and the University of Northampton.

The games and apps will be judged by our panel, and the very best entries from each level will be awarded this year’s Race to the Top Coding Competition Cup and a personal Raspberry Pi computer. Level 2 winners will also be invited to represent the WCIT on their stand at the prestigious Livery Schools Link Showcase event at The City of London Corporation Guildhall in March, 2016.

Website for more details:
Race to the Top Coding Competition - Northamptonshire County Council


 If you'd like to find out more about Computing at the University of Northampton go to: www.computing.northampton.ac.uk. All views and opinions are the author's and do not necessarily reflected those of any organisation they are associated with