community
Week seven review
Apr 25th
A pretty good week productivity wise. I have gotten a lot of work done on this new application in fact am slightly ahead of schedule. I have also been doing some planning for another application I am working on in partnership with a friend. Details will come on these soon.
Due to my change of financial position I have had a bit of a rethink about the most effective way to get started. I am quite happy with the approach I have come up. It is low cost and very focused on investing in only a few individuals.
Two main issues are left to sort out before I can start. I need to approach some of the organisations I have been talking to to ask for some referrals. And I need to find a building where we can work from.
I may – in fact I hope to end up working out of our church building but that has not yet been aquired and may be June before it is. In the meantime I am not 100% sure what I am going to do. Looking likely right now is that I keep working on my projects and try to build a revenue stream and also do a little youth work during this time.
Week six review
Apr 18th
Most of this week has been spent working on my secret new application. It is coming along well and I think I have a realistic timeline in place. I have started using Redmine for managing features and timelines. It is very cool, much better than trac. I haven’t managed to get SVN intergration working yet though.
I also spent a day playing with Alice. I was using it on Ubuntu and could get everything set-up but I couldn’t get playback to work. So I ended up using it in a windows vm which worked ok. I am not sure if it is the best introduction to programming though, it is kinda cool to see objects move around the screen and to change camera angles but it is quite a bit of work to get that going and I am not sure if that is suitable as an intro. I have come across another game building app called Game Maker so am going to give that a go. Also I think Alice might be a bit abstract. There doesn’t seem any real purpose for it, whereas with Game Maker it seems pretty clear that you are going to build a game. I think purpose is important here and I am sure building games will appeal to teenagers!
Other news is that I found out my tax bill is going to be a LOT less than I initially thought. This is going to give me a lot more freedom and I am going to have to have a rethink about how I approach the next few months.
Week five review
Apr 11th
Well a short week this time and not so much to update with, The most major news was that the application to Learning Launchpad was not successful. Not a problem though there are plenty of other grants to apply for like this one which is all about inspiring young people, sounds like a perfect fit to me.
Other than that I have been working on an application I am going to sell online. It is going pretty well so far and at least it now seems much more feasible. I am hoping to have a version ready for private testing by the end of April.
I haven’t done any billable work this week which is a shame but I have been fielding a lot of calls from agents, so I might pick up a contract for a while. That will relieve some financial pressure and make things a little easier while waiting to see what happens with funding.
Week four review
Apr 4th
Another fairly good week, didn’t do as much as I would like but it has been pretty good nevertheless.
After a marathon two day editing session and with a lot of help from my friend Sara, I finished writing and submitted my first funding proposal to the Learning Launchpad. I will find out in a couple of weeks whether or not I get through the first stage of screening, if so then it is off to interviews which will be fun! I normally like interviews but that is usually job interviews. We will see how this goes!
I also got a big chunk of work finished for Simon. More excitingly though I have been working on some ideas for products to launch. One idea is pretty much complete and am going to start work on it this week, the other I am still talking with a friend about but could be quite an interesting!
Week three review
Mar 28th
Well this week started with disaster! I spilled water on kate (my laptop, yes I realise it is sad and slightly disturbing that she has a name) and after leaving her to dry out she wouldn’t start up! I have sent her off off for repair now and it is going to cost a lot to fix. I lost a little data (a video of my trip to Japan that I was putting together) but most of it was safe thanks to Jungle Disk. It also sent the start of my week into turmoil as I had just gotten all the software set-up so that I could start work. Luckily I still have my old laptop – now pushing six years old. So Monday I spent getting everything set up on this computer. Everything is working well now, but it is so slow which can be frustrating.
Tuesday I met with three organisations that work with youth in Newcastle and got an absolute wealth of information. From experiences working with the youth to how to raise funds and how much to expect. Everyone expressed support of what I was doing and were keen to work with me once we are up and running. It was a very encouraging time and it is quite likely that I will get referals from these people so I can get some youth into my course!!
I have also spent a lot of time on the funding proposal I have been writting with Sara. It is looking pretty good now, still a few more tweaks to make before the Tuesday deadline. As well as this I have written some briefs about the company and one of the products we are going to launch. I am working towards getting a website and material together in order to promote what we are doing.
It hardly seems possible but I also managed to get a lot of work done on an application I am building for Simon and am rediscovering my passion for programming. It has been a lot of fun!
Well looking back I have actually achieved a lot this week. At the start it hardly seemed possible. In fact I had a brief moment when I felt the weight of everything and I thought I wasn’t going to cope. At this point I realised I had a choice about how I was going to approach the week. I decided that the cirumstances around what were happening were not going to stop me from completing my mission. I know I am in the place that God wants me and with his strength I am going to complete the task he has assigned. I have never felt so empowered in my life. This is going to be an amazing year!
Week two review
Mar 21st
Had some good progress this week although not as much as I would have liked!
I decided to start applying to get some funding, up until now I was sceptical as to whether it was a good idea. I guess having little money come in changes that perspective! So this week I have spent a lot of time trying to nut out exactly what it is that the business is going to be doing and putting that into words. It is an interesting learning process and some of the things that the funds are asking for are things I hadn’t considered before so it is good to think about those things. I am very lucky to have meet Sara who is going to help me get the application all sorted, she has done this kind of thing a lot before which is great because the more I look at it I realise I have no idea!
Apart from that I have spent a lot of time looking up and contacting organisations that work with youth. The plan is to find one that would be a good fit to work with. So far it has been quite promosing and next week I have a couple of meetings to discuss what we are doing.
It is great that everything is progressing nicely, but the big push for next week will be to actually do some paid work as I did none this week! I am hoping to get around 30hrs in, possibly more if I work all night 
Week one review
Mar 14th
Today sees the completion of my first week in Newcastle. I thought I would take the time to document what I have achieved this week. In part to keep myself accountable and so that in the future I can look back and see the progress.
I arrived here last Friday, I spent the weekend looking at flats and went to a couple of churches, notably Tyneside Vineyard where I met some wonderful people.
On Monday I was very anxious about my flat situation, there were a lot of options, some cheap some expensive, that I could have gone for and I didn’t know the right move. I asked God to sort it out and he reminded me of a place that I had seen that I had written off as it didn’t precisly fit my criteria. I called the agent and put in a ridiculous offer. She took it to the owner and five minutes later called me back to confirm I had gotten it. It turns out that this was a very good option and what I have for the price is and amazing blessing.
I moved into the flat on Tuesday. I was so glad to finally have somewhere to stay. After nine months on the move I really needed some stability. The next few days I spent getting things I needed and sorting out paperwork, utilities etc. I also started work on some paid work as well as planning out the next few weeks.
I am feeling much more organised and ready to tackle the tasks ahead. It has been a good week!
Moving Cities
Jan 22nd
Recently I went on a bit of a tour of northern England with the purpose of meeting people and finding a city where I could start my business.
One place I went really captured me. Newcastle. The people are really friendly, the city is really bustling and there is a really good atmosphere there. Not only that but it is a really attractive city. Really! The buildings, and the Gateshead area are just gorgeous. I took a few photos while I was there, you can view them here.
I also met some great people in Newcastle who were very supportive and excited about what I am doing. They offered me a tonne of advice and have sparked several ideas and approaches to take which has been invaluable.
There are also a lot of business resources to draw help from. I have started collecting links to them here.
I am quite excited about the move. I am doing a little travelling over the next few months, but when I get back I will be moving up there, should be sometime in April.
Inspiring ideas in the Sandbox
Jan 17th
A few weeks ago I introduced the idea of the Sandbox, at the time I was struggling to think of ways to engage with the kids. I have been making good progress however, and now have a few more ideas. One of the things suggested to me was to use Alice to create games and introduce the idea of programming to the kids. After having a play with this it looks really good. Quite simple to get working but also teaches some of the basics of programing. I think it will make it less intimidating when they actually come to write a line of code.
As well as Alice I have come up with another couple of things that will hopefully pique their interest. First of all Lego Mindstorms. This is a great platform that lets you create robotic type devices that are (wirelessly) connected to a computer and can be programmed to do different things. I think using this will be a great way to get people interested in programing as it provides a tangible link between doing something on the computer in an almost virtual environment and the effect that it can have on the real world.
Another idea which needs some research (because I am not sure how feasible it is) would be to use Digital Scalextric sets and hook them up to a computer and write a program that drives the car. It would take input from where it is on the track, corners and overtaking lanes coming up, where the competitor is etc. It could then use that information to make the car run at its top speed and overtake all without crashing. We could then race different programs/cars against each other. I am sure it would start out an absolute disaster, but with some tweaking of the programs I think it could be quite exciting.
So it seems there are a few more options. I am keeping my eye out for other things as well. Something football related would probably go down well. Maybe some kind of fantasy football?
Curriculum Theory
Jan 8th
I have been working on writing a curriculum for the sand box and teaching programs I plan on running. As I have never written a curriculum before I have been on a steep learning curve! I have been reading ‘Curriculum theory and practice’, and have found it really useful. The author presents four options as to what it a curriculum could be and leaves it somewhat up to the reader to decide the most appropriate meaning.
From reading this I find that I most identify with the ideas of curriculum put forward by Lawrence Stenhouse:
‘A curriculum is an attempt to communicate the essential principles and features of an educational proposal in such a form that it is open to critical scrutiny and capable of effective translation into practice’ – Lawrence Stenhouse (1975)
One of the key ideas that Stenhouse puts forth is that individuals are not merely present in the process but that they should have a voice in the way that the process is implemented. This is important because the process is only a guide that is being worked out. It will not necessarily be perfect or the right thing for all the participants, therefore they must be able to provide feedback on how things are run so as to provide them with the most value – after all they are the reason for even having the curriculum in the first place!
Classic methods of teaching often fail people because they do not work well with the way that they learn. I know this because the way I was taught had little alignment with the way that I learn, I therefore had little desire to apply myself and subsequently dropped out. I was lucky that my desire to succeed and accomplish things drove me to learn skills on my own time and in my own way. I am hoping that my experience with this, and the understanding of how I learn, will enable me to effectively pass that knowledge onto others. My goal is that they will catch a passion for learning that inspires them to pursue knowledge their own way, on their own terms.
Which brings me back to the last part of the quote from Stenhouse:
‘... and capable of effective translation into practice’.
This is the key – translating the theory into practice. I have a lot of work to do to figure out how to do this and it is what I will be working through over the next few years.
