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What motivated you to engage the public with your work?

My research and my public engagement (PE) ultimately share complementary aims.  In research I use Computer Science to work out how to improve education, through PE I want to improve the standard of computer education in this country. Working with teachers and children is core to both and I really enjoy it. I was fifteen when I wrote my first piece of educational software and I haven’t stopped since. 

I think it’s really important to promote Computer Science and the recruitment of the right people (including girls) into it, especially with the anticipated future skills shortages here and in the US.   I am motivated to train teachers to inspire potential computer scientists throughout their career as an educator.  I believe this is the best way to achieve a real, lasting impact.

Describe the public engagement activity you have done.

I have worked with children, teachers and parents since 1997 in classrooms, community education settings and public science events. I collaborated with the Edinburgh Science Festival, The Edinburgh International Games Festival, The Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh and Glasgow City Councils, The Scottish Storytelling Centre and Learning and Teaching Scotland. I also lead the Gamemaker workshop series which has engaged hundreds of children in making their own computer games since 2003.

I have provided teacher training for Learning and Teaching Scotland and Edinburgh City Council. My work has been publicised in newspapers, and on BBC radio and television. I have also spoken on topics relating to young people and new technology at The Cheltenham Science Festival, the British Council Café Scientifique in Bejing, BECTA, Scottish Learning Festival and Google Zeitgeist Europe 2007.  I am also a children’s storyteller.

What are your top three tips for other researchers?

1. Hire the right person (if you a Research/Project Assistant).  My ‘Making Games in Schools’ project only worked because I had Cathrin Howells. She had the credibility and experience as a teacher that I didn’t, allowing her to really manage what she was doing (teaching teachers). This made it a lot easier.
2. Make sure that you can do events’ organisation. Even if you’ve got the best material in the world a project can fail if you don’t get it right.  Not all, but much of outreach involves this skill so if you can’t do events organisation you need to hire someone who can.
3. Apprentice/shadow yourself to an experienced person who’s really good.  The way I’ve learned most of my classroom and outreach skills was by going on storytelling sessions with a friend of mine who’s a teacher who visited schools and told children stories.  I learned so much from watching an experienced teacher work with a class full of kids, I still use it today.

What are your top three resources to support your engagement work?

1. Edinburgh Beltane (Beacons for Public Engagement)
2. Survey Monkey.  If you don’t have enough money to do the data entry yourself to process questionnaires, survey monkey can save time!
3. Basic statistics textbook of your choice or even an educational or psychology for research textbook...  I think it might help other people if they were starting out with this – and I guess if you want to do evaluation properly you need to know about it.

What would you say to encourage another researcher to engage with the public?

Public engagement is rewarding. You have a chance, and a duty, to inspire other people to become interested in science.

Areas of specific expertise you would be happy to be consulted on?

Working with teachers, working with children