Essential Information
The 2018 PyCon Australia Python in Education Seminar will be held on Friday August 24th in Sydney, Australia, at the International Convention Centre, Sydney.
- The main conference CFP (including proposals for the Education Seminar) has now closed. We look forward to sharing our list of selected presentations with you after the review and selection process is complete!
- Applications to be part of the Student Showcase have also closed. We have received some truly excellent submissions, and reviewers are currently working through those and will be notifying successful applicants soon.
Seminar Overview
Python is both a simple and consistent language for beginners and a powerful real-world language used in industry. This combination is why it’s a popular language in education: it’s a great way to start for beginner programmers who are beyond graphical programming environments like Scratch and reaching the limitations of ‘toy’ languages.
The Python in Education seminar aims to bring together Python educators to share ideas and resources. Come along to hear how Python is used to teach programming in school classrooms and extracurricular clubs and camps around Australia. This is a time to share resources and experiences and to bring up any setbacks to a group of people keen and ready to help out.
If you’re new to Python, this is a great opportunity to see what it can do, how it works in an educational environment and build up your own skills and confidence.
Submitting a talk or other proposal for the 2019 Education Seminar
While applications for the 2018 Education Seminar have closed, we’re planning to submit a specialist track proposal again for 2019, so if there’s something you’d like to present to a mixed audience of teachers and technologists, make a note of it, and consider submitting a proposal next year!
Submitting a project presentation for the Student Showcase
While applications for the 2018 Student Showcase have closed, we’re aiming to have it return in 2019, so there will hopefully be more opportunities to participate in the future!
Format
The Python in Education Seminar runs each year at the start of PyCon Australia, in parallel with a number of other specialist events. In 2018, the Python in Education Seminar will take place on Friday the 24th of August.
For the morning and post-lunch sessions, the talk schedule will be aligned with the other PyCon specialist tracks that are running simultaneously to make it easy for attendees that choose to do so to attend parts of each of them.
For the first time in 2018, the post-afternoon-tea session at the Education Seminar will feature a dedicated Student Showcase, an opportunity for students in Years 7-12 to give short presentations regarding projects they have been working on in Python, including ways in which Python has helped (and perhaps hindered!) their efforts.
Audience
All are welcome to attend the Python in Education Seminar! For selected presenters, the kind of audience to expect includes:
- Primary and secondary school teachers
- Tertiary educators teaching beginner-level courses
- Organisers and volunteers at coding clubs or camps
- Creators of educational software and teaching materials
- Parents keen to teach their children to code
- Professional and hobbyist software developers interested in education
Those curious as to what this seminar is about may also want to take a look at the recorded presentations from previous years:
- Youtube playlist from 2017 (Melbourne)
- Youtube playlist from 2016 (Melbourne)
- Youtube playlist from 2015 (Brisbane)
Financial Assistance
There is financial assistance available for speakers and attendees of the conference if finances are likely to be barrier to your participation.
For full-time teachers, this assistance may include the cost for your school to provide a substitute teacher so that you can attend the Python in Education Seminar.
See the financial assistance page for more information on how to apply.
Community Partners
The PyCon Australia Python in Education Seminar happens but once a year, while students, teachers, and community volunteers need support and resources throughout the year. As such, the organisers of the Python in Education Seminar are delighted to have the following organisations involved as community partners.
Australian Computing Academy
Lead by the University of Sydney, the Australian Computing Academy provides training, resources, and support to Australian educators in implementing the Australian Digital Technologies Curriculum.
With funding from the Australian Government Department of Education and Training, ACA also offer the Australian Digital Technologies Challenges for Years 5 - 8.
Code Club Australia
Code Club is a network of clubs led by teachers and volunteers to get kids coding. Code Club offers over 100+ hours of digital technologies aligned projects and activities to bring coding to classrooms, libraries and community centres across the country. Currently, Code Club impacts more than 165,000 children a week across a network of 2,200+ clubs and schools. All for free.
Code Club also offers Free certified training for teachers wanting to get across Digital Technologies for their school. Learn more at codeclubau.org.
