We are proud to have had the opportunity to represent Pytch and Trinity College Dublin at this year’s Oide Computer Science Conference in Ballinasloe earlier this month. The event brought together educators, students, researchers, and education stakeholders to explore developments in computer science education and digital citizenship across the Irish education system. 

The conference provided valuable insights into the current state of CS education across the country. It further underlined the relevance of projects and tools supporting teachers in CS education within the national conversation on computer science teaching and learning.  

Insights From the Conference

The conference featured a range of incredible student project showcases such as a LEGO Rubik’s Cube solver, and interesting presentations surrounding the topic of digital citizenship.  

Student projects gave great insights into pupils’ interests in computer science, which goes beyond beginner-level programming and is leaning towards topics such as robotics. This showed great insights into the students’ interests and ability to move towards more challenging topics such as text-based programming. 

Of particular note was the keynote address delivered by Dr. Eileen Culloty from Dublin City University, who offered a compelling critique of digital policy and the failure of public-interest protections in the regulation of major technology companies. Her speech emphasized the importance of teaching students not only technical skills within computer science, but also the critical thinking necessary to engage ethically in digital spaces. 

Pytch in Computer Science Education

The conference highlighted the increasing importance of structured support for students and teachers making the shift towards text-based coding. Our ongoing research focuses on improving our educational platform that makes the transition from block-based programming platforms to text-based programming in Python easier, with emphasis on engaging tutorials, curriculum alignment, and teacher training. 

We thank Oide for hosting a well-organized conference that not only celebrated student achievement but also facilitated meaningful professional dialogue. We look forward to sharing our findings with this our community and continuing to contribute to the development of inclusive computer science education in Ireland.