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SUMMARY:Computing at School: Tackling the ICT Education Crisis in UK Schoo
 ls - Simon Peyton-Jones\, Microsoft Research
DTSTART:20130123T141500Z
DTEND:20130123T151500Z
UID:TALK42367@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Stephen Clark
DESCRIPTION:Computing is one of the richest\, most exciting disciplines on
  the planet\, yet any teenager will tell you that in the UK we are systema
 tically teaching our children that ICT (as it is called in school – “i
 nformation and communication technologies”) consists of little more than
  learning to use Word or PowerPoint. Over the last two decades\, computing
  at school has drifted from writing adventure games on the BBC micro to wr
 iting business plans in Excel.\n\nThis is bad for our young people's educa
 tion\, and it is bad for our economy. It is also quite fixable\, but the i
 nherent inertia in the educational system requires a clear message and cas
 e for change\, from the classroom right up to the Secretary of State. I wi
 ll describe the challenge\, outline solutions\, and invite your participat
 ion in a debate about both ends (what are we trying to achieve) and means 
 (how can we effect reform?).\n\nHaving a decent education system in the ar
 ea of IT and computer science is important. If we leave it to someone else
 \, they'll screw it up. We have to roll up our sleeves\, and now is the ti
 me to do it.\n\nSpeaker's Biography\n\nSimon Peyton Jones is a Principal R
 esearcher at Microsoft’s Research Lab in Cambridge\, and a visiting prof
 essor at Glasgow University. His research interest is in the design and im
 plementation of functional programming languages\, especially Haskell and 
 its compiler GHC. He is Chair of the UK Computing at School Working Group\
 , whose goal is to put the excitement and rigour of computing science back
  into the school curriculum.
LOCATION:Lecture Theatre 1\, Computer Laboratory
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