About

Hi, I’m JS! In my job, I teach Computing at high school level in a junior college in Singapore. All the time, I’m exploring how we learn and know what we know, and how we teach it to others.

Things I’m working on

• intro-to-python, programming-in-python: self-guided courses for learning Python and programming patterns
• open-dis-python: contributing to the Python implementation of the DIS version 7 (IEEE-1278.1) protocol [status: ongoing]
• TimelineBot (WIP): A telegram bot to help me automate my current todo done-list system
• Onboarding (working title): a digital onboarding process for Computing students to get set up before their first lesson
• Pseudo (working title): a code editor for (Cambridge 9618) pseudocode
• Scrollback (working title): an ORM for representing changes to a spreadsheet as an event stream, to enable time-aware search
• Layman’s Guide to Computing: a (dormant) newsletter introducing Computing concepts in layperson language; archived version [status: in maintenance]

Current obsessions

• Capstone projects: how do we design and set up projects that allow learners to showcase their learning without being restricted by it?
• Remote collaboration: is this a teachable skill or a learnable perspective? Yes. How do we inculcate a collaborative mindset in learners
• Increasing agency: building systems that increase agency and autonomy in learners

Reads

• Why Tacit Knowledge is More Important Than Deliberate Practice, Copying Better: How To Acquire The Tacit Knowledge of Experts
  These two articles by Cedric Chin are part of the Expertise Acceleration series from Commoncog, and lay out a model for expert knowledge, and a process for extracting and transmitting it.

• Teaching Tech Together
  While ostensibly about teaching computing, in the process of doing so it lays out many cognitive models of learning and teaching that have influenced the way I design and implement my teaching modules.

Highlights

If you don’t want to dig through the archives for the highlights, they are collated here.

Project Management

This is a series of articles written for first-timers in collaborative projects.

1. Getting Started with Project Management: A Beginner's Guide

   Is a task feeling overwhelming for you? You may have a project on your hands instead.

2. Preparing Your Project for Contributors: A Guide for Managers

   Found a contributor? Congratulations! You are now a project manager. Read this if it’s your first time.

3. Contributing to Projects: A Guide for Beginners

   Is something holding you back from contributing to a project? Or did you try to contribute to a project, but find your efforts unappreciated? Read this.