Creative Computing

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Creative Computing students learn 'Internet of Things'

Friday, 2 June, 2017

Students from Bath Spa University's BSc (Hons) Creative Computing course were recently given seminars by Luke Woodbury, Founder and Director of dotLib partnering up with Farnell element14.

The Internet of Things (IoT) seminars showed them how to create a working IoT network using Arduino microcontrollers. The result was a network of devices that communicate with each other, creating a generative sequence of light and sound. Students saw first-hand how to apply java skills acquired in previous seminars to hardware, by making use of the Arduino devices. During seminars they also got a taste of how to creatively use coding in an IoT project.

The Creative Computing courses are committed to equip students with essential experience on working with the latest technology and provide them with a competitive skill set that will make them sought-after in the job market.

“This workshop was fantastic at giving students a glimpse into a side of computing that is often absent from many university programmes. We ran this workshop as a mini ‘hackspace’ - these are places that promote engagement with digital creativity through experimentation, and importantly play. Hackspaces do a great job at negotiating emerging concepts (such as IoT) in a fun way and through co-creation. We are looking forward to adopting this approach more frequently in Creative Computing” Lee Scott, Subject Leader for Creative Computing at Bath Spa.

“Exploring the physical side of computing using Arduino was an insightful experience, seeing the direct impact of the code in front of me really aided me in understanding the logic behind it.” Matthew Westlake,  student studying Creative Computing at Bath Spa.

Luke was interviewed on the project, and the importance of teaching computing students the principles of IoT.