BBC MicroBit................Are they unicorns?

[RobWilson-BBR]

Hi

 

Out of interest has anyone actually seen these on mass? Have signed up and got 3 last month and nothing now. Was expecting them a few weeks ago.

 

I am in the Swindon, wonder how the BBC are deciding who gets them first?

 

To be honest not sure what we are going to do with them, the lessons have already been planned for the rest of the year.

 

I'd be interested to know who has had deliveries.

 

Cheers

 

 

Rob

[Scrambles]

Yup, we have around 3 boxes up in our ICT Suite.

I've not looked at them myself but they deffo do exist

 

Also on a side note, I had to add microbit.co.uk into our Smoothwall Whitelist to get the page to load for our students.

Edited April 15, 2016 by Scrambles
Extra details

[sippo]

Should be despatched this month possibly into May.

 

We've had parents complain asking why their kids haven't had them...

[Achandler]

I have a huge box that is full of them. Arrived over the last 2 weeks.

[RobWilson-BBR]

So it looks like they being push out from the North West? Lets hope the M6 is not blocked too much then. It'll be nice to have them ready for Year 7 intake 2016. ;-)

[Cache]

Well I'm in the north west, 1 school I work at has them, 1 school hasn't.

 

Emailed the BBC and they can't say when but should be in the next 3 weeks.

[CHU]

I had the three teacher ones, we're expecting about 170, best check with the caretakers they could very well be holding up a shelf somewhere!

[rich_tech]

we have had the boxes of them here, 3 large boxes and assorted little ones for the power supply bits.

[Sheridan]

How are those with microbits dealing with them? Front I understand students would need to have access to use storage devices which we currently block.

[mdrabble]

We got 1 (yes a single one) delivered. Not sure if more are on the way or what

[kearton]

How are those with microbits dealing with them? Front I understand students would need to have access to use storage devices which we currently block.

http://www.edugeek.net/showthread.php?t=166263

[smurfomatic]

Ours finally arrived yesterday!

 

Has anyone found a storage solution? I was hoping we could use old cassette cases, which would be the right size and make a reasonably solid carrying case (as well as connecting the Microbit back to its 80s computing heritage!). However, the battery pack doesn't quite fit inside the tail part.

 

I suppose I could cut out a part of the tail to make the battery pack fit, but then I'd have to do it 60 times...

[andyturpie]

Got ours today

[Trojan]

Ours have just arrived too.

[RobWilson-BBR]

Looks like some schools have had them through. No such look here in sunny Swindon. I have seen a large amount of rockin' horse s4@@, though.

 

Seriously, though, is any school outside of London actually using these in their lessons. Considering we only have 8 weeks left until the summer, all the lesson plans have been completed.

 

I wonder what the BBC were thinking, when the "committee" thought this idea through. I bet they wish they had just back the Raspberry Pi foundation.

 

Idiots.

 

 

Rob

[smurfomatic]

Should have been a support for Raspberry Pi - especially when they announced the "zero" was going to cost so little. We've made no real plans to use ours as we couldn't guarantee their arrival.

[RobWilson-BBR]

Should have been a support for Raspberry Pi - especially when they announced the "zero" was going to cost so little. We've made no real plans to use ours as we couldn't guarantee their arrival.

 

Yeah complete waste of license fee money. They'll all be put in a land fill this time next year. I suspect the idiot that came up with it, has been promoted! :-)

 

Our ICT\Computing teachers have no interest in it. They all prefer the PC, as it does more.

[maark]

IT staff want to use them and have got lesson plans for year 7 but no sign of em apart from the 3 teacher ones.

Big supporter of the BBC but not sure why they are doing it and how it fits into their remit.

[smurfomatic]

I support the idea - after all a lot of us of a certain generation learned about computers from the BBC Micro - but the delays and lack of information has really knocked the project in my opinion. Simple questions like these went unanswered for a long time:

 

Who owns them, and if it's the children what do we do when one gets broken / lost?

 

Are they staying with the school for use with next year's Y7 or following the children through the school?

[gerardsweeney]

I've just been asked about them here. Though it seems the issues we're having accessing Bytesize through websense are hampering things somewhat.

[twin--turbo]

Son has been using one for a few months at school.

 

They have a few and today they had a trip to another school to hold a challenge day. Group of young programmers getting to grips with real devices.

 

Yes there is the PI but the MicroBit is designed to be a simple first step, it's next near rival is the Arduino and that requires real understanding of the programming Language.

 

I think it's a great idea just seems to be struggling to get to the users.

 

TT

[Mistert89]

For those who want to help their IT Teaching Staff moving forward with the MicroBit - please look at the IET (Institution of Engineering & Technology) who have produced many freely available resources - lesson plans and projects etc..... Your staff should find these a real help.

 

BBC micro:bit

 

http://faraday.theiet.org/stem-activity-days/bbc-microbit/resources/index.cfm

 

 

 

For those of you who would like to be viewed as a Technician or Engineer, consider joining a professional organisation such as the IET. Our employers should try to understand the level of technology we deal with - and we're not just mouse fixers or toner dollies! They need to recognise professional qualification and status.

Edited May 7, 2016 by Mistert89

[RobWilson-BBR]

BOUNCE!

 

Still no sign of these Unicorns.

 

Getting really bored of the wait.

 

Is there any news on delays?

 

Cheers

 

 

Rob

[Danp]

We have our batch of 20. I was playing space invaders on one of them this morning.

[RobWilson-BBR]

They have finally arrived, not sure what we are going to do with them to be honest!