BBC Micro may return to the classroom

 

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By Stuart Andrews

Posted on 17 Feb 2012 at 11:04

The BBC is investigating a return to classroom computing with a project widely described as "BBC Micro 2".

As part of a the "Computer Literacy Project 2012", members of the BBC Learning team attended an event called Hack 2 The Future with an early build of a development environment, rather than new hardware, based on Eclipse and bearing the BBC Micro 2 title.

Cross-platform by nature, it’s understood to support a range of set tutorials and exercises which are designed to teach the concepts of coding across several programming languages.

A website has appeared for the project - noticed by our sister title bit-tech - explaining that “BBC Learning is looking at how it can inspire a new generation to become literate in computer technology and programming”.

“Over the next few months BBC Learning will be developing its ideas, producing prototypes and attending and running events,” it added.

The project has nothing to do with the Cambridge-based Raspberry Pi £15 computer, and was initially dismissed as a hoax by the head of the trust creating that educational computer, Eben Upton.

However, members of the project team have now come forward, including Michael Sparks, senior research engineer at BBC R&D in Manchester, who stated on Twitter that it wasn’t a hoax, but a "premature preview of ideas".

"There is code, but it’s incredibly pre–pre alpha," he added, "and more a sketch of ideas to test ideas on".