Liz: Andrew Mulholland is a first-year undergraduate student at Queen’s College Belfast, and the overall winner of 2014’s Talk Talk Digital Hero award. We’ve known him for a few years (he did work experience with us this summer – he created the Grandpa Scarer learning resource for us with Matt Timmons-Brown).

Andrew’s been setting up events to introduce other young people to computing for some years now. He‘s recently been running the very first Raspberry Jams in Northern Ireland, and is doing a lot of computing outreach with local schools. I asked him how the kids who’d attended the Jams had found the experience, and he sent me the blog post below. Well done Andrew – it’s brilliant to see how much fun an introduction to computing can be. You’re doing an amazing job.

Northern Ireland November Raspberry Jam

On Saturday 8^th November 20+ soon-to-be Raspberry Pi enthusiasts arrived at Farset Labs for the 6^th Northern Ireland Raspberry Jam.

September, NI Raspberry Jam 5

This months main activities? Sonic Pi 2 and Minecraft Pi!

At the Jam we also have all the previous months’ activities printed out, so that if the kids want to try something else out, they are more than welcome to.

There are activities ranging from Sonic Pi, to Minecraft Pi, to physical computing projects like creating a reaction timer game in Scratch GPIO, along with quite a few others.

Lots of cool stuff to play with!

I asked a few of the kids at the jam to write down what they thought.

Haley (11) having way too much fun hacking someone else’s Minecraft Pi game!

Haley:

“It was my first Raspberry Jam and I was quite nervous when I walked in but one of the mentors came over and introduced himself to me and explained what we would be getting up to. He found me a chair and showed me how to connect all the wires together and by the end of the Jam I was laughing my head off! I really enjoyed learning how to make music using Sonic Pi. I made the tune Frère Jacques. My favourite part was learning how to code while playing Minecraft. Andrew told me I should learn how to code because I had never done it before. I used a programming language called Python to hack others Minecraft games and to teleport them to a random place. I heard another kid start exclaiming after teleporting her several times, initially she had no idea it was me! Andrew and Libby were very supportive the whole day and I learnt a massive amount thanks to them. It was great fun!”

Apparently Haley enjoyed her first Raspberry Jam.

 Katie:

“I heard about the Raspberry Jam because one of the mentors volunteers at my school and the Jam was announced in Assembly as part of EU Coding Week. My friend Rachel and I decided to give it a go. I didn’t know anything about a Raspberry Pi and had no idea what to expect before I went but Andrew and the mentors have taught me loads and are very encouraging. I have just done my second Raspberry Jam and I loved it! I created a piece of music using Sonic Pi, played/hacked Minecraft and played with an LEDBorg in Scratch GPIO! Also we got doughnuts and got to make use of Farset Lab’s huge blackboard! It is the biggest blackboard I’ve ever seen. I don’t have a favorite part because everything I did was great fun and everybody was helpful. I definitely suggest anyone my age giving it a go!”

Rachel and Katie creating music with Sonic-Pi 2

Rachel

“I had a great time at my second Raspberry Jam at the weekend. The thing I enjoyed the most was learning with Scratch with the GPIO pins. This is something my school doesn’t teach so I don’t get the chance to do anything like this normally. It was great fun programming the LEDs to change different colours using a program I wrote.

The Raspberry Jam is such an amazing workshop and I am very grateful to Andrew and Libby for running it! I can’t wait till the December Jam!!”

We didn’t just have young people at the NI Raspberry Jam this month! The Jam is open to people of all ages, coding knowledge and backgrounds.

Never too old to play Minecraft! John (70) getting taught how to play Minecraft Pi by Isaac (10)

A parent:

“These events are really great. It lets the kids experiment with technology that they wouldn’t otherwise have got the opportunity to use in school. Most schools in Northern Ireland don’t seem to offer any coding opportunities for the kids so stuff like this is essential. And Andrew and Libby are great, giving up their Saturdays to come and teach these kids and my son!”

Next month is the Christmas special Jam! We have some secret new activities planned and of course, lots of food!

Some awesome cupcakes baked by @baker_geek for last months Jam.

Want to come along to the next NI Raspberry Jam?

Northern Ireland Raspberry Jam is on the 2^nd Saturday of every month with NI Raspberry Jam 7 (Christmas special) being on the 12^th December at Farset Labs, Belfast.

Tickets are free! (Although we ask for a £3 donation towards the venue if able to).

The event is especially aimed at complete beginners to the Raspberry Pi or people just starting out, but we do have some more complex projects and challenges for you if you are an expert.

Special thanks to Libby (16) for helping me with this months Jam, and to Farset Labs for basically letting us take over the building for a Saturday afternoon!

You know when you are onto something good when you overhear one of the kids on their way out saying: “Daddy, daddy, can I borrow your phone to book next month’s tickets before they all go?”

Interested in finding a Raspberry Jam near you? Check out our Jams page!