Go Berserk News
• see our BBC Videos!• Go Berserk wins at EastSideAwards!
• try our BETT quiz to win a Go Berserk resource!
Go Berserk won the seventh annual Queen's University Belfast "What's the Big Idea" competition. We won the Best Idea from a Postgraduate Student, sponsored by Queen's Postgraduate Community & Enterprise, and we also won the Best Overall Business Idea, sponsored by the Ormeau Business Park.
|
|
| with Joanne Graham, Postgraduate Community & Enterprise Officer at Queen's | with Patricia McNeill and Phil Murray of Ormeau Business Park |
Go Berserk was nominated in the Research and Development company of the year category of the UTV Business Eye Awards 2014. This is the third year in a row that we have been nominated in this category! Congratulations to the winner, PathXL.
We were mentioned in an article in the OTech Magazine about Women in IT written by Debra Lilley (@debralilley). Debra, who has been a fantastic supporter of Go Berserk and is Oracle ACE Director, explains her inspirations and experiences in IT and says at the end of the article (on page 47):
I can't finish without mentioning our Next Generation Initiative, where we are going out into education and showcasing some of the roles in IT, and hoping to help some find graduate and apprentice roles in the Oracle Economy. Then there is some work I have had the privilege to see in my home region of N Ireland with Go Berserk, taking coding into primary schools and within the Java community the Devoxx4kids initiative is mind blowing. These are the people that inspire me, and more importantly the next generation of our industry.
We were invited to the end of summer Mozilla Webmakers Makers party at Coder Dojo Derry, held in the Magee Campus of the University of Ulster. We had a great time seeing all the amazing tech created by the coders including:
There were also lots of buns, a games competition organised by Magee Core and a fabulous venue hosted by Cunamh ICT. You can follow Derry Coder Dojo, or volunteer to help them on Saturdays from 11-1pm, via @coderDojoDerry on Twitter, Google Plus or Facebook.
The Daily Mirror had a great article on what we've been up to since we won the Talk Talk Digital Heroes Award for Northern Ireland last year. You can read the whole article here.
We were very proud to attend the first ever Computing at Schools Northern Ireland Conference in Stranmillis University College organised by Irene Bell.
We were thrilled to give the keynote address, along with the inspiring Kerri McCusker from the University of Ulster and STEM Aware's awesome Roisin Crawford. Our keynote was all about our experiences on the EdTech tour earlier this year. The highlight was showcasing the "Good Job America" web page built in under 10 minutes by Jacob (aged 9 and now a consultant teacher of HTML and CSS at his primary school in Derry-Londonderry).
There were lots of amazing teachers at the conference, as well as Mark Dorling from CAS(UK), Stephen Howell from Microsoft (who talked about Minecraft and Computational Thinking) and plenty of workshops about everything from how to make a banana piano with Makey Makey through making games using Scratch and Construct to advice on professional development.
We were very proud to represent Queen's University Belfast as their graduate entry in the Santander Business Plan competition. Good luck to the finalists.
We got through to the semi-finals of the Ireland Funds Business Plan competition at the Ryan Academy in Dublin City University. Good luck to the finalists.
We attended a conference about educational technology for the Waterside Cluster Group at the White Horse Hotel in Derry-Londonderry organised by STEM Aware. There were lots of demonstrations of edTech, including a quick lesson in HTML coding using the Go Berserk code checker.
We were ecstatic to be invited to the North West Smart Skills conference in St Mary's College, Derry. Definitely the highlight of the week!
Derry's new digital map was unveiled by Philip Flynn (Chair of Ilex), we heard inspiring talks from Gabrielle Moseley (US Consulate General in Belfast), Steven Duggan (Director of Worldwide Education at Microsoft), Bill Bates (Vice President, US Council on Competitiveness), Shauntel Poulson (New Schools Venture Fund), Steven Walter (Emerson Games) and our own Bro McFerran (Allstate NI), Joanne Ward (Seagate Technology), Martin Reilly (Mayor of Derry-Londonderry) and Marie Lindsay (Principal of St Mary's).
We learnt a lot, including:
Then, the amazing Roisin Crawford from STEM Aware showed STEM Aware's new video and we all had some (very very large) cake to celebrate all the schools who had participated in the Go Berserk training. The cake said it all:
The best part of the whol day was seeing what the St Mary's girls had produced in the coding classes (with really impressive Javascript code) and the websites that Erin and Jacob (aged 8 and 9) from Oakgrove Primary wrote in two hours while everyone else was listening to the talks.
Erin and Jacob are truly web geniuses!
|
nature is impotant so here are some fun tips! oakgrove oakgrove is one of the most helpful websites for looking after the enviroment 3 main things to remember! 1.If you have let over fruit you can cut it and give it to your plants. 2.Water your plants once a day. 3.Throw away rubish in the bin. |
everyone has right to go to school and learn so help them go berserk stem aware I done all this in around two hours!! |
| Erin's website | Jacob's website |
Go Berserk was at the Annual Dublin US Economic Conference. The conference is organised every year by the US Embassy in Dublin to discuss economic issue that affect the US and Ireland (North and South). This year's theme was Education and Technology under the title "Smart People, Smart Economy"
The keynote speakers included the US Embassy's Charge d'Affaires Stuart Dwyer, Taoiseach Enda Kenny, South African rugby captain Francois Pienaar, Steven Duggan (Head of Worldwide Education Strategy at Microsoft), Bill Bates (US Council on Competitiveness), Marcus Segal (Entrepreneur in residence at the Web Summit).
Go Berserk helped organise a session on STEM, STEAM and Entrepreneurship with Kerri McCusker and Roisin Crawford (STEMAware) which included contributions from Steven Duggan, Sean O'Sullivan (SOSVentures), Shauntel Poulson (NewSchools Venture Fund) and John Peto (The Nerve Centre).
In the evening we were invited to the Ambassador's residence for amazing food from Ireland, North and South at the Good Food Ireland showcase (the ice-cream from County Down was particularly great)... and we met up with everyone from the EdTech tour to the US.
Yet another great day in Oakgrove College introducing more teachers to HTML coding.
We had another great day in Lumen Christi introducing even more equally fantastic teachers to the joys of HTML coding. Lumen Christi was fabulous.
We were honoured to be invited to a world first event at Oakgrove Integrated Primary - a night for parents and pupils to find out about STEM and STEM careers, organised by the parents (with a little help from STEMAware and the wonderful Oakgrove staff). There were some amazing STEM experiments, lots of Peace Bridges, and Derry's very own Coder Dojo.
We think every primary school should have one!
There was even a 9 year old coder who knew more about Go Berserk than we did, after completing the HTML book himself - definitely a web genius berserker.
P.S. we really love the Coder Dojo Derry website which says (at the moment): "This site is currently under construction by the kids"
We had a great time in St Cecilia's introducing some fantastic teachers to the joys of HTML coding - it was even difficult to drag them away for lunch! Thanks to St Cecilia's and their super-modern ICT suite.
Derry City Council has provided 56 schools in the city with a class set of Go Berserk books for free and we will be sharing with teachers how to get the most out of them.
There are four free events organised in March in local schools in Derry for one representative from each of the 56 schools chosen to attend.
Here is a list of the schools that will be receiving a free class-set of the books. If your school is on this list, you are invited to one of the training events. Please register to attend here.
.
If you have any questions, please contact us on info@go-berserk.com or by using the 'Contact Us' page
We were honoured to be invited to talk at the Safer Internet Day in Wellington College, Belfast. We even appeared on a live TV feed streamed across the Internet! Here are some comments from the day about Go Berserk:
Hearing from Ian Simons about potential of the Internet - young people learning more about writing websites ! #sid14
Safeguarding Board (safeguardingni) on Twitter
It's not all about the dangers, the internet also benefits. Hearing from @GoBerserk1 about teaching young people to build websites #SID2014
@GoBerserk1 Great stuff, really interesting to hear about your work :)
Parenting NI (@ParentingNI) on Twitter
Go Berserk has been awarded a Bronze in the Start-up Learning Provider of the year at the Learning Awards, and was a finalist in the Innovation in Learning Award.
We were the only company from Northern Ireland in the awards, and the only non multi-national company to receive nominations in two categories. The Learning Awards brochure gives more details here.
This is what the judges said about Go Berserk:
|
Go Berserk's mission is to create thousands of high-end computing jobs in Northern Ireland. The programme (which started as a conventional book but is now both an iPad app and an e-book) helps eight-year-olds to build websites. A comprehensive curriculum is being developed, and copies of the first book are in every single primary school in Northern Ireland. The impact of the programme extends into the wider community. It works with all abilities and has been successful in a Learning Centre for excluded pupils. Often someone seen as a low achiever in the classroom can become an outstanding programmer. |
|
Go Berserk landed in New York City and visited the following places:
KIPP Washington Heights |
|
Google Education |
Go Berserk landed in Boston and visited the following places:
Boston Consulate |
|
MIT Game Lab |
The Stranmillis report about the effects of Go Berserk on 10 primary and secondary schools in Northern Ireland has been published online. You can see the full report here or an executive summary here.
The report revealed that:
For example, one school which used the book with 10-11 year olds said this:
"Students found that coding the pages provided the same sense of achievement and challenge that they often encounter when playing computer games at home... One student in this class excelled beyond the expectations of his the teacher. He was on the autistic spectrum.. The experience helped his confidence greatly, to the extent that he was soon known as the class 'IT consultant'....Even though the teacher had not used HTML code before she felt at ease alongside the students as they all learned together. She said that 'she became a participant in the learning rather than just the sole provider of the knowledge'...The development of web sites raised the aspirations for career opportunities in computing. The school plan to develop and expand the work started in this pilot for future years and with additional year groups"
You can read an account of the discussion we had in 1776 in Washington DC here, reported by Jessie Zeng.
Go Berserk landed in Seattle and visited the following places:
Bungie |
|
VALVe |
Go Berserk landed in Washington DC on the EdTech Ireland trip sponsored by the US State Department. We visited the following places:
Old Bessie, Smithsonian Air and Space Museum |
|
Art Lab, Smithsonian |
Go Berserk's Gareth McAleese has been selected to go on a tour of the United States sponsored by the US State Department and run by Cultural Vistas to see how US schools and educators are implementing technology in schools. The tour will take in the following cities:
St John the Baptist Primary School blogs about their experiences with Go Berserk:
St. John the Baptist are the youngest coders on the island and UK with some students as young as 8 years old! Well done superstars!
image: from Debra Lilley's blog
Ian Simons and Irene Bell have been awarded the Teaching Tech Award at the Blackboard Awards, in part for work with Go Berserk.
Go Berserk is up for an Irish Times Innovation Award. The judging will take place soon.
Worcester STEMNet encourages schools and clubs to use Go Berserk for computer science activities.
Go Beserk have written a book to teach both primary and secondary school children how to make their own websites. Go Berserk making websites with HTML and CSS . Alongside the book they have created an e-book version, an iPad app Amelia Earhart's Flight Code Challenge, and online code checker. These resources are not free, but have received great feedback including recently been chosen as the Talk Talk Digital Hero for Northern Ireland.
from the STEMNet brochure
Ian Simons appeared on BBC Radio's Good Morning Ulster where he talked about the Stranmillis Report and Go Berserk. You can hear the interview by clicking here.
Irene Bell and Ian Simons from Stranmillis University College presented an academic report on the effect of Go Berserk in primary and secondary schools in Northern Ireland.
6 primary schools, 3 secondary schools and 1 Learning Centre (which were chosen to be representative of all socio-economic groups in Northern Ireland) were given copies of the Go Berserk book to teach to classes. A summary of the day is provided by Debra Lilley, Director of the UK Oracle User Group, here.
The report concludes:
School managers and teaching staff involved unanimously agreed that the project was effective. It provided them with a unique and successful experience across a range of areas and delivered the school with a boost and a different perspective on thinking in developing ICT within their school planning....Frequently staff were amazed at the achievements of the pupils, their creativity and level of engagement. The web pages produced by the pupils demonstrated not only comprehension of the work undertaken at a surface level but at a level sufficiently deep that pupils applied transferrable skills and knowledge. The majority of pupils were able to understand the learning within the resources and apply it to their own chosen theme. This research has demonstrated that learning to code unlocks creativity and builds confidence in pupils regardless of age, gender or background.
In attendance were Naomi Long MP, Mervyn Storey MLA (chairman of the Education committee at Stormont), and Máirtín Ó Muilleoir (the Lord Mayor of Belfast) and the Deputy Lord Mayor. Citi's Director John Healy also gave his feedback on the report.
Other findings from the report included:
Pupil responses to participating in the project were overwhelmingly positive, expressing difficulties in coding that demonstrated understanding and learning. They recounted an experience that raised their confidence and opened new avenues of knowledge and career exploration. This generation that cherishes instant feedback and affirmation of their actions responded positively to a coding system that gave an instant response when the 'refresh' button was hit.
Responses from the staff indicated that 'relatively speaking', the attainment of the lower ability pupils was particularly strong. Work from the pupils in this category clearly demonstrated that coding is feasible for all academic levels. Pleasing results were also achieved in an 'Education other than school' setting with staff there expressing support for the outcomes of the project very positively.
Findings indicate that the pilot study not only raised career aspirations for the children but in bringing their work home also engaged the parents and triggered their own aspirations for a career in IT ...Schools fully understood how this work was integral to the CCEA (2012) UICT, Desirable Features element within the curriculum. They reported their intentions to re-evaluate their planning with a view to incorporating this aspect of coding and more.
Go Berserk has been nominated in two LPI Learning Awards:
We'll see who wins at the Dorchester hotel in London on 6th February.
 
|
|
Go Berserk appeared at the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday, where Gareth McAleese was presented with the TalkTalk Digital Heroes 2013 Award for Northern Ireland.
Congratulations to CyberSmile who won overall.
You can see the video we made for the awards here:
Go Berserk exhibited at the TeachMeet Belfast 3 in Riddel Hall, at Queen's University Belfast. It was a great night with lost of inspiring uses of IT in education on show.
Go Berserk exhibited at the Arts Council's Thrive event at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast. We had a great time talking to lots of people and hearing an inspiring talk from Eric Huang.
It looks like our dog enjoyed himself too, getting dressed in Leonora's hats and scarves.
VCCP flew into Belfast to record our video presentation for the Talk Talk Digital Hero Awards later this month.
The stars of the video were definitely the web geniuses at Stranmillis University College from:
and the web geniuses of Mr Melin's class at Longstone School.
We were really impressed with your coding skills, and how clear and calm you were on camera.
We got a great review from Inkpellet.co.uk:
Coding is the language of computers and will put students who understand it in the driving seat; able to programme, create software, and speak the same language.
Step forward Ian Simons, Will Moore and Gareth McAleese, the co-authors of Go Berserk, a colourful step-by-step guide to making websites using code.
By the end of the book, they promise, users will be able to make their own websites...To get coding, visit www.go-berserk.com, where you can order the book
You can read the full review here.
|
buy Go Berserk on a Mac making websites from the iBookstore for £5.49 US$9.99 €7.99 Pages: 114 Rated: Ages 8 and above By: Go Berserk 
|
|
|
Go Berserk was nominated in the Research and Development company of the year category of the UTV Business Eye Awards 2013. We were nominated in the same category last year! Let's see what happens on October 10th this time.
Go Berserk attended the BCS Gathering of Lighntning event at Farset Labs. We learnt all about Bit Coins and had a great time showing people our book.
Go Berserk's Gareth McAleese has become the TalkTalk Digital Heroes 2013 for Northern Ireland category. We're very grateful to everyone who voted for us, and we're looking forward to see who wins the UK title at the House of Commons on 29th October.
We demonstrated Go Berserk to the children and adults at the Derry-Londonderry Culture Tech Monster Coder Dojo event in The Venue.
Lots of people tried out the Experiment with Code, and some even produced their own websites!
Go Berserk has been Highly Commended in the Digital Advertising Northern Ireland Awards 2013 in the e-Learning category. You can see some of the pictures from the night here.
Go Berserk exhibited next to the Bring IT On stalls at the University of Ulster Open days. We had a great time showing students (and some professors) how to code HTML.
Go Berserk gave talks to primary school teachers at the Te@ch ICT event at Ashfield Girls High School. Thanks to all the teachers who attended and gave us some great feedback and ideas.
Go Berserk was supported by EJH Design and Print, and by USEL and OCN NI who also attended the event and promoted the new certification which children can earn by studying a Go Berserk book.
Go Berserk has been certified by OCN NI - you can now earn an OCN Level 1 certification by studying a Go Berserk book. This is the first time ever that a certification usually reserved for 14 year olds has been made available to children aged 8 and above.
We always knew you were web geniuses, and now you can get the certificate to prove it.
Details of how to get certified through USEL and OCN are here on USEL's Aspire Training certifications website.
OCN NI Level 1 Award in Introduction to HTML and CSS (QCF)
Ofqual code 601/0949/X
3 credits
Go Berserk's Gareth McAleese has been shortlisted in the TalkTalk Digital Heroes 2013 in the Northern Ireland category. We're looking forward to see who wins the category and goes on to represent Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom finals.
Voting is open to the public until 14th September.
To vote in the Northern Ireland category, follow these steps:
|
|
Pages: 58 Rated: Ages 8 and above By: Go Berserk 
|
Description |
|
|
"Go Berserk making a web page" is an interactive e-book which is an introduction to Go Berserk hard copy and ebooks, and which gives all the code and hints to complete Amelia Earhart's Flight Code Challenge iPad app. Find out about Amelia Earhart's flight to Derry and learn how to make a web site along the way. |
Features
|
|
Screenshots
|
|
Go Berserk has been nominated in Digital Advertising Northern Ireland Awards 2013 in the e-Learning category. We're looking forward to see who wins on 13th September in St Columb's Hall, Derry-Londonderry.
Mrs. Mommy Booknerd, from mrsmommybooknerd.blogspot.co.uk gave us this review of the Go Berserk making websites with HTML and CSS book:
OK, so I kinda have been using this book myself!
I love to see all the tips and explanations for building a website! As my boys get older they are going to love creating a website on their own. They want to have a blog like Mommy, so this book will prove to be very valuable!
For kids 8 and older this book breaks down the know how into an easy to follow and easy to read format. It helps how many pictures accompany the instructions because we know that we learn so much faster with visual cues!
I cannot wait to create a website with my boys!!!
4/5 stars
and on Amazon.com:
Awesome
See the reviews online at mrsmommybooknerd.blogspot.co.uk, Amazon.com, and Facebook, and other reviews for the book here.
Tell us what you think here.
We launched our game for the iPad, called Amelia Earhart's Flight Code Challenge:
|
 for £2.49 US$3.99 €3.59 Category: Education Size: 62 MB Language: English Rated: 4+ By: SilverFish Studios 
|
Olly (aged 11), from theollybookblog.com gave us this review of the Go Berserk making websites with HTML and CSS book:
This is makes HTML Website Coding really simple, if you don't get what HTML is then please click here.
The book is really light to go through and not difficult at all and any person who is 8+ should easily understand this. There are also other books in the series such as Go Berserk making websites with Javascript etc.
The one thing I will say is that even though it works with any windows version, the authors use Windows XP in the book while the newest ones are obviously 7 and 8. The code used is HTML 4 and CSS 2, The newest out however is HTML 5 and CSS 3. So apart from a few program updates this book is great!
8/10
See the review online here, and other reviews for the book here.
Tell us what you think here.
Go Berserk visited the Creative Learning Showcase in Detling, Kent.
We had a great time meeting everyone: special thanks to Emma Jenkins for inviting us, and to News for Schools and their reporters who helped produce some websites in record time.
Year 8 students at Markethill High School have been learning to make their own websites using Go Berserk. You can read more about it here.
pupils at Markethill High School
Go Berserk is one year old.
Check out the new Match Game we got as a birthday present:
Go Berserk resources can now be bought online in the UK from Help Me Teach.
 |
|
 |
Go Berserk resources can now be bought online in the US and Canada from Teachers Pay Teachers and TeacherLingo.
|
|
 |
Go Berserk showed our book and new e-book at the Stranmillis Resources Day
A well-behaved dog at Stranmillis
We were a finalist in the Ulster Bank Business Achiever Awards in the Innovation and Emerging Technology Category.
Go Berserk was mentioned in the latest edition of the US-based Computer Science Teachers Association newsletter. Teacher and CSTA K-8 representative Patrice Gans used our book in classes of 8, 9 and 10 year olds. She writes:
"As a K–8 computer teacher, I recognized early on the importance of tapping my students' personal interests as a way to ensure their engagement in CS.
At the beginning of the 2011 school year, I introduced them to the basic concepts of programming via Scratch. As the school year progressed, I decided to include other CS methodologies.
With this goal in mind, I spent the last few weeks of the 2012 school year teaching HTML. I was amazed at their enthusiasm. The fact that they could create a website and then share the information with their families, friends, and even virtual strangers via the Internet, was a very powerful motivator. They couldn't wait to get started. And even when they encountered challenges along the way, their sense of accomplishment never wavered.
I used the Go Berserk material as a guide to teach my students the fundamentals of HTML... I used their book with my fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students."
We held our second training session for Go Berserk tutors on 2nd March at Stranmillis University College. Thanks to everyone who came along, including Basil McCrea MLA.
Go Berserk tutors
We held the first training session for Go Berserk tutors on 8th December at Stranmillis University College. Thanks to everyone who came along.
Ian Simons and two Go Berserk tutors
We were very excited to teach some web geniuses from Laurelhill Community College how to make their own websites at Stranmillis University College. They were brilliant! You can read more about it here.
Ian Simons and the Laurelhill Community College web geniuses
Are you a NI PGCE graduate without a current post? Do you want to be a Go Berserk tutor? We are looking for PGCE graduates in Northern Ireland who would like to help introduce pupils in local schools to the Go Berserk book. Click here to sign up.
Photos are here
Go Berserk won the Best Business Innovation (for a private company) at the Belfast Business Awards held in the City Hall on 8th November.
We were also highly commended in the Best Creative Business category.
Here are some of the press comments from Belfast City Council and the Irish Times
Go Berserk exhibited at the TeachMeet Belfast 2 in Stranmillis University College.
Go Berserk was proud to be one of the exhibitors at the Integrated Education Fund's Digital Media Conference in W5, Odyssey, Belfast.
We held 5 Go Berserk roadshows in Derry, Enniskillen and Belfast. Thanks to all the teachers who attended, and also to Dr Stephen Farry MLA (DEL) and Robert Byers (LibertyIT) who came to one of the Belfast events. We are especially grateful to Stranmillis University College, Northwest Teachers Centre and Southwest Teachers Centre who hosted the events.
Ian Simons, Irene Bell, Robert Byers and Gareth McAleese at Stranmillis
Go Berserk was nominated in the Research and Development company of the year category of the UTV Business Eye Awards.
Go Berserk launched on 16th May at Stormont Parliament Buildings, Belfast.
We were sponsored by Judith Cochrane, an MLA for the Alliance Party who spoke at the launch. Peter Robinson, Northern Ireland's First Minister and Stephen Farry, minister for the Department of Education and Learning also spoke.
Some web geniuses from these schools showed off their web skills:
Our sponsors were also there, along with lots of teachers and representatives from Business in the Community's Time to Compute program.
See more news here > 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012
@goberserk1