Option 4: As many schools are teaching remotely online due to Covid-19, in what ways can you facilitate a lesson on visual programming remotely? What tools and approaches would you use to deliver content and engage students in activities from their home? You might also consider ways you address different student needs, depending on resources available to them at home. 

This lesson has been designed to teach the principles of completing mazes in Blockly without necessarily having students have access to the programmes / robots. Instead, the lesson could be structured as either a precursor to an in-person lesson, or to allow students to become familiar with the concepts of algorithms and patterns without immediately introducing technology. This is particularly important in a remote teaching scenario, where expensive technology or even reliable internet may not be available.

Tools required:

1. Printed Map / Maze (ideally laminated, so students can plot their proposed course on using whiteboard marker, but if not, students can use pencil and erase each turn).
   
2. Printed Program cards
   (Initially)
   – move forward
   – move left
   – move right
   – repeat until pinned point
   (with more complex programming cards added with increased ability)

Students could engage in a paper-based version of the activity, in which the online map board is printed, and instruction cards are printed and cut up. Students would be able to familiarise themselves with the rules and processes of the game before attempting it online. Further to this, if devices were present without (reliable) internet connectivity, activities could be recorded on a device. With this too, students could work in pairs to exchange instructions, and check how well their friend manages to complete the maze. 

Finally, even outside of a remote teaching scenario, requiring students to complete an ‘analogue’ version of Blockly before they are allowed to play an online one ensures that students are experienced enough to complete more complex exercises when using the robots.