Bill MacKenty
Home Computing Teaching Bushcraft Games Writing About
When it comes to questions concerning the nature of Reality, philosophers and theologians have the answers. Philosophers have the answers that can't be proven right. Theologians have the answers that can't be proven wrong. Whatever the natures of Reality and the human condition may be, our understanding can only be improved by thinking about them. I therefore invite you to do so.
The future of high school computing
Large language models like ChatGPT changes things.
Project management tools
What a mess. Pricing models are all wrong. Trello seems to have the most common sense...
Sabbatical planning
A rare and welcome opportunity to deeply recharge, learn and reflect...
A mostly terrible time
On being a parent to a teenager...
Regular Update
The latest curiosities, projects, and workings. This is a semi-regular update of things I am currently working on / learning about / curious about...
on postfix…
Setting up a dedicated email server, capable of sending and receiving email on behalf of other domains is not easy for those not accustomed to such matters...
The faltering
Steady and true. Steady and true?
Dedicated servers for dedicated things
I use a couple of VPS providers for Digital Bill. I'm learning with the flexibility and affordability of a VPS it makes sense to dedicate one server for one task. Read on for more...
Entity-Component-System 〈ECS〉
Different than oop? Read on...
Need a procedurally generated country?
Every once in a while one of my students hits the ball out of the park...
DEIJ - part one
Describe diversity...
Current thinking about chatGPT
How should a high school computing teacher use chatGPT?
Writing a report card comment generator
Saving time whilst providing accurate information about a students progress isn't easy, but certainly worth it...
Multiple versions of PHP on the same web server
looks like a job for PHP-FPM...
#dungeon23
I've decided to take part in #dungeon23, a distracting and fun project to build a little bit of a dungeon everyday. But I've decided to approach it a bit differently...
Mastering uncertainty: A predictive processing
Why do we seek out and enjoy uncertain success in playing games? Game designers and researchers suggest that games whose challenges match player skills afford engaging experiences of achievement, competence, or effectance—of doing well...
Our Wisla
A warm day, the last day of 2022 and that magic of nature...
The bear
There is a bear with a reputation for being strong and intimidating, but something is wrong...
setting up a podcast
Is a lot of work. But...
Merry Christmas!
On coming together and being in connection...
Building an LMS (or virtual learning experience) - part 3 of 3
Setting up high quality digital resources takes a long time, but once we've set it up, it provides value for a long time.
Building an LMS (or virtual learning experience) - part 2 of 3
On the importance of H5P...
Building an LMS (or virtual learning experience) - part 1 of 3
It's not about the technology, it's about the learning...
Displaying courses in grid format on moodle homepage
After much searching I was lucky to get a helpful reply from a friendly moodler. Read on...
just trying to make it to vacation…
With two days left until christmas vacation, we are all trying to get to the end of the week with grace, humour, and high-energy
Procedural fantasy weapon generator
If you ever needed to procedurally generate a fantasy weapon with a history, backstory and special abilities, here's your code!
As far as dinners go,
An hour drive through the first real snowstorm, a spectacular meal, two young effervescent boys, a fire in the backyard amidst the blowing snow, wonderful company and engaging conversation...
chatGPT part 3: how do I know you know?
Out-of-school coding assignments are no longer as important as being able to understand the code. The return of oral exams?
chatGPT part 2: how we change our teaching and student learning
A high school student asks, "what will I do for work with chatGPT around?"
chatGPT: teaching computing
What is the answer when asking an AI to please describe the most effective techniques and methods of teaching high school computer science?