Codified Concepts

28/07/2026

I’m so excited to co-facilitate this upcoming webinar with the awesome folks at OctoStudio! They’ve added new blocks and costume features that make animating OctoStudio projects even easier. Register to join us, and look out for a Yahtzee game I worked on using these new blocks so my family can play anywhere 😁 🎲

✨ Join our free webinar to explore the new costume and animation blocks in OctoStudio!

Come learn about how you can easily animate sprites in OctoStudio, explore new learning resources, and more.

Eric Schilling and Téo Xisto from the OctoStudio team at MIT will co-host with Maren Vernon from the Scratch Foundation to discuss how your learners can make use of this new feature.

Register here: https://events.ringcentral.com/events/octostudio-animation-blocks

11/06/2026

On this , I took the opportunity to create with my colleagues at Scratch and make a project for the feedback studio we launched this week. For my Dear Scratch project ( https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1330637687 ), I remixed parts of past projects and added in text generation, something I've shared about as an advanced topics tutorial. I also featured my two kitties poking their noses in to see what I was up to. 😉 Hope you can take some time to play today, in whatever form that may take!

27/05/2026

Come and join Eric Rosenbaum and I on June 4th! I promise we’ll have some fun and explore how our current Scratch AI Face Sensing blocks focus on data privacy and user agency while supporting (not replacing) user ideas and creativity. You can also get a sneak peek of some other block ideas we are thinking about 😯 and hear about our guiding stars. If you’ve wanted to create a virtual keyboard that uses your nose, make virtual fire fly out of your mouth, or drive a virtual car by tilting your head…you’ll want to explore the creative possibilities with us. 😁✨

Hey, parents and educators! Join us June 4 to learn more about how we’re imagining AI in Scratch. You’ll get the chance to explore AI-powered blocks like Face Sensing, see some of the experimental features we’re exploring, and share your feedback. Register for free: https://events.ringcentral.com/events/creative-possibilities-with-scratch-in-the-age-of-ai

04/05/2026

I’m excited to get this Scratch Week party started! 🎉 I have projects to share for each theme day this week, so for “glow in the dark,” I’ve shared https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1311760731 Scratch Week is a wonderful time to celebrate creativity and our love of projects as a community. I love seeing how differently Scratchers interpret a shared prompt. And I'm always inspired by what Scratchers create and share during Scratch Week. It is not only a time to celebrate Scratch, but to celebrate Scratchers and all they do for our vibrant, imaginative community!

(I’ll try to come back and share in the comments my projects for each day this week.)

02/05/2026

Come join me!

Hey, parents and educators! Curious how Scratch is navigating the world of AI? Join us on June 4 for Creative Possibilities with Scratch in the Age of AI, where you can get hands-on with some of our newest blocks that incorporate machine learning to expand the possibilities of what you can create with Scratch. https://events.ringcentral.com/events/creative-possibilities-with-scratch-in-the-age-of-ai

30/04/2026

I was trying to quickly find a link to one of my old Instagram posts and the search result is the first time I’ve found myself hallucinated about by AI. Have I arrived?! 💀As far as I know, I’ve never had the last name Thompson 🫠 (no idea where that even came from). I feel...confused. 🤪 But all jokes aside, it brings home the concern that misinformation like this can have real consequences on our businesses or reputations, and we need to continue to use that muscle and teach young learners how to factcheck information and build those digital and media literacy skills.

21/04/2026

Thank you to Take Action Global for inviting me to join their live Coding4Climate event, representing Scratch! If you missed it, you can catch the replay now https://www.youtube.com/live/Rq-0-gz3ua4?t=4600&si=dORtlTRtHOKAzoUM to see how learners from Brazil and Romania are using Scratch to celebrate Earth Day and think about our environment! The Scratch segment starts around 1:17 with learners from Brazil and their video about their amazing Scratch projects, then you get to see a presentation from Romanian students using Scratch. Watch the whole event for more inspiring messages and ideas. Then, encourage your learners to share their projects in our Earth Day 🌎 studio currently happening in the community: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/51562682

Get ready to hear from Maren Vernon, the Learning Resource Designer at the Scratch Foundation during our upcoming Coding for Climate Earth Day Live Celebration!

Driven by her passion of using technology and creative learning to empower students, Maren designs learning experiences that make technology approachable, interactive, and meaningful for students of all backgrounds.

Her work focuses on opening doors and giving young people the tools and confidence to explore, experiment, and create with code.

She believes that learning through projects, passion, collaboration, and play can be a driving force for change.

Don’t miss your chance to hear from her live on April 21st!

📆 Tuesday, April 21st | 2–4pm CET | 8–10am ET | 18:30 IST
📺 This event is free & streamed live on YouTube
🔗 Save the link to join here: https://shorturl.at/otXq2

—
Take Action Global
Climate Action Education for All 🌏

15/04/2026

The addition of Face Sensing blocks to the Scratch platform and the CS Access and accessible tech conversations I’ve been privileged to sit in on the past few years have me thinking about accessible devices in the real world and led to some Scratch project experiments. For example, if you've ever wanted to type with your nose... An idea came to me last week to try and create a keyboard using Face Sensing, where you can then hear your finished message aloud via Text to Speech. I was thinking of the specialized keyboards created for paralyzed patients. Warning, it is a neck workout (because I use face tilt to confirm selection)! 😅But here is the result ⌨️ 👃 https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1307137761 (Note: At this time, you’ll need to view this from a laptop, not a phone, to see it working correctly.)

One added benefit of this project is it might take some debugging on the user's part to figure out what lighting conditions, distance from the camera, etc., yield the best results. (Or maybe they want to remix the code to adjust the tilt angle for selection, or...) I like that challenge and hopefully the reflection and iteration that ensues.

This is related to my earlier project "Face Sensing and micro:bit Pairing Experiment" where I was also thinking about how to create projects that could relate to accessible tools in the real world.

15/04/2026

Join me next week for this inspiring event!

Get ready to hear from Maren Vernon, the Learning Resource Designer at the Scratch Foundation during our upcoming Coding for Climate Earth Day Live Celebration!

Driven by her passion of using technology and creative learning to empower students, Maren designs learning experiences that make technology approachable, interactive, and meaningful for students of all backgrounds.

Her work focuses on opening doors and giving young people the tools and confidence to explore, experiment, and create with code.

She believes that learning through projects, passion, collaboration, and play can be a driving force for change.

Don’t miss your chance to hear from her live on April 21st!

📆 Tuesday, April 21st | 2–4pm CET | 8–10am ET | 18:30 IST
📺 This event is free & streamed live on YouTube
🔗 Save the link to join here: https://shorturl.at/otXq2

—
Take Action Global
Climate Action Education for All 🌏

07/04/2026

A few more of my nature photos for fun.