About Think Create Learn

What I do, who I am, who I work with.

Welcome!

Think Create Learn is an education intitiative of Llewelyn Fernandes, an experienced and respected computer scientist.

I provide a range of short courses introducing adults and teenagers to the "hot topics" in computer science.

My courses and tuition are available to individuals, groups, schools, universities and other organisations.

My Mission is

To build employable skills in a fun and engaging way
To help adults and teenagers make informed decisions about career paths and further study options
To raise awareness of the enormous creativity in the field of computing

About Me

My name is Llewelyn Fernandes. By training and profession I am a computer scientist. I am also what is commonly called these days a "maker". I make things. I enjoy making things. I have a passion for making things. In fact, I need to make things! Through that making I have learnt far more than I ever learnt in a classroom. In Think Create Learn my aim is to bring a "make-first" approach to learning to my students, making learning fun, creative, interactive, productive and ultimately successful.

My Qualifications

I gained a degree in Computer Science from Brunel University in 1989 and spent 28 years building a very successful career in software development and consultancy. From my initial job, writing low-level code for printer drivers, to my most recent job working for a global IT services company specialising in business intelligence solutions, I've worked with many organisations, from small charities to large corporate household names.

Why teaching, why now?

Whilst working at the cutting-edge on big projects with big companies was very exciting, working in a senior management role took me away from the day-to-day hands-on activity that got me into computer programming and other forms of making when I was a teenager. Occasionally in my management role I would find an opportunity to get stuck into a little bit of programming or design work which would re-invigorate my passion for a brief moment, before I'd have to hand the work over to a younger colleague to complete. Moving into teaching hits two of my "happy" buttons. Firstly I can get back to the nuts-and-bolts of programming and making from scratch. Secondly, I can get the immense satisfaction of passing on my knowledge and experience to the enthusiastic individuals who will become the programmers, computer engineers and makers of the future.

I hold a current Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate and work with universities, schools and individuals. Feel free to take a look at my LinkedIn profile.

Organisations I work with

I work with a number of organisations and individuals:

London College of Communication (LCC) (part of University of Arts London) is a pioneering world leader in creative communications education

I am an associate lecturer at LCC, teaching programming and data visualisation. I also deliver a range of short courses there.

Goldsmiths is part of the University of London (UOL). The Department of Computing staff come from a range of real-world and arts-based practices, offering a uniquely creative experience in this discipline.

I am an associate lecturer with the Department of Computing at Goldsmiths and also a tutor for the UOL Online BSc Computer Science.

The University of West London (UWL) offer a range of courses from its locations in Ealing and Brentford. 98% of graduates are employed or in further study within six months of graduation.

I deliver a range of short courses for adults at UWL.

OpenClassrooms is an online platform offering top quality, education-to-employment programs and career coaching services for students worldwide.

I create online courses for OpenClassrooms and also work with them on developing their UK and US data analyst apprenticeship programme.

See my course on supervised machine learning hereand my course on evaluating machine learning models here

Girls Into Coding provides girls aged 10 to 14 with unique hands-on experience in physical computing, robotics and coding. I create and run workshops at the regular events organised by Girls Into Coding.

I run free kids coding and robotics workshops for Ealing Libraries.

CoderDojo believes that an understanding of programming languages is increasingly important in the modern world, that it’s both better and easier to learn these skills early, and that nobody should be denied the opportunity to do so! Any young person aged 7 – 17 can join and attend a Dojo for FREE! At a Dojo they will learn skills such as building a website, creating an app or a game, and explore technology in an informal, creative, and social environment

I run a monthly CoderDojo at the University of West London and have been involved in mentoring at other CoderDojos.