Sean Clark became an International Professor at Guangdong University of Technology (GDUT) in Guangzhou in 2017 and currently teaches two courses per year that focus on different creative technology skills. In 2024 the courses were held in May/June and November, with the first part of each course taking place in person and the second part being delivered online. Both of this year's courses have involved the teaching of computer drawing using the Scratch programming environment and the creation of interactive objects made with the Micro:bit microcontroller. The students who attend the courses are from a variety of design disciplines.

Scratch is a web-based programming tool that is often used to introduce programming concepts to younger people. It is used as part of this course due to its visual and multilingual nature. After an introduction to core programming concepts, students are introduced to historic computer drawings and shown how they can be reconstructed using Scratch. Students are then asked to create their own images and drawings using the designs of  Chinese Guangcai Porcelain as inspiration.

The second part of the Creative Technology course makes use of the Micro:bit microcontroller. Students are introduced to the web-based programming environment and the hardware and shown how to use it to control lights and motors using sensors and input devices such as potentiometers and motion detectors. Students are then asked to design and prototype an "interactive object" of some sort. This might be an interactive lamp or something that responds to movement, As with the Scratch tasks, students are asked to take inspiration from Chinese culture. As part of the presentation of their projects, students are expected to produce a video showing the object working and their creation process.,

Photographs and workshop pictures from the June and November 2024 workshops. Stored on Google Photos. Please contact us if you want more information, or to make use of them.