Carrie Anne Philbin is an English teacher of

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

and an author. She is a director of educator support at the

Raspberry Pi Foundation The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a UK-based educational charity founded in 2008 to promote the study of computer science and related subjects globally, particularly among young people. It is best known for initiating the Raspberry Pi series of sing ...

and chairs the

Computing At School Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientif ...

(CAS) diversity and inclusion group, ''#CASInclude''. She wrote the computing book ''Adventures in Raspberry Pi'' (2013) for teenagers. She runs the

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel ''Geek Gurl Diaries'' and in 2017, was the host for '' Crash Course Computer Science''.

Early life and education

Philbin studied history at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

. She taught herself to program and manage computer systems after she graduated. She trained as a school computing teacher and worked in East London. she is doing a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

supervised by Sue Sentance at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Career

Philbin has been responsible for teaching children and teachers how to code in

Python programming language Python is a high-level, general-purpose programming language. Its design philosophy emphasizes code readability with the use of significant indentation. Python is dynamically type-checked and garbage-collected. It supports multiple prog ...

and the

Scratch programming language Scratch is a high-level, block-based visual programming language and website aimed primarily at children as an educational tool, with a target audience of ages 8 to 16. Users on the site can create projects on the website using a block-like ...

. In 2014 she began to work at the

. She is a Google Certified Teacher and was a

Skype Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...

Movement Maker. Philbin leads strategy, continuing

professional development Professional development, also known as professional education, is learning that leads to or emphasizes education in a specific professional career field or builds practical job applicable skills emphasizing Praxis (process), praxis in addition t ...

(CPD) program and learning at the

. She was an advisor to the

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for child protection, child services, education in England, educati ...

for the UK's first computing curriculum. In 2016 she was named as one of ''

Computer Weekly ''Computer Weekly'' is a digital magazine and website for IT professionals in the United Kingdom owned by Informa TechTarget. It was formerly published as a weekly print magazine by Reed Business Information for over 50 years. Topics covered wit ...

''s most influential women rising stars. She chairs the

diversity and inclusion program and was a member of the

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

Python Software Foundation The Python Software Foundation (PSF) is an American nonprofit organization devoted to the Python programming language, launched on March 6, 2001. The mission of the foundation is to foster development of the Python community and is responsible fo ...

until 2017. She was appointed a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

and named ''

s third most influential woman in IT in 2017. She is a founder member of CasInclude an organisation supporting diversity in computing, for children in school. She won the 2018 FDM Group Everywoman Tech Digital Star Award. Philbin is a regular speaker at conferences like the British Educational Training and Technology Show (

BETT Bett or The Bett Show (formerly known as the British Educational Training and Technology Show) is a global series of education shows organised by Hyve Group marketing information technology in education. The flagship show is located in the UK ...

), Raspberry Jams,

International Society for Technology in Education The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on accelerating innovation in education through the smart use of technology in education. ISTE provides a variety of services to support profe ...

(ISTE) conference and Python conferences PyCon AU, EuroPython and PyCon UK. In 2019, Philbin was 17th in

's 50 'Most Influential Women in UK Tech' shortlist for her role as Director of Education at the

''Geek Gurl Diaries''

''Geek Gurl Diaries'' was created by Philbin in 2012 to communicate to young people how exciting and creative science and engineering are. It has 34,000 subscribers on

. It won the TalkTalk Digital Heroes award in 2013.

Adventures in Raspberry Pi

''Adventures in Raspberry Pi'' first published in 2013 with subsequent editions published in 2014, 2015 and 2016. It contains an introduction to programming as well as 10 projects and instructional videos.

''Crash Course''

In 2017 Philbin partnered with '' Crash Course'' to create a series of videos explaining the origins of modern computing. The series consists of 41 videos, with between 177,000 and 3,200,000 viewers.

Awards and honours

She was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2020 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2020 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

for services to education.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Philbin, Carrie Anne Alumni of the University of East London Alumni of the University of Essex Computer science educators English computer programmers Members of the Order of the British Empire British women computer scientists Schoolteachers from London Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Raspberry Pi