A presentation at Rotary Club of Inverness by Jonathan Relf
CODE CLUB WHY TEACHING DIGITAL SKILLS IS ESSENTIAL JONATHAN RELF
DIGITAL SKILLS GAP August 2020 “Employers struggled to fill one-third of vacancies last year due to lack of digital competency, highlighting a significant discrepancy between skill supply and demand in the UK.” https://hayslearning.co.uk/2020/08/18/3-in-20-uk-employers-face-a-digital-skills-gap/
PARLIAMENT June 2016 DIGITAL SKILLS ARE BECOMING INCREASINGLY ESSENTIAL FOR GETTING ACCESS TO A RANGE OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES. HOWEVER, THERE IS A DIGITAL DIVIDE WHERE UP TO 12.6 MILLION OF THE ADULT UK POPULATION LACK BASIC DIGITAL SKILLS. THIS DIGITAL SKILLS GAP IS COSTING THE UK ECONOMY AN ESTIMATED £63 BILLION A YEAR IN LOST ADDITIONAL GDP. Science & Technology Commons Select Committee
DIGITAL SKILLS. PROGRAMMING.
August 2011 MacTaggart Lecture Eric Schmidt, Google Chairman Edinburgh International TV Festival
August 2011 THE COUNTRY THAT INVENTED THE COMPUTER IS “THROWING AWAY YOUR GREAT COMPUTER HERITAGE” BY FAILING TO TEACH PROGRAMMING IN SCHOOLS. Eric Schmidt, Google Chairman Edinburgh International TV Festival https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/aug/26/eric-schmidt-chairman-google-education
August 2011 “I WAS FLABBERGASTED TO LEARN THAT TODAY, COMPUTER SCIENCE ISN’T EVEN TAUGHT AS STANDARD IN UK SCHOOLS,” “YOUR IT CURRICULUM FOCUSES ON TEACHING HOW TO USE SOFTWARE, BUT GIVES NO INSIGHT INTO HOW IT’S MADE.” Eric Schmidt, Google Chairman Edinburgh International TV Festival https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/aug/26/eric-schmidt-chairman-google-education
November 2011 “David Cameron later said Schmidt was right and admitted that Britain was not doing enough to teach the next generation of programmers.” https://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/nov/28/computer-lessons-out-of-date
2012 CLARE SUTCLIFFE LINDA SANDVIK
“WE’RE TAUGHT PHYSICS AT SCHOOL BECAUSE OUR WORLD IS RULED BY THE LAWS OF PHYSICS. NOW WE ARE IN A DIGITAL AGE IT WOULD BE STRANGE NOT TO TEACH CHILDREN HOW WE PROGRAM COMPUTERS TO CREATE THE APPLICATIONS AND TOOLS WE USE EVERYDAY.” Clare Sutcliffe MBE, Co-Founder Code Club
2013 “WE CALL THE YOUTH OF TODAY ‘DIGITAL NATIVES’. WE SEE HOW EASILY THEY TAKE TO TECHNOLOGY. YOU CAN GIVE A KID A TABLET AND WITHIN MINUTES THEY’LL BE PLAYING GAMES, DOWNLOADING APPS. BUT THESE TABLETS ARE TOUCH-INTERFACES WITH ONE BUTTON. IF WE ARE AMAZED THAT KIDS KNOW HOW TO USE THEM, THEN WE ARE NOT EXPECTING MUCH OF OUR KIDS.” Linda Sandvik, Co-Founder Code Club
A global network of free coding clubs for 9–13 year olds
Enthusiastic people Give one hour a week
Local school Offers space and equipment
VOLUNTEERS ‣ Bring their experience, enthusiasm, and time to help make the club happen. ‣ You don’t need to be a ‘coding genius’ - just willing to learn. ‣ Code Club provide the training, materials, and can support volunteers getting background checks etc.
LOCAL SCHOOL ‣ Teacher-led after-school clubs. Typically weekly for an hour. ‣ Provide the equipment and venue to run the Code Club ‣ Also in community spaces like libraries
768 UK & NI Clubs in March 2013 6,769 UK & NI Clubs in July 2018
A global network of free coding clubs for 9–13 year olds ‣ Started as a lunchtime club Moved to 1st lesson after lunch ‣ Years 3 - 6 Primary 4 - Primary 7 ‣ Children from 7 - 11
FREE RESOURCES ‣ Three main subject areas ‣ Scratch ‣ HTML & CSS ‣ Python ‣ Children work through Modules at their own pace ‣ The worksheets offer hints to help complete the task & additional challenges
WHAT IS SCRATCH? SCRATCH.MIT.EDU
BUILDING WEBSITES WITH HTML & CSS
TEXT-BASED PROGRAMMING PYTHON
OTHER PROJECTS
SONIC PI SONIC-PI.NET
HARDWARE
From £13.50 WWW.MICROBIT.ORG a pocket-sized codeable computer with motion detection, a built-in compass, LED display, and Bluetooth technology built in
RASPBERRY PI 4 From £33.90
WWW.RASPBERRYPI.ORG
HELLO WORLD MAGAZINE ‣ Free quarterly print magazine for teachers, Code Club volunteers, and other educators. ‣ Full of interviews, advice, lesson suggestions. ‣ Visit helloworld.raspberrypi.org for more information or a free PDF copy
TEACHER TRAINING ‣ Teachers understand the need to learn programming ‣ Some don’t feel they have the time or resources to learn themselves ‣ Code Club has helped them gain confidence learning with the kids
SUMMARY DIGITAL SKILLS. PROGRAMMING.
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SUMMARY CODECLUB.ORG
ABOUT ME ▸ Jonathan Relf ▸ Solutions Architect @ Commify ▸ Podcasting @AgileEngPodcast, @TwineRadio, @BookClubPodShow ▸ https://about.me/jbjon
QUESTIONS?