Considering the Hour of Code project


Consider me intrigued enough to sign up. The Hour of Code project in the first week of December aims to spark interest in students and teachers in the idea of computer programming, with the aim of providing students access to code-based projects (on the computer, and off … which is a good idea). Now, I see that Gates and Zuckerberg and others are partly bankrolling this venture (and I see a whole slew of corporate partners, too), so I don’t go into this project blindly. Still, Code.org is organizing the whole thing, which puts my mind at ease a bit, since I have enjoyed their other efforts to introduce the power of writing code to more people.

The overarching message of the Hour of Code initiative is about jobs, and the future employment skills of young people. I can live with that, although my own aim when I teach simple programming is to shift my students from consumer to creator. If that opens up jobs in the future, fine. The whole reason I do a video game design project with my students is to show them what happens “under the hood” with game design. This connects to the ethos of the Make and Create. For now, what I want is empowerment for my students.

There are even a few “paper code” projects that seem interesting.

I am exploring a site to use this weekend and will report out if it seems viable. At the very least, if you sign up, you get 10 gig of storage free in Dropbox.
Peace (in the code),
Kevin

 

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