OTAN News

Celebrate Computer Science Education Week

December 9 to 15 is Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek), a time to highlight the importance of computer science education and encourage students to take an interest in computer science. The first CSEdWeek was in 2009, and it includes December 9 to honor the birthday of Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, one of the pioneers of computer programming who also was a United States Navy rear admiral. She was honored posthumously with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.

CSEdWeek has evolved from a focus on setting policy and influencing policy makers to recognition of the importance of integrating computer science education in the K-12 curriculum. In recent years, CSEdWeek has zeroed in on creating opportunities for students to learn coding, broadly recognized as one of the most importance technical skills for the world of work and civil society in the future. You can learn more about CSEdWeek, including various resources for teachers and students, at the website https://csedweek.org/

With education’s emphasis on getting students to begin coding at younger and younger ages, what about getting our adult education students started with coding? Fortunately, there are a number of websites that introduce the topic in layman’s terms and include coding projects that appeal to all ages, not just kids. To start, read these articles that help explain some of the basic training for beginners:

• Computational thinking for all and Teaching computational thinking more important than defining it from ISTE

• Computer programming in 4 steps from ISTE

• The Best Ways to Teach Yourself to Code from Lifehacker

These additional articles list websites where adult ed teachers and students can explore coding, including popular sites such as Code.org and Khan Academy.

• 22 Places to Learn to Code for Free in 2019 from makeawebsitehub.com

• Top 20 Websites to Learn Coding for Free from Hostinger

• 12 Sites That Will Teach You Coding at a Low Cost, Even Free from Entrepreneur

We are also excited to see adult education providing coding classes for students, such as this class from Santa Clara Adult Education. Now is the time to try coding with your adult ed students!