| Prepare to Run a Code Club with Future Learn |
| Written by Sue Gee |
| Tuesday, 21 November 2017 |
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The Raspberry Pi Foundation has just opened the doors on a new free, short online course on the Future Learn platform. The aim of 'Prepare to Run a Code Club' is to assist new volunteers who want to launch and run coding clubs for 9- to 13-year olds.
With the Hour of Code about to happen there's renewed focus of teaching kids to code, both in and outside the classroom and this short course is designed to give you the confidence and skills to run a Code Club for young people and inspire the next generation to get excited about computing and digital making. Code Club is a global network of volunteers and educators who run free coding clubs for 9- to 13-year-olds. Originating in the UK in 2012 where there are now over 6,000 clubs reaching an estimated 85,000 children, Code Club now claims more than 10000 Code Clubs run in 130 countries, delivering free coding opportunities to approximately 150,000 children across the globe.
The Rasberry Pi Foundation joined forces with Code Club in 2015 and this is the fourth course it has created on the Future Learn Platform - the others are aimed at helping teachers bring coding into the classroom - Teaching Physical Computing with Raspberry Pi and Python, Teaching Programming in Primary Schools and Introducing Object-Oriented Programming To Teachers. Prepare to Run a Code Club aims to give participants: practical guidance on all things Code Club, as well as a taste of beginner programming! Intended for new Code Club volunteers it also a refresher for existing volunteers and a chance for them share your insights with newcomers. Parents and guardians who wish to learn more about Code Club will find it useful too. The course started on November 20th and lasts for 3 weeks requiring around one hour study per week including using Scratch 2, the only software required. If you opt for its Free (no certificate) tier you'll have access to it until December 25. You can also pay £32 for unlimited access to the course, for as long as it exists on FutureLearn (this includes access to articles, videos, peer review steps, quizzes) and a Certificate of Achievement when you complete the course. The instructor for the course is Sarah Sherman-Chase, Code Club Participation Manager who introduces it in this video: “Week 1 kicks off with advice on how to prepare to start a Code Club, for example which hardware and software are needed. Week 2 focusses on how to deliver Code Club sessions, with practical tips on helping young people learn and an easy taster coding project to try out. In the final week, the course looks at interesting ideas to enrich and extend club sessions.” A lively Introduce Yourself thread indicates enthusiastic interest from participants around the world. The course promised to provide practical advice and tips from volunteers, teachers, and the Code Club team as well as the opportunity to explore the free resources which Code Club provides. UPDATE: Future Learn has a second free course also from the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Start a CoderDojo Club is taught by Philip Harney and Giustina Mizzoni and is designed to take 3 weeks
More InformationRelated ArticlesRaspberry Pi For Teachers on Future Learn Introducing Object-Oriented Programming To Teachers New Magazine for Computing Education To be informed about new articles on I Programmer, sign up for our weekly newsletter, subscribe to the RSS feed and follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin. 
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 16 November 2021 ) |
