With more coding skills entering the curriculum for Ontario students this year, Canada Learning Code is offering a free virtual conference from August 9 to 11 to help teachers make the transition.
Canada Learning Code (CLC) got its start as Ladies Learning Code back in 2011, aiming to help close the gender gap in the world of technology. Since then, the organization has grown to offer programs and resources for people of all genders, ages and backgrounds. CLC CEO Melissa Sariffodeen said as they grew, they started to realize that teachers needed a specific set of tools to teach their students about computer science effectively. TeacherCon was created in 2018 in service of that goal and it’s designed to help educators with no coding experience whatsoever.
“The ability to join having never seen a line of code, no exposure, is really a central tenet of this year’s theme and approach to TeacherCon as well because we know that computer science is making its way to the curriculum really fast,” Sariffodeen said.
The Ontario government announced a new math curriculum incorporating financial literacy and coding skills in 2020. The change applied to Grades 1 to 8 and Grade 9 math courses were updated a year later to include similar changes. Coding was also added to the science curriculum for the same age groups earlier this year.
Sariffodeen said teachers often express fear and apprehension at the idea of learning computer science skills, so TeacherCon seeks to give educators confidence in coding. In their most recent survey, more than 85 per cent of teachers who responded said they were more interested in pursuing additional training in tech and code after a CLC workshop and 81 per cent were more interested in teaching it as well.
“We’ve made sure that our lessons and the material that we’re sharing maps to the curriculum,” Sariffodeen said, “so a teacher walks away with an understanding of how they can make those curricular connections but also access to a whole bunch of free lessons that already do that.”
The lessons include topics from the existing curriculum, like the history of residential schools and Terry Fox’s journey across Canada, that use computer science in a “fun interactive way,” she said. In addition to providing practical lessons that are ready to use, the conference seeks to help teachers learn the benefits of incorporating computer science and how to do it for any subject and any lesson.
Coding may only be mandatory for math and science classes, but CLC is finding more and more ways to incorporate it into the arts, social sciences and even gym class. Whether it’s pattern recognition, debugging or other computer science concepts, there’s a foundation of skills that can be applied to a wide array of subjects and situations.
“Computer science can stand alone or be integrated, and we really feel like it’s most powerful when it is integrated,” Sariffodeen said. “We do recognize that computer science in the curriculum is approached in math and science traditionally, but we’re actually seeing a lot of educators and a lot of our lessons focused on how do you use the tools of either coding or design in unexpected places.”
TeacherCon offers an easy way for teachers to meet curriculum learning objectives while also engaging students who don’t respond as well to traditional learning methods. Sariffodeen said they often find that students light up while learning computer science skills, so it can be another tool to facilitate learning, motivate students and help them be successful beyond their time in the classroom.
Some of CLC’s workshops and other programming will be returning in person this year, but TeacherCon is remaining virtual so that as many people as possible can attend. The conference is a great entry point, she said, since teachers will have many further opportunities to build on their learning from TeacherCon.
For those who can’t attend the conference, or those who want to dive deeper, CLC offers a range of resources on their website that teachers and tech lovers can access any time. With all the challenges faced by teachers, from changing curriculums to the cost of stocking their own classrooms, the team at CLC feels it’s important to offer free learning opportunities with as few barriers as possible.
“We think computer science education is something that every student should have access to,” Sariffodeen said. “One of the most important things to do that is to support the teacher in the classroom.”
To register for TeacherCon, or to see the resources Canada Learning Code offers, visit their website.