This past Saturday was the 19th ACSE.net conference. That stands for the Association of Computer Science Educators. Peter Kuperman and I both attended. I was able to get away in the morning and be there for the whole day because Peter looked after our children in the AM; he joined me in the afternoon, leaving the children in the care of a trusted babysitter. We were so pleased to be at this conference. For us both, it was a real pleasure to connect and re-connect with professional teachers and educators whose passion is to achieve real learning outcomes in computer programming/computer science. In addition, it was wonderful to see some participation from CanCode recipients: Kids Code Jeunesse was there, although none of the other government funded organizations made it out.
As the degree of technological change and human knowledge continues to grow by leaps and bounds, teachers and policy makers must grapple with several important questions:
One of the reasons we do what we do at Hatch is to keep coding relevant for our students. Here are some interesting Canadian facts and figures which will help clarify why there needs to be change in how coding is taught.
Product for Teachers & Students of Computer Programming—that's our obsession around these parts.
Laura Gini-Newman is an educational mathematics specialist and consultant to schools and school boards around the world. Over the course of several months, she and Hatch co-founder, Peter Kuperman, mapped the many ways in which coding helps with success in the learning of mathematics. This work was undertaken as part of the Hatch Leadership Team initiatives to research the impact of innovation in industry on learning in the classroom.
We talked to Hatch co-founder and innovator, Peter Kuperman about innovation, kids learning code, and being in Toronto.
According to Hatch co-founder, Peter Kuperman, kids learning code is like long-distance running because:
You don’t want your children to miss out on the experience of summer camp, but it seems that the camp you sent them to last year just doesn’t fit them. You struggle with whether you should even send them anywhere this summer – then, you discovered Hatch.
Where have the soft skills gone?
Could it be that flexible working environments, distance education and sparsely decorated, so-called open workspaces are actually stifling our ability to navigate a modern tapestry? With the prediction from academics and the World Economic Forum that 47% of jobs will be lost to technology within the next decade, our interpersonal and leadership skills are going to take a real hit. Major players in the tech world are already voicing troubling shortfalls in employees’ skill sets. They note that employees are often unable to address large groups or think strategically, putting themselves at a leadership disadvantage. Truly, students today must be prepared to be life-long learners. Through our classes and most particularly, our tech leadership camp, students are able to develop their soft skills and to become familiar with the multiple facets of the tech industry.