Hour of Code promises Cracker Start in NZ
New Zealand is hitting the ground running in its first year hosting Hour of Code sessions.
The programme was started in 2013 in the US to encourage everyone to learn computer programming, and has spread rapidly since.
More than 100 educational and other groups around New Zealand will offer Hour of Code sessions as part of the international Computer Science Education Week initiative, running 8 December to 14 December, with a big event in Tauranga.
Hour of Code is a free introduction to computer science to demonstrate that anyone, but with an emphasis on children, can learn the basics. Code.org, the non-profit behind the global movement, provides hour-long tutorials that can be used online and offline for organisers. As this is the debut of Hour of Code in New Zealand, consolidated around Computer Science Week, organisers say there is still time to register and run an Hour of Code event from now until the week of the 21st.
This year, more than 50,000 hour of code events will be held around the world. A list of New Zealand events can be found here.
The IITP is supporting Hour of Code, and especially an event in Tauranga on 10 December in association with Venture Centre. The event will be held at Basestation, 148 Durham Street and starts at 5:30 pm. Code Club Aotearoa, which launched at IITP's ITx this year, is also running an Hour of Code in Christchurch. And Hack Miramar joins the Wellington Makerspace Trust to offer "Hour of Code Wellington" from 10am until 4pm on Saturday 13 December at the Centre for Performing Arts Centre (CPAC) at Scots College, 1 Monorgan Rd, Strathmore Park. Attendees can drop in during the day to take part in sessions that will start each hour on the hour.
Code.Org has introduced computer programming to well over 78 million children in more than 170 countries around the world. Former Microsoft executive Mona Akmal joined the organisation last year as curriculum director, and has been travelling the globe as a computer code evangelist, including as a keynote speaker at the ITx conference in Auckland in October.
Over 40 million students have tried the Hour of Code since it launched in 2013. If you want to get involved with a local Hour of Code event, you can work through a local school, your employer, a community group, or on your own. To find out more, click here.
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