The
last few years I have noticed more and more public and private organizations starting
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics) initiatives. Similarly, the
push for kids to learn programming languages and coding seems to have
significantly increased. Since I had
kids a few years ago, these subjects have been in my periphery when it comes to
skills I would like my children to adopt.
Personally, I have enjoyed the bit of coding I dabbled with
(JavaScript and HTML). Due to numerous
excuses though, I have never followed through with any lengthy commitment to
learning how to code.
I
remembered last year seeing an ad campaign for a nonprofit organization called
Code.org.
Founded by brothers Hadi and Ali Partovi, Code.org was started with the goal of
making computer science and programming accessible to everyone. To launch this
initiative, Code.org posted a video in February 2013 entitled “What Most Schools Don't Teach.”
The Partovi brothers began their organization with the aim of
cultivating computer science in the U.S. school curricula. Code.org claims that computer-programming
jobs are growing at twice the U.S. national average while less than 2.4% of
college students graduate with degrees in computer science. The five minute
video which features such technology heavyweights as Bill Gates and Mark
Zuckerberg makes a compelling argument that if kids in the modern era should
learn only one skill, coding should be it.
I
like the message and would like to inspire my kids to try this endeavor once
they are a little older. To expand my
own personal and professional horizons and hopefully motivate my children
I have decided to pick up coding yet again.
This realization led me to conduct a fair bit of research on how
to approach this goal. The last few
years have seen a fascinating transformation of online educational
opportunities. A number of companies
have begun offering Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC). Websites like Udacity and Coursera advertise
classes from some of the most prestigious universities around the world. My research eventually led me to a Popular
Mechanic’s article entitled “Hacking Your Education” (Chris Raymond,
2013). In the article, Raymond presents
a graduate from Canada’s University of Manitoba named Scott Young. After earning his business degree, Young
wanted to add computer science to his arsenal of skills. Not wanting to pay for another degree
however, Young instead used free online materials from MIT’s Open Courseware
system. Over the course of a year he was
able to roughly duplicate a bachelor’s degree in computer science from MIT
while only spending approximately $2,000 (mostly for books). Looking at the website, the college appears
to have put online a bounty of videotaped lectures, course notes, and reading
materials entirely free of charge.
I decided this is where I will begin my journey. More to follow…
