Decoded to launch coding courses for Google Glass and Code Ed foundation for schools
London start-up Decoded, known for its ‘Code in a Day’ programme, is to launch a not-for-profit Code Education foundation to help train teachers of all subjects how to bring coding into their lessons.
The new programme, which will be led by Decoded co-founder Alasdair Blackwell, has been designed specifically to train teachers on how to apply coding to their lessons across all subjects including art and geography.
Code Ed has taken over a year to develop and will cover all stages of the curriculum, from primary school through to university level. Decoded co-founder Kathryn Parsons (pictured) told The Drum the move forms part of its overall mission to help drive tech education.
“It has been designed for educators, to inspire them to bring their subjects alive through code. It also leaves them with a lot of resources they can take back into the classroom with them,” she said. The start-up is now bidding for the mayor of London Boris Johnson’s £1m prize pot for London start-ups which could help fund the foundation's development.
Meanwhile Decoded is also poised to launch a new wave of coding classes including a “Future Platforms” course designed to teach people how to code for any future device including Google Glass and other forms of wearable technology, and the "Internet of Things". It will also launch a “Cyber Security” course in beta in December with an official launch set for January 2014.
The Cyber Security course will touch on major issues including the recent Snowden debacle, and teaching businesses to be aware of their data security.
Parsons said the courses are designed to teach people “life changing stuff” in a day. “They take you from zero knowledge right through to an extreme, accelerated learning experience where people leave confident and literate, and unpicks all those [digital] worlds through the lens of code,” she said.
Her comments come as the company continue to expand its international footprint, having already launched on-demand pop-up courses in Atlanta at the request of Turner, with more to follow in Chicago with Leo Burnett and Minneapolis with Best Buy.
A full interview with Parsons will follow in The Drum’s Girl Guides series, which aims to encourage young females into choosing digital as a career and helping plug the digital skills deficit. The latest interview was with digital pioneer Martha Lane Fox.