Non-profit Kids Code Jeunesse, in collaboration with coding bootcamp Lighthouse Labs, is venturing to Northern Canada to conduct its most remotely-taught workshops to date as part of the national Code Create Teach Initiative.
To date, Code Create Teach has trained over 1,000 teachers and hosted workshops in 22 locations in provinces across Canada. Funded in part by the federal government, the goal of the workshops is to give teachers the necessary knowledge to teach coding in the classroom and promote digital literacy.
“This opportunity to start learning from teachers in the territories is very precious to us.”
– Juliet Waters, KCJ
Lead instructors from Montreal and Vancouver traveled to the northern territories to conduct a training seminar in Whitehorse on Dec. 11. The workshops will continue in the new year, with Yellowknife’s workshop taking place Jan. 25, and Iqaluit’s taking place Feb. 20. Over 135 instructors from some of the most isolated areas of Canada are confirmed to attend these classes. Topaz Glazer, head of special projects at Lighthouse Labs, said learning to code allows students to acquire one of the most important skills of the 21st century.
“We really see teachers as the key to bringing technology into the classroom,” Glazer said. “[Code Create Teach] can bring so many opportunities that Canadian teachers would not have otherwise.”
Glazer also said she believes these workshops will be an important step in bringing digital literacy and education into the Canadian North.
This is the second collaboration between Lighthouse Labs and Kids Code Jeunesse. Their first partnership was a two-year endeavour commissioned by the BC Ministry of Education to create coding workshops for 200 teachers. Launched at the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa last spring, Code Create Teach is a national campaign of free, full-day workshops that provide Canadian K–12 educators with the tools to apply the basics of computational skills and coding to their learning and everyday lives.
“We are very excited about this opportunity to work with teachers in the territories,” said Juliet Waters, Senior Education Director, Kids Code Jeunesse. “This opportunity to start learning from teachers in the territories is very precious to us.”
With a total of 26 workshops across Canada, Code Create Teach is one of the projects funded by a $6 million commitment from the federal government’s CanCode program. Through the $50 million CanCode funding, 70,000 children and 2,000 teachers across the country will have the opportunity to receive training in 21st-century digital skills like coding.
Disclosure: both BetaKit and Kids Code Jeuenesse operate offices within Lighthouse Labs’ Devhub co-working space in Toronto. Image via Lighthouse Labs.