CODE4Schools gives students hands-on coding experience

CODE4Schools gives students hands-on coding experience

Over the last year, RMIT University’s Centre of Digital Excellence (CODE) has introduced robots to high schools to teach students coding and other key digital skills.

According to CODE Director Associate Professor Jerry Watkins, this is an extension of the Centre’s mandate.

“One of CODE’s original briefs was to support school teachers in Vietnam with digital innovation in curriculum, pedagogy and more, and we’ve had a lot of initiatives around that since May 2016 when we were founded,” he said.

“CODE4Schools is our latest schools-focused initiative, for which we’re working directly with teachers and students from both Vietnamese and international high schools.”

Associate Professor Watkins and the CODE team have been developing fun ways to engage students and teachers with focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects, with a particular emphasis on coding and robotics.

The American School students having fun during a CODE4Schools workshop. The American School students having fun during a CODE4Schools workshop.

“CODE does a lot of work with both local public schools and international schools, and also sometimes bilingual schools,” said Huynh Thuc Yen, CODE’s Senior Coordinator.

The CODE team can either go to a school to hold a workshop, or students can be brought to an RMIT University campus for a tour and a workshop.

In 2019, CODE4Schools delivered 49 workshops to 1,100 students from 21 schools in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Can Tho.

One very successful application thus far has been the use of the Sphero® robot when delivering these workshops.

Students working together to properly control Sphero robots during a workshop. Students working together to properly control Sphero robots during a workshop.

“The Sphero robot is completely round so it’s very robust for use with school children. It’s designed as an educational robot. There is a tremendous amount of support material for children, students and teachers in English language, so one thing we’re focusing on is producing interactive learning experiences for students and teachers in Vietnamese language,” Associate Professor Watkins said.

By coding instructions for the robot to make it move or turn on its lights, students get immediate feedback on their work, which is key to their learning.

Students at The American School practice programming Sphero robots during a CODE4Schools workshop. Students at The American School practice programming Sphero robots during a CODE4Schools workshop.

“Students may learn coding and programming on a computer, but it can be difficult to check if what they’ve coded is correct,” Ms Yen said. “But with Sphero they can see whether their code is right or wrong, straight away. Sphero is very responsive and because of that students are very engaged in what they are learning.”

Moving forward, Associate Professor Watkins hopes to further supplement STEM curriculum at schools through similar workshops, to give students the knowledge they need now.

“The idea is that in Vietnam, as is in every country, coding and robotics are tremendously important,” he explained.

“This is not a future requirement of society, it’s a very present requirement.”

Story: Michael Tatarski

19 February 2020

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