BBC Wants To Teach Kids To Code with ‘Make It Digital’ Campaign
BBC announced on Thursday that they will be giving up to one million micro computers to UK children in year 7 as part of a new campaign called Make It Digital. This UK-wide campaign aims “to inspire a new generation to get creative with coding, programming and digital technology.”
The “Micro Bit” is a “small piece of programmable, wearable hardware that helps kids learn basic coding and programming” according to Mashable. The Micro Bit will start to be distributed in Autumn 2015. Children will be able to plug the device into computers and learn basic coding and programming. The idea behind this is to spark an interest among younger children so they will be able to see their potential and move on to more complex coding and programming as time goes on. BBC says that “the Micro Bit can help learners develop an intuitive understanding of physical concepts in technology and computing, which helps develop complex thinking, analytical and problem-solving strategies.”
Image from BBC
According to BBC more than 25 partners have been involved with Make It Digital. Some of these partners are:
ARM
Barclays
element14
Freescale
Microsoft
Nordic Semiconductor
Samsung
ScienceScope
Technology Will Save Us
In order to get word out about Make It Digital, Mashable reported that BBC plans to “leverage its biggest brands, such as popular sci-fi show Doctor Who, as well as introduce a new drama based on popular video-game series Grand Theft Auto and a new talent show called Girls Can Code”.
BBC hopes to inspire many people with this campaign. Not only is it helping students but they also plan to launch a traineeship which will teach basic tech skills to 5,000 unemployed young people in order to “boost their digital skills and get a foot on the jobs ladder.”
With much anticipation to this campaign Controller of BBC Make It Digital Jessica Cecil, said, “BBC Make it Digital is hugely exciting and will shine a light on digital creativity like never before. There’s a real opportunity in the UK to help fill 1.4m digital jobs in the next five years. But we won’t do this alone – we are proud to partner with an amazing range of fantastic organizations across the UK, which will open the doors to new opportunities in the future. With a dedicated season of programming on the BBC, 5,000 digital trainees, 1 million children who take their first steps with a Micro Bit, and a host of educational activity, we hope to inspire a new generation to get creative with digital.”
Thumbnail courtesy of Shutterstock.com
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