Tag Archives: Online Learning

Start a CoderDojo with our free online training

Post Syndicated from Alex Bate original https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/start-a-coderdojo-with-our-free-online-training/

You can now sign up to our newest free online course Start a CoderDojo to learn more about CoderDojo and how you can easily set up one of these free coding clubs for young people in your area. With less than two weeks until the course begins, we wanted to tell you about the course’s content and why the course’s creator put it together for you.

Start a CoderDojo || free online learning || Raspberry Pi Foundation

Get support and advice on how to grow your confidence in coding and start a CoderDojo for young people in your area.

What is CoderDojo?

CoderDojo is a global network of free, volunteer-led, community-based programming clubs for young people aged 7 to 17. There are currently more than 1700 Dojos running regularly across 75 countries. All of these clubs were started by individuals who are passionate about giving young people the opportunity to learn to code. Some people assume you need technical skills to start a Dojo, but that’s not true. The most important thing is that you can bring people together for a shared goal.

What is covered on the course?

The course was developed by Philip, CoderDojo’s Educational Content Lead. It gives those who think empowering young people to be tech creators is important the resources and supports to achieve that goal by starting a Dojo. Divided over three weeks and running for about four hours in total, the course provides practical advice and resources on everything you need to know to plan and run a fun, social, and creative coding club for young people.

“In the first week, you’ll look at what coding is, at the worldwide CoderDojo community of coding clubs, and at the creative approach CoderDojos take to helping young people learn to code. In week two, you’ll move on to setting up your Dojo with a team, a venue, and any needed materials. You’ll also look at how to find young people to attend. Week three wraps up the course by giving you sample plans for a Dojo session and a Dojo’s year, and we’ll be talking about how to grow and develop your Dojo over time as your attendees become better coders.”
— Philip

Who is the course for?

Anyone interested in enabling young people to be tech creators should take this course. Parents, teachers, librarians, IT professionals, youth workers, and others have all started Dojos in their community. They say that “it’s an amazing experience that led [them] to expand [their] personal horizons”, and that they “find it really rewarding”.

The course is free and open to all — if you’re interested, then sign up now.

If you’re already mentoring at a Dojo, the course is a great opportunity to revise what you’ve learnt, and a chance to share your insights with newcomers in the discussion sections. Parents and guardians who wish to learn more about CoderDojo and are considering getting involved are also more than welcome to join.

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Coding is for girls

Post Syndicated from magda original https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/coding-is-for-girls/

Less than four years ago, Magda Jadach was convinced that programming wasn’t for girls. On International Women’s Day, she tells us how she discovered that it definitely is, and how she embarked on the new career that has brought her to Raspberry Pi as a software developer.

“Coding is for boys”, “in order to be a developer you have to be some kind of super-human”, and “it’s too late to learn how to code” – none of these three things is true, and I am going to prove that to you in this post. By doing this I hope to help some people to get involved in the tech industry and digital making. Programming is for anyone who loves to create and loves to improve themselves.

In the summer of 2014, I started the journey towards learning how to code. I attended my first coding workshop at the recommendation of my boyfriend, who had constantly told me about the skill and how great it was to learn. I was convinced that, at 28 years old, I was already too old to learn. I didn’t have a technical background, I was under the impression that “coding is for boys”, and I lacked the superpowers I was sure I needed. I decided to go to the workshop only to prove him wrong.

Later on, I realised that coding is a skill like any other. You can compare it to learning any language: there’s grammar, vocabulary, and other rules to acquire.

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Alien message in console

To my surprise, the workshop was completely inspiring. Within six hours I was able to create my first web page. It was a really simple page with a few cats, some colours, and ‘Hello world’ text. This was a few years ago, but I still remember when I first clicked “view source” to inspect the page. It looked like some strange alien message, as if I’d somehow broken the computer.

I wanted to learn more, but with so many options, I found myself a little overwhelmed. I’d never taught myself any technical skill before, and there was a lot of confusing jargon and new terms to get used to. What was HTML? CSS and JavaScript? What were databases, and how could I connect together all the dots and choose what I wanted to learn? Luckily I had support and was able to keep going.

At times, I felt very isolated. Was I the only girl learning to code? I wasn’t aware of many female role models until I started going to more workshops. I met a lot of great female developers, and thanks to their support and help, I kept coding.

Another struggle I faced was the language barrier. I am not a native speaker of English, and diving into English technical documentation wasn’t easy. The learning curve is daunting in the beginning, but it’s completely normal to feel uncomfortable and to think that you’re really bad at coding. Don’t let this bring you down. Everyone thinks this from time to time.

Play with Raspberry Pi and quit your job

I kept on improving my skills, and my interest in developing grew. However, I had no idea that I could do this for a living; I simply enjoyed coding. Since I had a day job as a journalist, I was learning in the evenings and during the weekends.

I spent long hours playing with a Raspberry Pi and setting up so many different projects to help me understand how the internet and computers work, and get to grips with the basics of electronics. I built my first ever robot buggy, retro game console, and light switch. For the first time in my life, I had a soldering iron in my hand. Day after day I become more obsessed with digital making.

Magdalena Jadach on Twitter

solderingiron Where have you been all my life? Weekend with #raspberrypi + @pimoroni + @Pololu + #solder = best time! #electricity

One day I realised that I couldn’t wait to finish my job and go home to finish some project that I was working on at the time. It was then that I decided to hand over my resignation letter and dive deep into coding.

For the next few months I completely devoted my time to learning new skills and preparing myself for my new career path.

I went for an interview and got my first ever coding internship. Two years, hundreds of lines of code, and thousands of hours spent in front of my computer later, I have landed my dream job at the Raspberry Pi Foundation as a software developer, which proves that dreams come true.

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Where to start?

I recommend starting with HTML & CSS – the same path that I chose. It is a relatively straightforward introduction to web development. You can follow my advice or choose a different approach. There is no “right” or “best” way to learn.

Below is a collection of free coding resources, both from Raspberry Pi and from elsewhere, that I think are useful for beginners to know about. There are other tools that you are going to want in your developer toolbox aside from HTML.

  • HTML and CSS are languages for describing, structuring, and styling web pages
  • You can learn JavaScript here and here
  • Raspberry Pi (obviously!) and our online learning projects
  • Scratch is a graphical programming language that lets you drag and combine code blocks to make a range of programs. It’s a good starting point
  • Git is version control software that helps you to work on your own projects and collaborate with other developers
  • Once you’ve got started, you will need a code editor. Sublime Text or Atom are great options for starting out

Coding gives you so much new inspiration, you learn new stuff constantly, and you meet so many amazing people who are willing to help you develop your skills. You can volunteer to help at a Code Club or  Coder Dojo to increase your exposure to code, or attend a Raspberry Jam to meet other like-minded makers and start your own journey towards becoming a developer.

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Simulate sand with Adafruit’s newest project

Post Syndicated from Alex Bate original https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/simulate-sand-with-adafruits-newest-project/

The Ruiz brothers at Adafruit have used Phillip Burgess’s PixieDust code to turn a 64×64 LED Matrix and a Raspberry Pi Zero into an awesome sand toy that refuses to defy the laws of gravity. Here’s how to make your own.

BIG LED Sand Toy – Raspberry Pi RGB LED Matrix

Simulated LED Sand Physics! These LEDs interact with motion and looks like they’re affect by gravity. An Adafruit LED matrix displays the LEDs as little grains of sand which are driven by sampling an accelerometer with Raspberry Pi Zero!

Obey gravity

As the latest addition to their online learning system, Adafruit have produced the BIG LED Sand Toy, or as I like to call it, Have you seen this awesome thing Adafuit have made?

Adafruit Sand Toy Raspberry Pi

The build uses a Raspberry Pi Zero, a 64×64 LED matrix, the Adafruit RGB Matrix Bonnet, 3D-printed parts, and a few smaller peripherals. Find the entire tutorial, including downloadable STL files, on their website.

How does it work?

Alongside the aforementioned ingredients, the project utilises the Adafruit LIS3DH Triple-Axis Accelerometer. This sensor is packed with features, and it allows the Raspberry Pi to control the virtual sand depending on how the toy is moved.

Adafruit Sand Toy Raspberry Pi

The Ruiz brothers inserted an SD card loaded with Raspbian Lite into the Raspberry Pi Zero, installed the LED Matrix driver, cloned the Adafruit_PixieDust library, and then just executed the code. They created some preset modes, but once you’re comfortable with the project code, you’ll be able to add your own take on the project.

Accelerometers and Raspberry Pi

This isn’t the first time a Raspberry Pi has met an accelerometer: the two Raspberry Pis aboard the International Space Station for the Astro Pi mission both have accelerometers thanks to their Sense HATs.

Comprised of a bundle of sensors, an LED matrix, and a five-point joystick, the Sense HAT is a great tool for exploring your surroundings with the Raspberry Pi, as well as for using your surroundings to control the Pi. You can find a whole variety of Sense HAT–based projects and tutorials on our website.

Raspberry Pi Sense HAT Slug free resource

And if you’d like to try out the Sense HAT, including its onboard accelerometer, without purchasing one, head over to our online emulator, or use the emulator preinstalled on Raspbian.

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New free online course about building makerspaces

Post Syndicated from Andrew Collins original https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/futurelearn-course-makerspace/

Helping people to get into making is at the heart of what we do, and so we’ve created a brand-new, free online course to support educators to start their own makerspaces. If you’re interested in the maker movement, then this course is for you! Sign up now and start learning with Build a Makerspace for Young People on FutureLearn.

Building a makerspace – free online learning

Find out how to create and run a makerspace for young people. Look at the pedagogy and approaches behind digital making.

Dive into the maker movement

From planning to execution, this course will cover everything you need to know to set up and lead your very own makerspace. You’ll learn about different approaches to designing makerspace environments, understand the pedagogy that underpins the maker movement, and create your own makerspace action plan. By the end of the course, you will be well versed in makerspace culture, and you’ll have the skills and knowledge to build a successful and thriving makerspace in your community.

Raspberry Pi Makerspace FutureLearn Online Course

Let makerspace experts lead your journey

This new course features five fantastic case studies about real-life makerspace educators. They’ll share their stories of starting a makerspace: what worked, what didn’t, and what’s next on their journey. Hear from Jessica Simons as she describes her experience starting the MCHS Maker Lab, connect with Patrick Ferrell as he details his teaching at the Jocelyn H. Lee Innovation Lab, and learn from Nick Provenzano as he shares his top tips on how to ensure the legacy of your makerspace. These accomplished educators will give you their practical advice and expert insights, helping you learn the best practices of starting a makerspace environment.

Raspberry Pi Makerspace FutureLearn Online Course

Connect with educators worldwide

By taking this course, you’ll also be connecting with talented and like-minded educators from across the globe. This is your opportunity to develop a community of practice while learning from fellow teachers, librarians, and community leaders who are also engaged in the maker movement.

“I like this course and how it progresses from introducing the concept of makerspaces and how they have come to education, all the way through to creating my own action plan to get started.”— Makerspace Educator in Hayward, California USA

Sign up now

The first run of our Build a Makerspace for Young People course starts on 12 March 2018. You can sign up and access all content for four weeks. After that period, we’ll run the course again multiple times throughout the year. Enjoy, and happy making!

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Big Birthday Weekend 2018: find a Jam near you!

Post Syndicated from Ben Nuttall original https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/big-birthday-weekend-2018-find-a-jam-near-you/

We’re just over three weeks away from the Raspberry Jam Big Birthday Weekend 2018, our community celebration of Raspberry Pi’s sixth birthday. Instead of an event in Cambridge, as we’ve held in the past, we’re coordinating Raspberry Jam events to take place around the world on 3–4 March, so that as many people as possible can join in. Well over 100 Jams have been confirmed so far.

Raspberry Pi Big Birthday Weekend Jam

Find a Jam near you

There are Jams planned in Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and Zimbabwe.

Take a look at the events map and the full list (including those who haven’t added their event to the map quite yet).

Raspberry Jam Big Birthday Weekend 2018 event map

We will have Raspberry Jams in 35 countries across six continents

Birthday kits

We had some special swag made especially for the birthday, including these T-shirts, which we’ve sent to Jam organisers:

Raspberry Jam Big Birthday Weekend 2018 T-shirt

There is also a poster with a list of participating Jams, which you can download:

Raspberry Jam Big Birthday Weekend 2018 list

Raspberry Jam photo booth

I created a Raspberry Jam photo booth that overlays photos with the Big Birthday Weekend logo and then tweets the picture from your Jam’s account — you’ll be seeing plenty of those if you follow the #PiParty hashtag on 3–4 March.

Check out the project on GitHub, and feel free to set up your own booth, or modify it to your own requirements. We’ve included text annotations in several languages, and more contributions are very welcome.

There’s still time…

If you can’t find a Jam near you, there’s still time to organise one for the Big Birthday Weekend. All you need to do is find a venue — a room in a school or library will do — and think about what you’d like to do at the event. Some Jams have Raspberry Pis set up for workshops and practical activities, some arrange tech talks, some put on show-and-tell — it’s up to you. To help you along, there’s the Raspberry Jam Guidebook full of advice and tips from Jam organisers.

Raspberry Pi on Twitter

The packed. And they packed. And they packed some more. Who’s expecting one of these #rjam kits for the Raspberry Jam Big Birthday Weekend?

Download the Raspberry Jam branding pack, and the special birthday branding pack, where you’ll find logos, graphical assets, flyer templates, worksheets, and more. When you’re ready to announce your event, create a webpage for it — you can use a site like Eventbrite or Meetup — and submit your Jam to us so it will appear on the Jam map!

We are six

We’re really looking forward to celebrating our birthday with thousands of people around the world. Over 48 hours, people of all ages will come together at more than 100 events to learn, share ideas, meet people, and make things during our Big Birthday Weekend.

Raspberry Jam Manchester
Raspberry Jam Manchester
Raspberry Jam Manchester

Since we released the first Raspberry Pi in 2012, we’ve sold 17 million of them. We’re also reaching almost 200000 children in 130 countries around the world through Code Club and CoderDojo, we’ve trained over 1500 Raspberry Pi Certified Educators, and we’ve sent code written by more than 6800 children into space. Our magazines are read by a quarter of a million people, and millions more use our free online learning resources. There’s plenty to celebrate and even more still to do: we really hope you’ll join us from a Jam near you on 3–4 March.

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Start off the New Year by earning AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate

Post Syndicated from Janna Pellegrino original https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/start-off-the-new-year-by-earning-aws-certified-solutions-architect-associate/

Do you design applications and systems on AWS? Want to demonstrate your AWS Cloud skills? Ring in 2018 by becoming an AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate. It’s a way to validate your expertise with an industry-recognized credential and give your career a boost.

Why get certified, you ask? According to the 2017 Global Knowledge IT Skills and Salary Report, cloud certifications, including AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, generally have salaries well above average. For example, a typical U.S. salary for AWS Certified IT staff is 27.5 percent higher than the normal salary rate. Looking ahead, the report also finds that the IT industry will continue investing heavily in certification as a way to validating employees’ skills and expertise.

Here are our tips for preparing for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam—which we hope you’ll pass with flying colors.

Learn About the Exam

View the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate Exam Guide. It covers concepts within the exam and gives you a blueprint of what you need to study.

The exam tests your technical expertise in designing and deploying scalable, highly-available, and fault-tolerant systems on AWS. It’s for anyone with one or more years of hands-on experience designing distributed applications and systems on the AWS platform.

Continue with Digital and Classroom Training

Next, brush up on key AWS services covered in the exam with our new free digital training offerings at aws.training. Our 100+ bite-sized online courses are each 10 minutes long so you learn AWS fundamentals at your own pace.

Just getting started learning the fundamentals of the AWS Cloud? We recommend you take our AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials course, part of our free digital training offerings.

For more in-depth technical training, register for our immersive Architecting on AWS course. It’s three days of instructor-led classroom training, books, and labs, built and taught by AWS experts.

Study with Exam Prep Resources

Once you have an idea of what’s on the exam, and you’ve taken training to prepare, it’s time to prepare for the exam itself.

Dig deeper into the exam’s concepts and topics with the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate Exam: Official Study Guide. It provides access to content written by AWS experts, real-world knowledge, key exam essentials, chapter review questions, an interactive online learning environment, and much more.

Next, study AWS whitepapers and FAQs with content related to the exam. You can find links to our suggested whitepapers at FAQs at https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certification-prep/ under the Solutions Architect – Associate tab.

You can also take an Exam Prep Workshop and learn exam strategies from a certified technical instructor.

Once you’re ready, put your knowledge to the (practice) test with sample questions. Register for an online practice exam to test your knowledge in a timed environment.

Schedule Your Exam and Get Certified

Now you’re ready to take the exam! Go to aws.training to schedule an exam at a testing center near you at. Once you’ve passed and are AWS Certified, you’ll enjoy AWS Certification benefits like access to the AWS Certified LinkedIn Community, invitations to AWS Certification Appreciation Receptions, digital AWS Certified badges, access to AWS Certified merchandise, and more.

Learn More

Visit us at aws.amazon.com/training for more information on digital training, classroom training, and AWS Certifications.

Prepare to run a Code Club on FutureLearn

Post Syndicated from Alex Bate original https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/code-club-futurelearn/

Prepare to run a Code Club with our newest free online course, available now on FutureLearn!

FutureLearn: Prepare to Run a Code Club

Ready to launch! Our free FutureLearn course ‘Prepare to Run a Code Club’ starts next week and you can sign up now: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/code-club

Code Club

As of today, more than 10000 Code Clubs run in 130 countries, delivering free coding opportunities to approximately 150000 children across the globe.

A child absorbed in a task at a Code Club

As an organisation, Code Club provides free learning resources and training materials to supports the ever-growing and truly inspiring community of volunteers and educators who set up and run Code Clubs.

FutureLearn

Today we’re launching our latest free online course on FutureLearn, dedicated to training and supporting new Code Club volunteers. It will give you practical guidance on all things Code Club, as well as a taste of beginner programming!

Split over three weeks and running for 3–4 hours in total, the course provides hands-on advice and tips on everything you need to know to run a successful, fun, and educational club.

“Week 1 kicks off with advice on how to prepare to start a Code Club, for example which hardware and software are needed. Week 2 focusses on how to deliver Code Club sessions, with practical tips on helping young people learn and an easy taster coding project to try out. In the final week, the course looks at interesting ideas to enrich and extend club sessions.”
— Sarah Sherman-Chase, Code Club Participation Manager

The course is available wherever you live, and it is completely free — sign up now!

If you’re already a volunteer, the course will be a great refresher, and a chance to share your insights with newcomers. Moreover, it is also useful for parents and guardians who wish to learn more about Code Club.

Your next step

Interested in learning more? You can start the course today by visiting FutureLearn. And to find out more about Code Clubs in your country, visit Code Club UK or Code Club International.

Code Club partners from across the globe gathered together for a group photo at the International Meetup

We love hearing your Code Club stories! If you’re a volunteer, are in the process of setting up a club, or are inspired to learn more, share your story in the comments below or via social media, making sure to tag @CodeClub and @CodeClubWorld.

You might also be interested in our other free courses on the FutureLearn platform, including Teaching Physical Computing with Raspberry Pi and Python and Teaching Programming in Primary Schools.

 

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