"Each and every interaction between humans and computers is governed by code. Whether you create a web app, follow GPS directions when driving or wish to revolutionise social interactions. Coding is the literacy of today and it helps practice 21st century skills such as problem solving, team work and analytical thinking" (EU Commission; Coding - the 21st century skill) Basic coding skills is also needed for many jobs. In Europe there will be up to 825,000 ICT job vacancies by 2020. As a result Coding is being supported at a Europe level through a number of major initiatives such as EU Code Week, Grand Coalition for Dijital Jobs, European Coding Initiative. Critically at Member State and EU level it is acknowledged that teachers (at primary and secondary level) need upskilling so that they can led the education of young people on coding and ICT. Because of that need, many countries are targetting the introduction of coding into school curriculum in Europe. In Turkey, Coding Education has recently become compulsory in the currıculum of mıddle schools and it has been offered 2 hours a weeks to 5 th 6th grades (compulsory), and 7th and 8th grades (optional) with the name of "computer technology and software". Inspiring from mentioned need, the project targets to contribute building capacity within the eduction sector to provide high quality coding teaching at primary and secondary level in the partner countries. The project will specifically aim to provide upskilling to Higher Education Students studying to become teacher of ICT / STEM (*) on Coding Education and make them well equipped to inspire and teach children coding principals utilising effective, innovative and engaging methods. The project will accomplish this objective by developing new Higher Education Curriculum on Coding Education and associated teaching manuals and materials. Old and existing higher education curriculums for Computer Science Teaching have been designed generally without reference to coding and coding as a tool for ICT / STEM (*) teaching and learning. The curriculum to be developed in this project will address the new needs to train young generation who are able to build computer applications, tools and programmes using coding solutions. This will allow them to become creators of content and not just passive users. Main target group and participants of the project activities are ICT / STEM Teacher Candidates who will teach computer science to primary and secondary education students. After their involvement of project activies, they will know: - how to motivate kids that to learn coding, - how to illustrate basics of computer science like algorithms, sequences, loops, conditionals etc. - how to make Coding subject funny and engaging for students, - how to teach students to make meaningful collaboration with others, - how to get computational thinking and problem solving skills, - where to find code teaching games like Scratch, Alice, Code Monkey Island etc. - where to find more information sources, Besides, partner universities will have chance to integrate developred curriculum into existing ICT / STEM Teaching programmes either as an new elective or a core module. They will also have chance to transfer the knowledge and skills gained in Ireland Case through strong partnership between Government and Industry to support coding within Education. (*) STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) : ICT and Computer Science Education is given under this field in many European countries including projects European partners.
EDUCODE project is designed and conducted in order to build capacity within the education sector to provide high quality coding teaching at primary and secondary level in the partner countries. The consortium specifically targeted undergraduates studying to become ICT teachers and in particular those who have a specific interest in STEM areas. Apart from this main objective, upskilling ICT and STEM Teacher Candidates on Coding Education was the secondary objective of the project. It was expected to make the candidates well equipped to inspire and teach children coding principals utilising effective, innovative and engaging methods. EDUCODE project has been launched in the beginning of September 2017 and completed in the end of August 2019. In this time span, a training needs analysis, a curriculum on coding education and a lecturer's handbook have been developed with international collaboration. Apart from intellectual outputs, four transnational meetings and five multiplier events have been organized. The partnership structure of EDUCODE project consists of Dokuz Eylül University (the coordinator), Zagreb University Faculty of Informatics, Limerick Institute of Technology, University of Maribor and APEC Education Consultancy. The partnership structure has been constructed by taking required expertise to develop planned outputs into account. In the beginning of the project, within the context of preparation activities, the coordinator established online project management platform. After that, all partners prepared a contact database of stakeholders for dissemination. Before kick off meeting, all partners prepared a state of art report on coding education in their countries. In the meeting, all partners signed the consortium agreement and then, tasks and responsibilities were clearly reviewed. There were three intermediary activities before reaching the project's objectives. There were (1) creating a training needs analysis report on coding education, (2) developing a curriculum on coding education for based on the report and (3) preparing a lecturer's handbook. In the first few months following the kick off meeting, the university partners prepared a survey for the need analysis and applied them within their institutions. They send results to APEC and APEC prepared a need analysis. The analysis has been examined in the 2nd transnational meeting and a plan to develop curriculum has been established. The draft curriculum has been developed in the next months under leadership of the coordinator. Later on, in the third meeting, partners has discussed a method to develop lecturer's handbook. While the handbook development process has been continued under the leadership of Maribor University, the final updates regarding the curriculum was concluded. In the 4th meeting, issues about required handbook updates, multiplier event organizations, budget, documenting and dissemination have been addressed. After completion of intellectual outputs, the partners applied pilot tests and prepared a report based on pilot test survey results. All partners conducted workshops for dissemination and promotion purposes. The partners used daily email conversations and monthly Skype meetings for regular communication and coordination. In total, 4 transnational meetings and 5 workshop events and a pilot test have been undertaken. Main participants of the project activities were students, undergraduates studying in Higher Education to become ICT / STEM teachers in all partner countries. The project has produced tangible results in the form of intellectual outputs (IO) and events. The first IO is Training Analysis Report. The report is the first deliverable, outlining the training needs of computer science teaching & STEM undergraduates who will teach coding in primary and secondary schools. The second IO is the Higher Education Curriculum for Computer Science Teaching in Primary and Middle Schools. The curriculum we developed addresses the new needs to train young generation who are able to build computer applications, tools and programmes using coding solutions. The third deliverable is the Lecturer Handbook. The Aim of the handbook is to improve the quality of teacher performance and the resulting learning opportunities for students in coding education. The handbook was designed to be accessible and useful for a teacher or a teacher trainer. It is divided into five units, each with individual lessons, which cover areas of coding education that is important and necessary for effective coding education. The fourth tangible result of the project is the 5 multiplier events. The events aimed to share and disseminate the IOs of the project. The events took place after the IO has been developed, to maximise the dissemination potential. Each partner organized one event in their city. Besides dissemination, the events were important for raising awareness on importance of coding education.