Code has become the 4th literacy. Everyone needs to know how our digital world works, not just engineers.” says Mark Surman, the Executive Director of The Mozilla Foundation. In today’s digital world, coding is a fundamental skill alongside math, reading and writing. But most important is not to learn the coding itself, but to use it to develop the skills it requires, such as analytical and logical thinking, solving complex problems, creativity, entrepreneurial thinking and skills. In accordance with this assumption, the point of the project is not that it will help to educate programmers themselves, but people who have developed mental habits that facilitate functioning in the modern world. CCurrently, throughout Europe, there is a strong trend in learning programming from an early ageand. Since a few years it has been a part of school education. Numerous progrming courses for children are available, dedicated e-learning platforms are created, coding begins to be treated as learning any other foreign language. However, there is a certain gap in the adjustment of this trend to the requirements and needs of young people (over 18) who are just entering the labor market and who most urgently need Computational thinking competences. Therefore, in this project we will support non-IT students. Target group: - non-IT students, who want to increase their competencies in coding, computational thinking and problem solving competences. Needs and barriers of target group (based on analysis of programming market of partner countries; analysis of randomly selected education programs (non-IT) of partner countries): - the lack of available programming courses with a varied level of difficulty for students of other fields than IT. The only available courses are for children or are intended for programmers or people from outside the IT sector but intending to retrain and become programmers. - high costs of programming courses (aimed at professional retraining) offered by the private sector. - lack of programming courses in higher education study programs at social, philological, biological or economic majors and many others Objectives of the project: Main objective: Increased innovation and interdisciplinarity of higher education through the development and evaluation of effectiveness in at least 4 European Universities of the programming course for non-IT students until 07.2021 The specific objectives: - Strengthening the cooperation between partner institutions, increasing their internationalization through the exchange of good practice and to jointly develop universal eduactional materials. - Promotion of the idea of open education and open software - Enhancing the quality and relevance of students' knowledge (at least 150 students taking part in testing and ewaluation). Implementation of the project is linked with the strategies of a European, national and regional level. Among others project fits in the assumptions of the Europe 2020 Strategy. One of the priorities is Smart growth which includes developing an economy based on knowledge and innovation. Results expected during the project: - An interactive online manual, consisting of 2: Part A, part 12 introductory lessons, part B will be of 5 parallel topics, 6 lessons long (30 lessons). - Programming exercises (5 tasks for each lesson, that is 60 tasks for parts A and 150 for part B) - System for automated evaluation and grading Results expected on project completion: - 1 programming course for non-IT students Partners are endowed with the necessary profiles and professionals who will guarantee the relevant experience and expertise to successfully deliver on the various aspects of the project. The partnership has the necessary skills and competences to ensure that the work programme can be implemented efficiently and effectively, i.e. on time and budget, with appropriate qualitative and quantitative levels. Partners: University of Silesia (leader), University of Bedfordshire, FUNDACION UNIVERSITARIA SAN ANTONIO, The EDU-RES Foundation, University of Bari Aldo Moro (UNIBA)
Coding has become the fourth literacy. Everyone needs to know how our digital world works, not just engineers." - says Mark Surman, executive director of the Mozilla Foundation. In today's digital world, coding is an essential skill alongside math, reading and writing. But the most important thing is not to learn coding itself, but to use it to develop the skills it requires, such as analytical and logical thinking, complex problem solving, creativity, entrepreneurial thinking and skills. Along these lines, the point of the project is not that it will help educate programmers alone, but people who have developed habits of mind that make it easier to function in the modern world. Currently there is a strong trend across Europe to learn programming from an early age. For several years it has been a part of school education. Numerous programming courses for children are available, dedicated e-learning platforms are created, and coding is starting to be treated like learning any other foreign language. However, there is a certain gap in adapting this trend to the requirements and needs of young people (over 18 years old), who are just entering the labor market and who most urgently need computer thinking skills. Therefore, in this project we supported non-computer students. Target group: - Non-IT students who want to improve their coding, computational thinking and problem-solving competences: more than 300 people Main objective: To increase innovation and interdisciplinarity in higher education by developing and evaluating the effectiveness in at least 4 European universities of a programming course for non-IT students by 07.2021. Specific objectives: - Strengthen cooperation between partner institutions, increase their internationalization through exchange of good practices and joint development of universal educational materials. - Promotion of the idea of open education and open source software. - Increase the quality and usefulness of students' knowledge (at least 150 students participating in testing and evaluation). Description of implemented activities: The consortium has implemented all the activities assumed in the project. Developed 1 programming course for non-IT students consisting of: - Interactive online textbook, consisting of 2: Part A, part 12 introductory lessons, Part B will be 5 parallel topics, 6 lessons in length (30 lessons in total). - Programming exercises (5 assignments for each lesson, so 60 assignments for Part A and 150 for Part B) - Automated grading and assessment system. Long-term benefits: - inclusion of a programming learning component in the curricula implemented at partner universities - Increasing the number of students of non-IT faculties who have basic knowledge of programming in Python language and skills of practical use of the acquired knowledge; - developing the idea of digitalization within modified/new curricula implemented/developed at partner institutions.