Keeping this fundamental shift of educational basics in mind, the Education Portfolio of the National Council for the UAE organized an introductory course on coding for students aged 13-18. It aimed to introduce students to computer sciences and basic programming concepts using the Python 3.6 programming language. Classes were designed to build logical thinking skills and help students write programs to basic to advanced technical problems.
Led by Ms. Shaheen Khoja, a software engineer at General Electric (GE), 16 students attended the course over a two-month period during the summer of 2016. “Programming is all around us. We interact with software programs every day to the extent that living without mobile apps and online portals is close to impossible. I remember when I joined university, I had no prior knowledge of programming concepts. However, this is not the case right now; children from a very young age are learning to code and participate in online programming competitions. This was one of the objectives of the python programming session, to expose young children to basic concepts in programming and have them apply this skill to solve a real-world challenge,” explained Shaheen.
Students were tasked with completing one of three projects consisting of writing software for a travel agency, software for currency exchange house and software for a quiz show. “I really enjoyed it and I definitely learned and acquired an ample amount of skills which I will further improve and work on. This experience has further increased my horizons and opened my eyes to an entirely new topic, as the world is now being enveloped with technology, understanding it is and will always be useful in the years ahead” articulated Zain Sadruddin, a graduate of the summer course.
The classes piqued students’ interest in computer sciences and laid the foundation for a positive hobby which could be turned into a fruitful career.
The Education Portfolio has committed to expose students to this key skill, and move them from being technology end users to becoming technology developers. The students’ own motivation also clearly indicates the interest in the field. In turn, this has inspired Shaheen to develop a comprehensive curriculum which will allow us to run this course all year round. A second cohort of beginner students began coding classes in September, and a further program for intermediate students is being planned.
