Raspberry Pi Foundation partners with FutureLearn to train teachers all over the world
Two online courses for educators around the world, focusing on teaching computing and computational thinking, are now open for registration.
London, 6 December 2016, FutureLearn, a leading social learning provider, is delighted to announce its new partnership with the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Together they are launching two free online CPD training courses aimed at giving teachers the experience and insight to use digital making effectively in the classroom. The courses are open for registration now, and are available to teachers, or anyone with an interest in digital making and computing, all over the world, at any time and on any device.
The 4-week Teaching Computing with Raspberry Pi and Python course will introduce educators to physical computing, showing them how easy it is to create a system that responds to and controls the physical world, using computer programs running on the Raspberry Pi. They’ll then apply their new-found knowledge to a series of challenges, including controlling an LED with Python, using a button press to control a circuit, and making a button and LED game.
The 4-week Teaching Programming in Primary Schools course will provide a comprehensive introduction to programming, designed for primary or K-5 teachers who are not subject specialists. Primary teachers will be introduced to key programming concepts and will have the chance to apply their understanding through projects, both unplugged and on a computer, using Scratch as the programming language. They will discover how to identify common mistakes and pitfalls, and develop strategies to fix them.
Carrie Anne Philbin, Director of Education for the Raspberry Pi Foundation commented: “The Raspberry Pi Foundation has a simple, but ambitious mission: to put the power of digital making into the hands of people all over the world. By the end of 2016, we will have trained over 540 educators to teach Raspberry Pi through our Picademy live events. However, we wanted to find a way to scale our teaching and to reach many more educators around the world. We’re therefore delighted to be partnering with a social learning platform like FutureLearn so that many more teachers across the world can have access to our classes in an interactive and flexible way.”
Nigel Smith, Head of Content for FutureLearn commented: “We are thrilled to add Raspberry Pi to our portfolio of partners. Their ethos to bring learning to anyone anywhere absolutely fits with our own company ambitions and we are excited to make a start on what promises to be a hugely beneficial set of courses together.”
People can sign up to courses now with the courses themselves starting in mid-February 2017. Visit www.futurelearn.com/part
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