#CodincEU introduction at the Code your Life Coding Summer Camp in Berlin

The 21st Century Competence Center (21CCC) develops educational projects and ideas for digital inclusion. Children with disabilities thus have better opportunities for more participation in the digital society. In the European project #CodincEU - Coding for Inclusion, young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds supported primary school children in their first steps into the digital world. 21CCC is the practical partner in the consortium in Germany. The project was represented for the first time at the Summer Coding Camp of the Code your Life initiative in Berlin.

The subject of "learning how to code" is becoming more and more important as digitalization progresses. Once you have programmed an algorithm yourself, you will find your way better in a digitalized world full of algorithms and have better chances in the professional world.

Inclusive learning concepts and offers for children, however, have hardly been available so far. For this reason, Code your Life is particularly committed to ensuring that all children can learn how to code. The initiative Code your Life is part of the worldwide program Microsoft YouthSpark, supported by the 21st Century Competence Center (21CCC) in the Förderverein für Jugend und Sozialarbeit e.V.  With Code your Life, Microsoft and 21CCC is committed to giving young people access to the world of IT and enabling them to participate competently in the digital society.

This year, children with disabilities can also participate for the first time and learn together with other children. At the end of June 2018, around 450 children from all over Germany came to the initiative's Summer Coding Camp in Berlin together with their teachers.  On three workshop days, they coded together and thus developed digital skills in a playful way. In addition to the school classes, parents and their children took part in introductory workshops to get to know the world of programming.

The Coding Summer Camp offered a first opportunity to introduce teachers to the new European project CODINC - Coding for Inclusion, in which 21CCC is involved as a partner from Germany. The European Commission within the framework of Erasmus Plus funds the CODINC project. Under the leadership of ALL DIGITAL, six partner organisations from Belgium, Spain, Cyprus, Germany and Italy are involved.

The focus of the CODINC project is on social inclusion and the goal is to give young students from disadvantaged areas through the implementation of educational activities based on a peer learning methodology. Students from secondary schools will initially be trained to introduce children from primary schools in learning coding. The young peers will carry out coding weeks in primary schools with the support of the teachers. The 21CCC is a practical partner in the project and will test the concept in cooperation with schools and qualify teachers.

In Germany, many schools are looking for concepts to integrate coding for children into everyday school life in the form of teaching projects or working groups. Achieving this within the framework of a peer-learning offer accompanied by professionals in media education is a welcome support for teachers with lack of experience in this field. The framework of the Coding Summer Camp was the first ooprtunity for concrete discussions with teaches in order to interest them in participating in the project.

Beginning in autumn 2018, teachers from schools in Berlin Hellersdorf and Leipzig (Saxonia)  will be qualified to participate in the project. Later, they will support their students in teaching children their first steps in programming in primary schools until summer 2019.

The next opportunity to present the project and the schools involved will be the Code{affair} conference in December, which will take place on 6 and 7 December at Microsoft in Berlin.

The 21st Century Competence Center (21CCC) is a project of Helliwood media & education in the Förderverein für Jugend und Sozialarbeit e. V. (www.21ccc.de)

Further information:

Code your Life: www.code-your-life.org

CODINC - Coding for Inclusion: www.codinc.fun

All Digital: www.all-digital.org