Find your Inner Geek
Hour of Code is a worldwide event held during the week of December 8th - 13th to engage and excite young and old about computer science. Who would have thought that such a complex science could be accessible to all of us. Not only is it accessible, it is essential for today and tomorrow's students to know and understand how to think, problem solve and innovate as programmers. The thing is, what we refer to as "coding" or "programming" is no longer within the realm of only the top math students and so called geeks of the world. We all can find our inner geek and learn to code with tools that scaffold our understanding of computer programming.
This introductory video from the code.org website does a nice job at explaining this idea using one of the many free lessons and programs found on their site to help us get started. This example uses an introductory program called "Blockly" which is also mentioned on the Made with Code website.
Google HangOut on Air Event
I'm excited to be part of the Vermont effort by helping with next week's Hour of Code Guest Speaker Series where a number of Google HangOuts on Air (HOA) will be offered throughout the week where you can watch and participate by asking questions of the HangOut panel. This is not only an opportunity be part of the Hour of Code in Vermont but also to see how Google HangOuts on Air works from a viewers perspective. Google HangOuts on Air is a great tool for offering live or recorded events where a panel of speakers (up to 15) can be in the video conversation sharing ideas, websites and other media while this video event is being streamed live on an Event page for viewers to watch and ask questions using the Q&A feature, or just posting to the event comment thread. To learn more about Google HangOuts on Air and how to create a HOA event watch this video by Google, How to Broadcast a Google HangOut on Air or ask for help from GEG Vermont members.
