As we mentioned a few weeks ago, the Hour of Code is a way for you to give back to the world by sharing your technology knowledge with students. The idea is simple: you reach out to a school (perhaps your kids’) and offer to do a one-hour coding session. It’s not too late as the Hour of Code is part of the Computer Science Education Week (Dec 9-13). And I have a secret: you don’t really have to know how to program. I recently did an online Hour of Code webinar (watch it HERE) that had nearly 100 attendees, where I displayed our Salesforce CRM system. Perhaps you’d like consider programming with Microsoft Excel – it’s all good.
The youth of today can benefit greatly from your technical prowess via the Hour of Code!
So here is what you do. Quickly pick your topic and reach out to a school or similar entity and see if you can put something together for later in the week. The next step is to sign-up via our friends at Microsoft VFI at this location. Then share your knowledge and experience with the next generation!
As part of the Hour of Code madness – be sure to do the following:
Take pics and post ‘em up. Your own web site, Facebook, twitter, etc. It’s all good!
Consider the following suggested steps from Microsoft VFI:
Second, please let your elected officials know about Hour of Code so they can hear the message about the importance of teaching computer science. Below are some suggested tweets and Facebook posts you can use to spread the word. If you don’t know your elected officials Twitter handle, Tweet Congress is a great tool to use. Here is the link: http://www.tweetcongress.org/
[Tweet 1]
.@[Insert Rep or Sen Twitter Handle] I’m taking part in Hour of Code. We need computer science in our schools. #hourofcode csedweek.org @vfiorg
[Tweet 2]
It’s Computer Science Education Week & I’m taking part in #HourofCode to bring computing to American students! @[Insert Rep or Sen Twitter Handle] @vfiorg
[Facebook Post 1]
This week, local kids are learning about computing by participating in the Hour of Code, as part of Computer Science Education Week. But an hour or a week is not enough! We need to strengthen computer science in our schools. [Insert Rep or Sen Twitter Handle] @Voicesforinnovation http://csedweek.org/
[Facebook Post 2]
It’s great to be volunteering for Computer Science Education Week’s Hour of Code. Volunteers across the country are teaching kids computer coding basics. Unfortunately, 90% of U.S. K-12 schools do not teach computer science. This has to change! [Insert Rep or Sen Twitter Handle]] @VoicesforInnovation http://csedweek.org/
