#codeeu

The first part of EU Code Week was amazing with thousands of participants getting in touch with the coding world. Volunteers from schools, libraries, code clubs, businesses and public authorities worked together in workshops with young and motivated people to show how fun coding, robotics, hardware and computers can be and how they help bringing your ideas to life.

First steps in coding from Ireland

1st Coding students celebrating @CodeWeekEU with fun activities in class, developing their digital competencies #EdChatIE #CodeEU #CodeWeek pic.twitter.com/zTsiJ5hD8V

— Computer Science (@CranaCollegeCS) October 10, 2017

It's never too early to start coding

Well Done👏 first year student Isaac for leading our Algorithm lesson using #Blockly 4 @CodeWeekEU Amazing talented teacher #CodeEU #EdChatIE pic.twitter.com/CNacLbNS3T

— Computer Science (@CranaCollegeCS) October 10, 2017

Geek Girls are cool girls

Launch weekend done! Thanks to the 100+ Girl Geeks who came to our 11 workshops, to workshop facilitators, & to @Google for funding #CodeEu pic.twitter.com/09blrrYO0Y

— Hudds Girl Geeks (@HuddsGirlGeeks) October 15, 2017

Robots battle!

🤖Check out our video of this mornings @CodeWeekEU event LEGO Robot War @cranacollege #CodeEU #EdChatIE #CodeWeek https://t.co/U7aRONJFV3

— Computer Science (@CranaCollegeCS) October 11, 2017

Having fun at the CodeWeek and learning about robots

Congratulations 👏 to our winning student team 🤖 Thank You 👨🏻💻MrBoyle👨🏼💻MrGeaney👩🏻💻MsGriffin 4 getting MrCooley into a 🍊 #CodeEU T-shirt 😃 pic.twitter.com/yzmHzR49Km

— Computer Science (@CranaCollegeCS) October 11, 2017

In Italy, making unplugged coding with CodyRoby

#codeEU bambini di 4 primaria @mozzecane impegnati con #coding #unplugged #codyroby #becool pic.twitter.com/TOps9Sxd9U

— Antonio Faccioli (@Faccioli74) October 14, 2017

Having fun on the playground

Jumping for joy with @AppleEDU & @SpheroEdu #EveryoneCanCode #ADEchat #CodeEU pic.twitter.com/EhhsYNpYit

— Catherine Mangan 💝 (@catherinem23) October 13, 2017

Programming afternoon in Spain

Tarde de programación #codeEU con @CoderDojoVLC @ByLinedu en @FlywireEng cc @CoderDojo #STEM pic.twitter.com/iiil2Jkz1j

— Asociacion ByLinedu (@bylinedu) October 14, 2017

Code Ninjas in Zurich

Looking forward to see @CodeWeekEU orange 🍊🍊 esprit at @CoderDojoZH #codeEU #Switzerland https://t.co/sVN1bpIuaK

— CodeWeekSwitzerland (@CodeWeek_CH) October 15, 2017

Robotics and coding in Albania

Albanian ICT Academy në bashkpunim me shkollën "Ernest Koliqi" zhvilloi eventin "Open Coding & Robotics Day". #codeweek #codeEU pic.twitter.com/K1cvhIABN0

— Albanian ICT Academy (@AL_ICT_Academy) October 17, 2017

More robots in Brussels

Good morning people! Today I will be programmed to do amazing things at #fcl_eu during the programming FCL course #codeEU pic.twitter.com/nY9qRXhBpW

— Efi Saltidou (@Efi_Saltidou) October 11, 2017

Workshop in Tervuren

Show n tell time @ #coderdojo #Tervuren #EUCodeWeek #codeEU pic.twitter.com/IRHMaLRI0K

— Sarah Lynch (@SarahLynchBxl) October 14, 2017

Coding class in Valencia

Hoy celebramos #codeEU en Valencia. Gracias por hacerlo posible @ByLinedu @LasNavesINN #digitalitzat pic.twitter.com/BtzqmMmxq4

— Loli Iborra (@Ibosalma) October 14, 2017

Keep calm and learn to code, Turkey

5 yaşından başlayan kodlama maceramız #KodlamaHaftası 'da coşkuyla devam ediyor. #bkegitek #codeweek #codeEU pic.twitter.com/02rXB1rnCl

— Uğur Çetinkaya (@ugurcetinkaya_) October 15, 2017

BeeBot to learn about sounds in UK

RB have been programming the BeeBot to find sounds! Ymdrech fawr! #codeEU #receptionmps #RB pic.twitter.com/zAWY6hGZll

— Maindee Primary (@maindeeprimary) October 16, 2017

Also teachers were involved to learn about computational and algorithmic thinking

Great @breakoutEDU session with our teachers on the Cert for Coding & Computational Thinking for Teachers this morning #codeEU pic.twitter.com/XNi1ADO0Dw

— Pam (@pamelaaobrien) October 14, 2017

AngryBird code challenge in Gent

Derde en vierde Latijnse gidsen Angry Birds door doolhof #Hour Of Code in wiskundeles. Blij met certificaat! #CodeFestival #CodeEU pic.twitter.com/a97hByqZpA

— Sint-Bavohumaniora (@SintBavoGent) October 13, 2017

JavaScript preparation in Brussels

Amazingly motivated participants @ our JavaScript preparation HackCamp in #Brussels @Science14Atrium. More next week! #bHack2017 #CodeEU pic.twitter.com/qnuwPMJJvB

— Hackages (@hackages) October 13, 2017

Passion for coding in Sweden

#Microsoft Hello World! is building a passion for #code in #Sweden https://t.co/EmyEhVNWFd #codeEU #CodeWeek pic.twitter.com/jogpPFNgdH

— Massimiliano Gattoni (@maxgattoni) October 13, 2017

Libraries and Digital Skill in Bulgaria. Together with the US emassador – Erik Rubin and commissioner Mariya Gabriel

Great to see Commissioner @GabrielMariya at @Sofialibrary! 💻 Digital skills open doors - we couldn't agree more. #GenerationCode #codeEU https://t.co/CgZW7RHTce

— PublicLibraries2020 (@LibrariesEU) October 13, 2017

The feeling when you find out your code works

The feeling when you find out that your code works 🎉 #codeeu #codeweek pic.twitter.com/F1WHqVIXuc

Over 110 participants from many different countries gathered for the 4th Coding from Home webinar on 23rd April. They presented a variety of different methods to continue teaching coding remotely during the coronavirus restrictions.

Beginning the webinar, CodeWeek Coordinator Annika Östergren Pofantis presented a series of online videos called Coding@Home, which will provide activities to get students and their parents into coding without needing a computer. They will be made by Alessandro Bogliolo based on his Italian series “Coding in famiglia” and launched at the end of April.

The next speaker was Naír Carrera Martínez, Course Coordinator at European Schoolnet, who presented the EU Code Week Icebreaker Coding Course. This is free online course is aimed at teachers to introduce them to programming. No previous experience is required for this 5 hour long course, which will be available to complete from 11th May till 15th June. Naír also reminded participants of the Learning Bits (tutorials) that are available for teachers to download and use both in the classroom and at home. 

The webinar continued with Sophia Reyes Mury from the Lausanne Institute of Technology in Switzerland. She introduced Roteco – the Robotic Teacher Community – available in French, German and Italian. The aim of this initiative is to foster collaboration between institutions, teachers, and researchers. Teachers can register to the Roteco Project to publish their own activities, use existing ones provided by other teachers, and contact other teachers for advice and to discuss the activities used. Roteco also provides online courses to help with learning at home in the current situation.

Jakub Kajtman then presented a few questions to the group using Mentimeter. The first was to identify what is the most popular and useful for everyone when it comes to remote coding activities, and the second to determine what everyone still feels they really lack when it comes to teaching. You can check the results on Mentimeter.

The next presentation came from Fatma Bouaziz, ICT teacher and EU Codeweek Ambassador Tunisia, who presented a variety of platforms she uses with her students. These included Edmodo, which she uses to keep contact with her students throughout the year, to share with them lessons and activities, and to receive work from her students as well. She also uses Microsoft Teams to create virtual classes via video conference to help her students. One of the other programs she presented was CoSpacesEdu which enables students to learn by doing. It is perfect for beginners to coding but also has content suitable for the more experiences as well.

The final speaker was Katerina Glezou, Leading teacher from Greece, who presented her methods for online teaching. These included the use of Padlet which allows students to upload completed exercises as well as Scratch, which she had used to demonstrate the spread of coronavirus by changing variables in the program.

You can watch again the whole webinar on the Europe Code Week Youtube Channel.

By Annika Östergren Pofantis, EU Code Week Team

Stay in touch with students. Make the most of existing on-line resources. Use cloud tools.  Provide structure and respect the school’s time schedule. These were Alessandro Bogliolo’s, Italian EU Code Week ambassador and professor at University of Urbino, tips for teachers organising lessons remotely at the first EU Code Week Coding from Home webinar.

Alessandro said that coding is a quite easy to introduce remotely and encourage teachers to make the coding activities as fun as possible. He, for example, suggested teachers to propose daily activities and games that the children can play with their families. Alessandro himself organises coding lessons for families in cooperation with Italian TV RAI.

Deborah Elalouf, French Code Week ambassador, shared the Code-Decode online training path available in English and French that aims to help participants understand coding and digital culture.

Francisco Javier Masero Suarez, Leading teacher from Spain, showed a practical example of a remote lesson combining karate and coding (see presentation on Google Drive or Slideshare). He underlined that although students are at home they need to do physical activities. He said that combing coding and sports allows students to develop cognitive and physical activities in the same project.

See the recording of the webinar here.

By Jakub Kajtman, EU Code Week Team member, European Commission 

In 2019, EU Code Week broke new records with more than 72 thousand activities. We brought coding and computational thinking to more than 4,2 million people. Schools played a vital role and an increasing number of activities involved advanced technologies such as robotics, data manipulation or artificial intelligence. Here are the detailed statistics.

New records

From year to year, EU Code Week is growing both in terms of participation and in number of activities. In 2019, the participation went up by 56% compared to 2018. The number of activities increased by 66% and they took place in more than 80 countries across the globe.

We are particularly happy that equal opportunities are at the heart of EU Code Week. In 2019, 49% of participants were girls and women. An average participant was 11 years old and 92% of events took place in schools. The average participation was 56 people per activity. 

These results confirm that EU Code Week is an ideal opportunity for kids to experiment with coding, create their first apps or learn how to command a robot in a safe environment that they know.

EU Code Week is about discovering technology in a light and engaging way. That is why playful coding, visual programming or unplugged exercises are among the top themes of 2019’s activities. But an increasing number of sessions and workshops also gave participants a chance to discover advanced technologies such as robotics, 3D printing or artificial intelligence.

Country stats

When it comes to the number of activities and country performance, the leaders were again Turkey, Italy and Poland. We also look at the “per capita” dimension where Malta, Poland, Montenegro, Estonia and Italy reported the best results. You can see the full country results in the attached document.

15 countries more than doubled the number of their activities and 9 countries significantly increased participation.

CodeWeek4All Challenge

The CodeWeek4All challenge triggered the biggest wave of collaboration in the history of EU Code Week. Organisers registered over 2.400 alliances. 1.177 of them fulfilled at least one of the conditions (connect activities in at least 3 countries, connect at least 10 activities or reach at least 500 participants) and their organisers will receive special certificates. 53 reached an extra milestone and fulfilled all the 3 criteria. This is nearly twice as many as in 2018.

Across Ukraine, school children in their classrooms, their teachers, students and adults took part in Europe Code Week.

Some 80 activities took place all across the country. School teachers supported the initiative and showed their students the exciting world of coding. They inspire, motivate and guide children as they begin to code.

Scratch, Python, 3D and Robotics events are happening in schools, community centers and computer clubs all over the country. Children have opportunity to learn coding in a fun way

“It’s cool and amazing,” says one of the young participants. “I’m now able to write an algorithm.”

Larysa Khokhlova, the teacher of Computer Science in Pavlograd, involved many girls in coding.

Elementary students from Mykolaiv created their own Scratch story and designed it using LEGO WeDo.

Young children from Smyha created an Android-based app for football players. It helps to count how much water the players need during the day.

In Novoyegorivka school, younger students learned how to code and older kids practised in Minecraft.

What can you do with a smartphone, data connection and 2 simple apps? You can play a code hunting game!

It’s a game based on the classic “treasure hunt” scheme, in which teams of players compete against each other reaching locations and solving coding puzzles as fast as they can. This guide (pdf) will help you to set the game up.

You can play it practically anywhere - at home, in a park, in a forest or across the whole city. Sky is the limit. The game can last from few minutes to dozens of hours. It’s just up to you as the organiser set up the level.

The teams that compete against each other are ideally composed of 2-10 people. And of course the more people get involved the more fun the game is.

To bring it to the next level you can join the glocal game on 20 October from 11 to 13 CEST. On this day, dozens of code hunting games will take place simultaneously across Europe. If you join the initiative don’t forget to pin your event on the Code Week map.  

Everything you need to know about joining or organising a Code Hunting Game is explained on the dedicated website or in this dedicated pdf guide. So don’t lose time and start hunting the code.

PS: and share the results & selfies online with us.

PS2: watch this short demo version of the game

On the occasion of the European Code Week, Digital Serbia Initiative and the Petlja Foundation have organized “Creative Coding on Petlja” as part of the “Let’s Get Smart” campaign.

The main goal of the Initiative Digital Serbia was to include over 10 000 pupils interested in coding in more than 500 events all over Serbia for the very first time. Our wish is to help Serbia shine on the map of the EU Code Week, running from October 6 to October 21, and include participating pupils from over fifty countries.

On this occasion, the Petlja Foundation and other contributors to this action have prepared a series of practical activity suggestions that should help educators in preschool institutions and teachers in primary and secondary schools to creatively improve their teaching skills – or introduce their pupils to the world of coding.

The realization of this year’s European Code Week is supported by the Ministry of education, science and technological development, and additional information are available at codeweek.eu, codeweek.rs and the Facebook page of Code Week Serbia.

Webinar materials

On Monday, October 8, we held a webinar in order to present our ideas for specific activities and guidelines for registration and networking with other participants of the initiative. Recording of the webinar is available on our Facebook page.

Download materials presented at the webinar

Download webinar presentation