Required Texts Marc Prensky (2012) From Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom, Hopeful Essays for 21st Century Learning Chapter 23

Programming is a hot topic across the US and the world. Overall, I think the state of TN has dropped the ball in terms of teaching students the basic skills of

programming that are in such high demand in the job market. What can we do about it? There are several initiatives floating around that are gaining some traction:

http://www.tncodeacademy.com/

http://code.org/

To experience some of the basics of coding and how it is being taught, you could sign up for this course:

http://learn.code.org/

You could also choose to get into some of the robotics related to Coding:

http://www.robomind.net/en/index.html

We’ve even pre-ordered these robots at TTU to test out in some of the local elementary schools and with our pre-service and graduate students: https://www.play-i.com/

For your discussion posts:

1) Choose a country from around the world (countries can’t repeat). Research the coding statistics and initiatives. Share the info on your post, then compare/contrast

your findings to the US. Where do we stand in comparison and where do you think we should be?

2) Think coding is way too complex for you to learn? Nope. Start here (School website about coding) and play some of the practice sites/games that teach you the basics

of coding. Take a screenshot of the learning site that is the best for your student needs and post it to the discussion board.