I Taught the Students and the Students Taught Me.
Over the past eight weeks I have worked alongside Coder Factory Academy delivering the Commonwealth Bank #CanChange Ratio to two amazing high schools, Doonside Technology High School and Mitchell High School. I also had the chance to visit the inspiring class at Northlakes High School plus Sir Joseph Banks High School, Picton High School and Pendle Hill High School.
The reach and impact that such a program has is amazing and I’m glad that it is being delivered in more remote areas, to girls who benefit from this type of visibility and exposure to technology the most.
Over the six week program the girls come together to learn about programming fundamentals — HTML, CSS, Ruby and Rails and build a web app of their choice to help with the school or community. Whilst this is a lot to learn in just a short amount of time I tried to emphasise that whilst this is about learning what coding is, it is also about inspiring and encouraging these girls to explore industries with technology at the forefront, to give visibility that a career in STEM is a viable option and that women do in fact exist in these fields and that they have the power to change the current gender disparity now and for the future.
The initiative that the girls showed was INSPIRING to say the least. Early on, we set up Codecademy accounts to extend the learning outside of the classroom. As I would come back each new week, they would share their progress and how they started learning about other languages such as Python and PHP. They also shared their excitement of participating in the @TGAsuperheroes search for the next Tech Girl Superhero competition.
“I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.” ~Lily Tomlin as Edith Ann
One school in particular, Northlakes High School decided they wanted to create an after school coding club open to anyone who was willing to participate. That day they went around and gathered names who expressed interest, made plans to contact their local neighbourhood centre and even used their own social media channels to notify their followers to join the club. To me this was very impressive, after just a few classes of code related learning these girls were so willing to pass on and extend their knowledge to the wider community.
This shows the true benefits of coding. Bringing together communities, the extension of knowledge, willingly passing on the benefits of coding so that others can make an impact too.
Collective diversity of cultures, genders, experiences and age fosters true collaboration on the technology forefront. The idea and execution that everyone has a voice and an opinion to share PLUS the skills (or willingness to learn) to execute on that is so powerful and exciting!
Key Takeaways
- Always keep an open and inquisitive mind
- Be willing to pass on knowledge
- Speak up! Your voice is valued
- Harnessing technology is transformative (even in the smallest amount of time)
- Access to role models and coding education can have a big enough impact to change lives and break down barriers.
- Anything is possible with the power of coding!
On that note, I am very thankful to have had this experience. I have certainly learnt a lot from all the girls who participated!
