A SCHOOL YEAR IN REVIEW 2020–2021
Exploring Creative Coding as a Means to Promote Social Inclusion
An initiative by the Luxembourg Tech School (LTS) to provide ALL young people with equal opportunities to take their first steps in the world of digital creation and coding.
The “Creative Coding for ALL” pilot project was launched in Summer 2020, as part of our overarching goal of providing the youth in Luxembourg with equal opportunities to learn the technologies of tomorrow.
This program specifically aims to reach children and young adults that find themselves in unusual life circumstances or having specific needs, and therefore wouldn’t have signed up, from their own initiative, to the weekly LTS classes held at the Luxembourgish lycées.
The project was co-led by LTS Coaches and former LTS students as part of the “Learning to Work, My 1st Job Experience in Tech” program, made possible by the State Street Foundation.
July 2020: Preparing and Planning The Project
With the help of the LISKO (Croix-Rouge Luxembourgeoise), a center that helps beneficiaries of international protection (BIPs) integrate into Luxembourgish society, we were able to invite 24 young refugees, between the ages of 11 and 18, to begin the project with. The students came from vastly different backgrounds — We had students from Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Eritrea. Every single one of them with their unique stories and experiences!
Already in the preparatory stages of the project, we decided that each student will be provided with a free laptop by LTS, allowing them to participate at the lessons, as access to computers is unfortunately often missing in this demographic.
The LISKO provided us with some training to help us gain a better picture on how to best approach the participants.
The plan was to first visit the participants at their living arrangements located all over Luxembourg (I really mean ALL over Luxembourg! — classes were held in Soleuvre, Luxembourg City, Weilerbach, Diekirch, Clervaux and Troisvierges) in order to introduce ourselves, to get to know them (including their specific needs) and to show them how to use the laptops. Afterwards, they would be divided into small groups for the biweekly lessons, which were a combination of both physical and online classes, to guarantee the highest individual support possible in terms of language, background, and learning pace.
As for the class content, the students would be introduced to Creative Coding using the JavaScript Library p5.js, which is not only a non-judgmental and powerful way of expressing oneself digitally, but also renders programming concepts like variables, iterations, conditionals, and functions as well as elements of computational thinking (decomposition, pattern matching, abstraction, algorithms, etc.) more approachable.
End July — September 2020: The Pilot
Over the next 2 months, the students would learn how to create images, animations, and interactions with code and were encouraged from the very first lesson onwards to explore various concepts on their own. It was important to us that the students would already start coding immediately, which proved successful when the students found encouragement and motivation in the immediate visual feedback provided by p5.js.
While we were expecting all types of challenges we were positively surprised by their level of enthusiasm and their dedication despite the language barrier and the vast discrepancies in their educational background (many of them didn’t have the possibility to attend school in their country of origin or had to interrupt their studies when fleeing the country), which we of course reciprocated with our share of dedication of exchanging knowledge with them and a lot of patience. It was important to us to ensure that nobody would be left behind and that every student gets the help they need.
Many of the students enjoyed the lessons so much that they referred their friends and family to us. This would allow us to grow the project throughout the academic year.
As the project was launched in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, for many of the students we were the first social contact they had in months. Additionally, by providing them with laptops, we were able to reconnect many of them with their school teachers and friends through the Microsoft Teams platform, with whom they have lost contact at the beginning of the confinement period. The bi-weekly courses also gave them some desperately needed structure in their daily lives during those uncertain times.
As early as the second lesson (after only 2 hours of class!) the students already took on the challenge of creating a personal sketch following the theme “What defines me?”. This activity would not only allow them to come to terms with their past but to also think about their dreams and ambitions for the future.
[The names have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals.]
Back in his country of origin, [Simon]’s whole family would always come together to watch football games. Playing football reminds him of those times, and he misses his family a lot. He wants to join a football club in Luxembourg in the near future.
[Rania] loves baking cakes with her friends at school. They get to spend time together and she gets to practice her French.
[Deborah] coded a sketch of her room in the Foyer Weilerbach, where she currently resides. She shares the room with her sister and her parents and wants to capture what it means to be a refugee in Luxembourg.
October 2020 — July 2021: Continuing The Project
As the coaches participating in the project were relatively young, we were often around the same age as the students, which made us seem more relatable and approachable to them. This allowed us to develop some incredible connections, as besides giving them lessons on Creative Coding, we exchanged stories, laughed with each other and made them feel welcomed in their new home and accepted for who they are. (This is especially important to us, as we have immigrational backgrounds as well, which made it easier for us to put ourselves in their shoes… True integration requires effort from both parties!) We recognized early on, that the social aspect of the project is as important as teaching them coding. — For some of the students we were the only locals they had contact with (at school they were only among other refugees, which made them feel marginalized). So we were there as their friend and tried our best to support them in every way possible, from talking to them after class, listening to their stories to putting them in touch with tutors if they needed help for their schoolwork.
Following the success of this initiative and the big interest of young students, we decided to continue holding weekly classes from October onwards, at 3 locations in Luxembourg (Luxembourg City, Soleuvre and Ettelbruck) alongside online groups for those who lived further away.
Whenever we saw feasible (i.e. if they were proficient in Luxembourgish/German or English and if the student would benefit from a faster pace), we also tried to integrate the students in the “regular” LTS Level G0 program with Luxembourgish students to further promote integration.
December 2020: A Little Surprise
As this was going to be the first Christmas in Luxembourg for many of our students we wanted to organize something special for them and recreate some of the magic of Christmas from when we were their age.
We surprised our students with some chocolate Santa and recreated a Santa Sketch in p5.js, which they enjoyed a lot. It was not only a fun way to get an exchange going about how Christmas is celebrated in their culture (if at all), and what other major holidays they celebrate in their home country and how they would celebrate it, but also to show them our traditions in Luxembourg.
May 2021: LTS Wins Luxembourgish Jugendpräis
Winning the Jugendpräis 2021 in the category “Go Digital” was definitely a major highlight of the year and we were now even more motivated to continue and expand the offer to more young people in Luxembourg with specific needs!
End July — August 2021: Summer Camp 2021
After an eventful year we were excited to begin the second year of the Creative Coding for ALL project with a new cohort of students. In order to give the 29 interested students a small introduction into Creative Coding, we organized a 3-week long Summer Camp at 4 locations in Luxembourg (Luxembourg City, Diekirch, Weilerbach and Soleuvre), with lessons being held twice weekly. The Summer Camp should give them an idea of what is taught in the lessons before they fully commit to the 6-month program starting end September 2021, which was met with a similar level of enthusiasm by the students as the year before.
“Et war cool mat iech a mega schéin! Wat mir am beschte gefall huet waren d’3D formen. Ech well weider matmaachen!” [“It was cool with you guys and very nice! What I liked best was the 3D shapes. I want to keep participating!”]
Luxembourg Tech School (LTS) is an extracurricular educational program to support the development of future Digital Leaders. It is aimed at 12–19 years old students, who are eager to learn and apply technology in a real business and creative context. Currently LTS started to offer first paid job experiences for its students through its “Learning to Work” program.
