Our nonprofit TechLabs got off to a great start this year: at our homebase in Münster we are excited to watch our participants finishing their first coding projects, with amazing results after just 4 months of training through the TechLabs program. At other locations, our tech community is rapidly growing as well: our team at the ESADE in Barcelona has just accepted >50 applicants to join their first generation, and we’re more than excited to see the first “techies” growing over there! Furthermore, we will announce a couple of new local communities that will open in Europe over the next few months, so stay tuned (e.g. by following us on Facebook or LinkedIn).
But yet, we have to face it: We won’t be able to create the opportunity of free tech education for everyone just by introducing local communities. The need for digital education is huge, but not everyone has access to our program, yet. We received requests from all over Germany, asking for the best way on how to get into tech. So we thought a lot about how we can provide the same guidance and free tech education fundamentals to even more people, and especially to those who are not able to join one of our local communities.
Announcing the TechLabs Open Curriculum
Starting today, we will provide everyone – independently of their location – with the opportunity to learn tech skills in an extremely efficient way. We will open up basic versions of our current tracks on a new open learning platform, edyoucated.org.
Our TechLabs Open Curriculum is based on our original TechLabs curriculum that we provide the participants in our local communities in Münster and Barcelona. We offer three tracks, well suited for coding newbies:
- Artificial Intelligence: learn about the possibilities of current AI techniques, attain your first Python skills, and build your first image recognition application.
- Data Science: learn basic coding skills in Python, and then apply them directly to Data Science tasks — from data import to building advanced machine learning models for classification and regression.
- Web Development: learn to build your first interactive web application and get to know the WebDev toolbox (e.g. html, css, javascript, react.js, and many more)
Follow this link to check it out and get started with one of these tracks!
Each tracks consists of a collection of links and materials, carefully curated by our team of experts in each field. It only contains free courses (in contrast to our local programs, where we also reimburse paid courses for our participants). Through the sequential ordering of each learning item, our curriculum shall give you guidance and coaching on your first steps in the respective field. Hence, the overarching goal of these tracks is not to give you the most comprehensive selection of materials (that’s what Google is good for), but to support early learners with the — in our view — most effective path to new (or even your first) coding skills. If you walk through the different learning items and materials, you can expect to be ready for your first (small) coding project in AI, data science, or web development — depending on the track you choose.
We tried to break our tracks down into very small units that can be easily completed even in small breaks (e.g. between two lectures, in the morning before going to work, etc.). You can “check” each module after completing it, keep track of your learning progress, and see how your learning journey evolves.
Yet, even the most effective learning path probably won’t be able to cover every question you might have on your way. Therefore, we have created a global Slack community of remote learners who are learning together with you and the Open Curriculum. Our TechLabs mentors from each field — usually professionals working in AI, Data Science, and WebDev — have also joined this Slack community and are happy to answer your questions (if not somebody from our community already did that for you).
Join our Slack channel today and introduce yourself!
Work in Progress
However, what we have published today is just a first version of our Open Curriculum. As we strive for continuous improvement of our online & offline curriculum, we heavily rely on your feedback (so please let us know which parts of the tracks we need to improve!). We will continue to integrate your ideas as well as the lessons learned from our “offline” Digital Shaper Program in Münster and Barcelona into our “online” Open Curriculum.
Furthermore, we’re looking forward to also launch a basic Computer Science track this spring, which contains even more basic knowledge about coding, algorithms, tools, and all other basics you need to get started as a “techie”.
In the long term, our set of open tracks will be enriched with a variety of new materials in the form of blogs, livestreams, or interviews with IT experts — stay tuned!
Your Next Step After Completing the Open Curriculum
Yet, the core of our TechLabs mission will remain our blended learning approach that we offer at our locations in Münster, Barcelona, and probably another major German city starting this April. And the TechLabs Open Curriculum that we have launched today is the perfect way to kickstart your learning journey in one of our local communities. Our Digital Shaper program in Barcelona has just startet a couple of weeks ago, and the application phase for our next generation in Münster opens in the first week of April. Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn to not miss the opportunity to join around 100 motivated soon-to-be techies!
TL;DR
- TechLabs just released its first version of the TechLabs Open Curriculum, an carefully curated collection of materials targeted to coding beginners.
- Currently, the Open Curriculum contains learning tracks in AI, Data Science, and Web Development. Sign up and try it out at edyoucated.org.
- Join our Slack community to get in touch with other remote learners and our mentors from the TechLabs community. And ask a lot of questions!
- If you have any ideas or feedback regarding our Open Curriculum, let us know (e.g. via Slack).
