Teachers learning to code

Several professors at Oshawa’s University of Ontario Institute of Technology noted that kids today don’t know enough about computers and how they work – and teachers of the future will be working to change that.

The university has announced that teacher candidates in its Faculty of Education will now be taking several new courses in the computer sciences, learning skills such as coding and digital literacy, to help bring kids up to speed with the rest of the world.

“Many other countries have already made the move in their educational systems to teach the fundamentals of computer code, as early as the age of five,” states Dr. Ami Mamolo, an assistant professor with the Faculty of Education, in a news release.

“Canadian parents have also shown interest in coding for their kids, as we’ve seen in recent news stories. Our university has been listening and is embracing educational coding with new courses to ensure the next generation of teachers is well-equipped to help their students be active participants in a digital world and be better prepared for future workplaces.”

“Young Canadians are clearly growing up in a vastly different technological environment than even the most recent generation did prior to Y2K,” adds Dr. Diana Petrarca, the director of the Bachelor of Education program at UOIT.

“Change happens so quickly and the Ontario curriculum has not yet been updated to include coding in the same way educational systems are in countries like England and Australia.”