How Code.org Is Charging Up Computer Science Education

Computer Science Education Week falls on the second week of December each year, coinciding with the birthday of Navy Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer in 1944.

CS Ed Week was kind of a snoozer until Hadi Partovi founded Code.org, hatched the idea of the Hour of Code, and built tools to support it. In the two years since then, nearly 150,000,000 “Hours of Code” have been completed.

Kids of all ages—from elementary school to grandparents—can participate in the hour of code. Every day this week at the University of Washington, the Department of Computer Science & Engineering is organizing one or more Hour of Code events. At Monday morning’s kickoff, UW President Ana Mari Cauce—ever a great sport and a great example—participated with a group of students. (President Cauce is not a complete novice—she took a COBOL course in college!) Later in the day, students in Professor Stuart Reges’s introductory programming course brought a novice friend or relative to class to participate in an Hour of Code. The visitors ranged from younger siblings to parents and grandparents.

Try it yourself! And hats off to Hadi Partovi and Code.org for creating a national and international movement!

Student Eric Keenan and his mother, Gayle, participate in the Hour of Code in Kane Hall. Photo by Kristin Osborne/University of Washington
Student Eric Keenan and his mother, Gayle, participate in the Hour of Code in Kane Hall. Photo by Kristin Osborne/University of Washington

 

University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce and student Sukhdeep Singh participate in the Hour of Code. Photo by Dennis Wise/University of Washington
University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce and student Sukhdeep Singh participate in the Hour of Code. Photo by Dennis Wise/University of Washington

 

Author: Ed Lazowska

Ed Lazowska holds the Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, where he also serves as the founding director of the University of Washington eScience Institute. His research and teaching concern the design, implementation, and analysis of high performance computing and communication systems, and the techniques and technologies of data-intensive discovery. He also has been active in public policy issues, ranging from STEM education to federal policies concerning research and innovation. He serves on the executive advisory council of the National Center for Women & Information Technology, and on the National Research Council's Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine. He recently served as co-chair of the Working Group of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology to assess the government's $4 billion information technology R&D portfolio. He has been a member of the technical advisory board for Microsoft Research since its inception, and is a technical adviser to a number of high-tech companies and venture firms.