Communications of the ACM
Tech Companies Hope to Introduce Coding to 100 Million Students
A student at Pacific Middle School in Des Moines, Wash., takes part in the 2013 Hour of Code computer science tutorial program.
Credit: Code.org
The CEOs of two dozen major tech companies, including Google and Microsoft, will announce their support on Wednesday for a project by nonprofit Code.org that seeks to introduce computer science to 100 million students worldwide. The companies will promote Code.org's Hour of Code campaign, which encourages students to explore computer coding through hour-long online tutorials. The support will take the form of encouraging their employees to try out Hour of Code tutorials and encourage students to do the same during Computer Science Education Week this December.
The companies also will encourage their employees to contribute to an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign that seeks to raise $5 million to help train teachers in providing computer science education. The effort is an attempt to help encourage broader participation in computer science among women and minority communities as well as to meet anticipated growing demand for workers with computer science skills.
ACM and CSTA are major partners in Code.org. Other companies supporting Hour of Code include Disney, Dropbox, Eventbrite, GoDaddy, Salesforce.com, Target, Yelp, and Zillow. "Some of these companies are competitors," says Code.org CEO Hadi Partovi. "We represent a nice, safe place for them to channel their efforts."
From The Wall Street Journal
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