Code Start for schools: Here we go!

Digitization Innovation Skills supply Education and training Welfare technology

Minecraft adventures, visual storytelling and Quirkbot training programs. These were some of the 15 projects that Vinnova today decided to share SEK 11 million in the call "Digitization for the school of the future". For those of us who are both passionate about, and concerned about, how teachers and principals will gain the skills to lead the digital revolution in schools, there are three projects in particular that I want to highlight: Linköping University's "Triple Helix - National Collection for School Digitization", Kodcentrum's "Kodstart" and Vetenskapens Hus "Digital Learning and Programming in the Classroom".

There is no shortage of ideas on how to digitize and modernize school education. Now that the government has finally got around to developing a strategy for school digitization, it is important to implement the ideas in a smart and large-scale way. A key role in this is played by teachers and their principals: head teachers, municipalities and independent school groups. If there are any of the 15 projects that teachers, school leaders and school authorities should really take on board, it is these three:

1. Triple Helix - National Collection for School Digitalization.

In short, the ambition of the project is to develop an agenda for how schools and teaching should be digitized. The project will be led by Linköping University, which has behind it a broad group of representatives from industry (Swedsoft, SAAB, ÅF and others), academia (Lindholmen, Mjärdevi, Vetenskapens Hus and others) and schools (Linköping Municipality and individual teachers such as Karin Nygårds and Lennart Rolandsson).

The project will be a kind of parallel project to the Swedish National Agency for Education's mission to develop school digitalization strategies. Interestingly, both the Triple Helix project and the Swedish National Agency for Education have the same amount of funding at their disposal - SEK 1 million. Which means that Vinnova, through the total of 11 million they distribute, invests 11 times more in developing school digitization than the government - so far ...

2. Code start

The project, run by Kodcentrum, aims to develop a model for how teachers in grades 4-5 can introduce programming and digital creation into their teaching, within the framework of the current curriculum and school subjects. The model includes a skills-building workshop for teachers, teacher guides and student assignments with societal and problem-solving missions.

Behind the project (described in more detail here) are IT players such as Spotify, Informator, EdQu, Obviuse and Vittra Brotorp primary school.

3. digital learning and programming in the classroom

The project aims to make programming a natural part of the classroom and to be used as a way of working by all teachers regardless of subject area. In collaboration with teachers, researchers and non-profit organizations, the project will

  • Develop in-service training for teachers.
  • Develop a peer learning and skills sharing approach.
  • Collect and develop best practices and evaluated exemplary solutions.
  • Contribute to a network of computer science knowledge disseminators in schools.

Behind the project is Vetenskapens Hus, in collaboration with Swedsoft, TjejHack and Spelverkstaden. For more information about the project, contact Cecilia Kozma at Vetenskapens Hus, cecilia.kozma@vetenskapenshus.se.