By Matt Brown, Managing Editor.
Techies on campus hope you’re hungry for code, cardboard and raspberry pi.
Delta College is hosting a series of free events from Dec. 7 – 11 honoring Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek). This annual program is dedicated to inspiring students to take interest in computer science.
“It’s time to move us into the 21st century,” says Connie Barber, assistant professor of Computer Science and Information Technology.
“For business, you’re still going to have computers. Though we have all these tablets, to be really efficient you’re going to need to know how to use a desktop computer.”
CSEdWeek centers around the Hour of Code global initiative. According to Code.org, “One-hour tutorials are available in over 40 languages,” with“No experience needed. Ages 4 to 104.”
The mission is to demystify code and computer programming.
“We need to revamp [logic courses] because [Code.org is] predicting 1.4 million programming jobs by 2020and a million person gap of qualified programmers to fill those jobs,” says Barber.
“I think we are driving students away from programming by sticking them in this logic course and they are seeing thatit is just boring — and it’s not boring! There’s a lot of new, visual platforms and software you can use now to create your code.”
Kicking off the events on campus, and acting as an introduction to the computer science based technology found at Delta,is a QR code scavenger hunt. The search begins at 8 a.m. on Monday, and ends at noon on Friday.
“You’ll see on the door — or wherever it is — another QR code that takes you to the end where you’ll fill out a Google form with your answers,” says Barber.“We’re going to give away a gift card to the bookstore, and it will be something substantial — like $25.”
Free Microsoft Office certification will also be available every day, except Tuesday.
“This is a $135 value, and they’re letting me do it for free for a week,” says Barber. The tests center around Office2013, as the 2016 version of the tests won’t be available until this summer.
Barber explains, “It’s a hands-on test.You’re given 50 minutes to complete a project, and they tell you what to do.You perform the steps, submit it and it tells you right then and there if you’ve passed. It is only pass or fail, so there is no in between.”
If you pass, you will receive a certification logo that can be embedded into your resume, and students may take as many tests as they want (based on computer availability).
Newer technologies, such as Raspberry Pi and Google’s virtual reality software, Cardboard, will also be demonstrated.
Raspberry Pi is a low cost, credit-card sized computer. It’s capable of doing everything you’d expect a desktop computer to do.
Cardboard is a literal cardboard-craft kit used to make virtual reality goggles when paired with a smartphone.
Additionally, the Computer Club students will be hosting the PC Clinic on Friday. Diagnostics and repair may take up to two to three hours, and will be provided for the first 15 computers.
“We want to show kids what is out there, and what might be coming and how exciting computer science is,”says Barber. “We hope that students will realize that — even if they’re not going into computer science — that it is important in every career.”
