INNOVATIVE APPROACH FOR CODING IN DIGITAL ERA

The current COVID19 pandemic has highlighted the need for Europe to speed up its digital transition process in order to overcome the gap that splits Europe into two areas that are growing at different rates. In addition, given the growing necessity of regulating the amount and the storage of big data through the use of artificial intelligence, European institutions require the development of digital competencies by European citizens. Digital transformation is a requirement for all European citizens, especially for the school system which shapes European citizens. For this purpose, teachers needed to upgrade their digital skills in order to keep up with the demands of a society that is continuously developing. Coding offers the opportunity to orient students towards computer science and new technologies. Besides improving logical abilities and analysis, teaching coding at school was a powerful tool for creative projects such as music and arts, expressing sensibility and each students’ personality. Like all citizens, teachers needed to acquire the necessary digital skills for their personal and professional lives and for participating in the digital society.

The activities implemented within the scope of this project targeted teachers and students wih the aim of; -Contributing to the readiness of schools and teachers for digital education processes -Creating open source for Robotics / Coding lessons applied in schools -Contributing to the development of 21st century skills (creativity, problem solving, analytical thinking ... etc) of students. -Training teachers in coding teaching and to contribute to the development of their professional profiles. All participants in our project were recruited from the school environment. Since the topic of the project is universal for all groups of teachers, we involved teachers from primary schools, secondary schools, vocational education and training and teachers from universities.The project consortium had extensive links and cooperation with many different schools in Europe, so we involved participants from these schools. As our project had the ambition to be more international than just for the partner countries, we reached out with our content also to schools with abroad.

A project management plan which was a strategically designed roadmap that monitors and guides partners towards the project progress and implementation as well as the financial parts was prepared by the coordinator and was shared wih partners. ROBYCODE was responsible for preparing project management guidebook (PMG), financial management of the project and subcontracting external evaluator. UNZIG was responsible for monitoring & evaluating of the project. Korfez Mesleki ve Teknik Anadolu Lisesi (Körfez MTAL) was leading the communication plan. ISTITUTO ISTRUZIONE SUPERIORE "A. LINCOLN" will br responsible for social media management of the project. Paula-Fürst-Schule Berlin was responsible for leading dissemination activities. Within the scope of project both tangible and intangible results were developed. A)Intellectual Outputs 1.Course Videos: (24 videos in total) 2.Experiment sets 3.Experiment Booklet: (Teachers’ Book & Students’ Book) including 17 experiments 4.Interactive Website B) 2 LTTs was organized C) 4 multiplier eventswere hosted D) 4 online TPMs were organised -ROBY-CODE, the coordinator, responsible for PR4 and hosting LTT1, preparing project management guidebook (PMG), financial management of the project. -KOCATURK, responsible for hosting LTT2 -UNZIG, responsible for monitoring & evaluating of the project -Korfez Mesleki ve Teknik Anadolu Lisesi (Körfez MTAL) responsible for leading PR2 and PR3 and leading the communication plan -ISTITUTO ISTRUZIONE SUPERIORE "A. LINCOLN", responsible social media management of the project. -Paula-Fürst-Schule Berlin, responsible for leading PR1 and dissemination activities.

In the project, it wasaimed to increase the awareness and dissemination of coding and digital competence, which are increasing in importance every day. In order to achieve these goals, it was planned that the teachers included in the project would be included in the process, undergo training of trainers and indirectly involve the students in the target audience. For this purpose, Arduino sets were prepared that allow teachers to use in their training and later in their classes. The training of the prepared sets were done on Arduino sets with the participation of the relevant teachers. The training received were certified with the certificate to be given to the teachers after the training. With the interactive web page to be prepared, teachers and students are able to access training regardless of time and place. In this way, it is ensured that the training continues continuously with the use of the internet, which is an indispensable tool of digital life. Tangible results; A)Project Results 1.Course Videos:24 videos in total 2.Experiment sets 3.Experiment Booklet: (Teachers’ Book & Students’ Book) including 17 experiments 4.Interactive Website B) 2 LTTs were organized C) 4 multiplier events were hosted D) 4 online TPMs were organised Intangible results: - Improved quality of education in distance learning process. - Improved ability of teachers in teaching coding and robotics - Innovative approach for teaching coding - Improved digital skills of teachers and students in the scope of coding - Increased professional development of teachers - Development of programming and IT competences - Dealing with structures and problem-solving - Fostering STEM in schools - Integration of innovatve learing strategies in schools - Fostering the intergation of IT aspects for learners and teachers at school - Creating awareness about future work environments and needed skills - Implentation matrials as a tool to transfer the coding approach to other schools - Creating sustainability by creating a fit to existing and future curriculum structures - Recommendations for educational policy makers - Increased skills in language, research, creativity - Increased awareness about the need for ICT training at schools in today's world - Increased project management skills for all parties involved in the project