Adapting to Change
The world has certainly changed in the past few weeks as the coronavirus pandemic affects people all around the globe. The Foundation behind Raspberry Pi has been making changes too in order to adapt to new circumstances and better serve online learners around the world.
While these are certainly challenging times, the good news is that there's lots of new support available to young online learners coming directly from the Raspberry Pi Foundation.
At Vilros, we're proud to partner with Raspberry Pi and support the foundation in its mission to provide quality educational experiences to students who have suddenly had to adapt to learning online.
Direct-to-Student Resources
For students aged 7-17, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has launched a series of online learning programs designed to be direct-to-students.
This is a free library of resources for Raspberry Pi projects that students can do independently or in collaboration with siblings, parents, and/or caretakers. Currently the resources are supported in 29 languages, so students from countries around the world can easily participate. There are also instructional videos for different skill levels to support novice beginners to advanced students.
Every week there will be a different theme, so there are continually new angles to spark curiosity and support continuous learning.
Digital Making at Home is an evolving adaptable project that's actively seeking feedback to determine how to grow. So, you can get involved and help shape what the experience will become.
Supporting Teachers
Another way the Raspberry Pi Foundation is helping young students during this crisis time is by supporting the teachers who are facing the challenge of suddenly needing to adapt to virtual learning.
Starting in their local area (England), the Raspberry Pi Foundation is partnering with the National Centre for Computing Education to adapt teaching resources for virtual learning environments.
They're also interested in reaching and partnering with a wider global audience, so if you're a teacher interested in their virtual learning resources, it could definitely be worthwhile to reach out.
Free Online Coding Clubs
One more way the Raspberry Pi Foundation is supporting young learners is through its ongoing support of free coding clubs. In fact, the organization works with the world's largest network of such clubs, supporting over 250,000 young learners.
Many clubs have had to suddenly move from in-person to 100% online experiences, and the Raspberry Pi foundation has been supporting volunteers at Code Clubs and Coder Dojos to help make sure that the new online format will be safe and effective.
If you're interested in helping out, you can volunteer your time and/or your skills to help these free global clubs run online successfully. If you are multi-lingual, the Foundation is especially interested in help with translating resources so that more young students around the globe can benefit.
You can get in touch by emailing them directly at: supporters@raspberrypi.org