Recently I had the opportunity to be a mentor with at their sa国际传媒楾rain the Trainersa国际传媒� session in Kelowna.

Lighthouse provides an eight-week intense, accelerated bootcamp for people interested in becoming a web or mobile developer. I recently hired one of their graduates and Isa国际传媒檓 impressed with the skills they have taught in a short period. It would be great if there was enough interest to have another Kelowna session.

Lighthouse, in partnership with was contracted by the Ministry of Education to provide training to teachers for the new K-9 Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies Curriculum. Generally, in the media itsa国际传媒檚 presented as the sa国际传媒榗odingsa国际传媒� curriculum, but this is not entirely true. There is already coding in the schools, and itsa国际传媒檚 not expected that coding will be taught in every grade. Instead, it is introducing Computational Thinking into the classroom. My youngest son asked me if I could teach him to make a computer game when he was only eight years old. I found an online course for him () and within months he had created his own computer game that he still talks about proudly. My older son was given access to in Grade 7 and I was impressed with the real programming skills he learned while having a great deal of fun.

In the previous few months I had heard from several teachersa国际传媒檚 that they were unsure, and in some cases terrified, about teaching the new curriculum. The most common feedback I heard was, sa国际传媒淭here are so many resources out there, how do we choose,sa国际传媒� and sa国际传媒淚 donsa国际传媒檛 know how to code, will I have to learn?sa国际传媒�

When I heard that Lighthouse Labs was contracted to provide this training, I contacted them immediately. I wanted to review their material and offer advice if necessary. I was pleasantly surprised when I reviewed the comprehensive material and approach to sa国际传媒榯raining the trainers,sa国际传媒� and even more pleased when I was asked to be a mentor. Over the course of two days I was in a room at UBCO with over 30 teachers, including seven from Okanagan Skaha School District 67. When I ran into the Minister of Education, Mike Bernier I let him know that I thought this approach was great, and to make sure the spread the word to teachersa国际传媒檚 across the province about the resources they have set up for them. In particular the site is comprehensive, explains the new curriculum and offers resources that have been evaluated by the Ministry. Whether itsa国际传媒檚 or there is something for students of every age, and I encourage parents to take a look and encourage your children to try out an hour of code. At the end of the session there was a better understanding of what the new curriculum is and how to implement it in the classroom

I also learned about being terrified myself! I agreed to teach the course to the staff at Holy Cross School on a Pro-D day. The material and training that Lighthouse gave me was great, and the staff at the school were fun to teach, but it was far outside my comfort zone to present for an entire day. Isa国际传媒檓 glad I did it and had a lot of fun. Isa国际传媒檝e had the opportunity recently to teach to a Grade 6 and Grade 8 class as well. Isa国际传媒檝e always had a lot of respect for teachersa国际传媒檚 and I have even more now that I understand the challenges of preparing and presenting to students. Itsa国际传媒檚 an exciting time in education in our province and Isa国际传媒檓 looking forward to seeing our children be prepared for the competitive global tech industry in the future!

Our next #TechBrew is May 19 at the Barking Parrot from 6 to 9 p.m.

Keith MacIntyre is a tech columnist for the Penticton Western News and the owner of .