The Spirit of Code The Town: The Mission Economic Development Corporation and the Mission City Council unanimously approved the creation of Code The Town, a small business fund with the ultimate goal that participants will apply this knowledge toward the creation of technology-based businesses in the City of Mission. The initiative aims to teach computer programming to Mission residents in an effort to accomplish three things:
- Raise awareness of the importance of STEM education throughout Mission;
- Close the technology education gap by creating new opportunities to teach, learn, and build innovative products using technology skills; and
- Foster technology innovation and entrepreneurship in Mission.
Eligibility: The initiative caters to three groups that encompass all residents of Mission.
- Adults – Participants must be over 18 years of age, and either citizens of Mission, or must attend or be employed by a public school system that serves Mission students as of September 1, 2014 and through Phase I completion in December 31, 2014. Adult Class dates are Tuesday, Nov 18th, Thursday, Nov 20th, Tuesday Dec 2nd, and Thursday Dec 4th, all at 5:30 pm to 7:30.
- Secondary Students – Participants in this category that fall below the age of 18 must be enrolled in a public school that serves Mission students, and must attend grades 6th through 12th as of September 1, 2014 and through Phase I completion in December 31, 2014.
- Primary Students – Participants in this category that fall below the age of 18 must be enrolled in a public school that serves Mission students, and must attend grades Kinder through 5th as of September 1, 2014 and through Phase I completion in December 31, 2014.
- Kick off event is September 25, 2014
- Enrollment window for Phase I is open through September 19, 2014
- Coding activities will take place the month of October and November
- Activities culminate on the week of December 8, 2014 Computer Science Education Week
- Competition, demonstrations, and judging will take place citywide on the week of December 8, 2014
Available Resources Through Code The Town
|Accept the “100 lines of code” challenge from Code.Org
||20 Hours of Code through Border Kids Code targeting
||10 Hours of Code through Sylvan Learning targeting
|Take on voluntary additional learning to meet the “community Mission”
||Middle School and High School students (partner will provide free staff development for teachers to incorporate in the classroom)
||Elementary School students (100 students will be served at no charge)
|Utilize Codecademy’s curriculum to expand programming knowledge
||Voluntary additional learning also available
||Additional gaming activities also available
Evaluation Criteria: As is the case with technology, and this quickly evolving sector in particular, there is a deliberate vagueness about our approach. In an effort to not stifle creativity and innovation in any way, our evaluation criteria and definition of what constitutes an eligible “project” is indistinct. Examples of projects include but are certainly not limited to:
- The Computer Science Education Week website lists ideas on how to bring technology education to the classroom
- The development of a mobile app, a technology program, or a game that is original and demonstrates potential market demand
- Class-wide or school-wide initiatives that get students excited about technology and measurably increases the level of technology usage in teaching and learning
- A community project that helps Mission residents learn more about technology or complete the “100 Lines of Code” challenge
- Peer teaching and learning projects
Prizes: Participants that submit this intent to participate form, and complete a project by the specified timelines will be asked to present their activities to a panel of judges. Prizes include but are not limited to:
- Awards, certificates and plaques
- iPads for the first group of qualifying educators that accept the challenge and complete school based activities
- Valuable training, certifications, and credentialed programs for qualifying adults that perform exceptional quality work