As mentioned in question 7, access to technology and devices is extremely limited at our school due to local education regulations. As a result our school does not offer any sort of coding or computer program. My previous school, also under similar regulations, did offer AP Computer Science as an elective for grade 12 students. As an outside observer, the course seemed to be a hit. The students loved working on their computers. There were quite a few less-than-diligent students in all their other courses who would spend hours writing code, not for homework, but for fun. Unfortunately the school and parents were less enthusiastic than the students and the computer science teacher’s contract was not renewed and there was no impetus to hire a replacement so the course folded after two years. The student interest was there but that wasn’t enough to save the course.
Since my current school has no coding program, the best way to improve it would be to have a program. Assuming that the regulations change, the primary challenge to be overcome here would be financial. The lack of qualified computer science teachers or even education technology experts in our region means any candidate will receive offers paying 30-40% more than our school. A potential solution would be if all the local schools were able to band together and petition the government to relax the technology restrictions for students which would allow opportunities for teachers of any subject to add a little bit of coding to their classes. This would alleviate some of the need for entire coding programs or teachers.
The Keasy Depot 