Welcome.
My name is Alessandro Bogliolo, I’m professor
of Computer Systems at the University of Urbino
and I’m serving as coordinator of the group
of volunteers, called CodeWeek Ambassadors,
who support Europe Code Week, the European
campaign for the diffusion of coding and computational
thinking.
In order to introduce Europe Code Week let me tell
you the story of a lady and a man, who are
chatting frantically from their own houses,
in London. They are so excited and their minds
are so tightly connected that each message
they get increases their need to write and
read other messages from each other. They
are not using any instant messaging app. Rather,
they are writing their messages on paper and
delivering them by hand through their attendants,
who are literally running across London between
their houses.
The reason why they are not using instant
messaging is that we are in 1840. The lady
is Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron's daughter, while
the man is Charles Babbage. They are both
mathematicians. Charles has conceived the
first programmable computer while Ada is finding
a way for programming it, in order to make
it able to execute complex algorithms, and
not just calculations.
They are working at something completely new,
destined to reshape the future. They are laying
the foundations of Computer Science, that
in about 180 years would have made human beings
able to build a global communication network
connecting billions of programmable objects
smaller and cheaper than a coin and capable
of running any kind of application programs.
Ada and Charles have created the dichotomy
between hardware and software. They have created
the separation of roles between computer makers or hardware designers and programmers.
They have envisioned the separation of roles between programmers and performers.
Computers and robots are ideal performers.
That means they are stupid enough to do exactly
what we tell them to do, without adding their
own creativity, intelligence, intuition or
free will. Programming is a matter of delegation.
When we delegate to a computer the execution
of a procedure that we have in mind, we need
to describe it so accurately that we end-up
understanding its algorithmic nature and making
it suitable to be re-executed whenever needed,
even by a machine.
This deep understanding of a constructive
procedure to be executed to achieve a goal,
is what is called computational thinking.
Today we can make innovation at negligible
cost by writing new lines of code to be executed
by the tens of billions of programmable objects
that are already available around us. At the
same time, engineers work at the development
of next generation devices that will be even
cheaper and stronger than the current ones.
But this is not only a matter of development,
competitiveness, innovation, technology,
it's a matter of self-empowerment, creativity,
and computational thinking. What makes the
story of Ada and Charles so amazing is that
Charles was not able to build the analytical
engine, but Ada was able to program it anyway.
Because what really matters is our computational
thinking capability that makes us able to
conceive algorithms, which are the human components
of ICT.
There are plenty of intuitive tools, methods
and activities that allow us to approach coding at
any age, regardless of cultural background
and attitude, to experience the thrill of
delegating to an ideal executor the execution
a process that we have conceived.
Speaking the language of things is like having
a super-power that makes our ideas come
true. But it’s a peculiar superpower because
it is so human and democratic that everybody
can acquire it and become a superhero of coding.
Kids can just play with coding to acquire
it seamlessly, as a second mother tongue,
not only to be fully aware of the technology
that they will possibly use, but also to understand
the computational aspects of the world around
them and to be prepared to take their own
chances in life.
That’s the reason why we are committed to
bring coding in every school, especially
by empowering teachers. Europe Code Week provides
a great opportunity to introduce coding in
your classroom and to share your experience
with millions of other people around the world.
There are many different activities that can
be proposed at any age, with no prerequisites.
Unplugged activities like motor activities,
board games, or pixel art; intuitive visual
programming environments, educational robotics,
and tinkering. Examples, video tutorials and
lesson plans will be provided for each of
them by Europe Code Week. Online events and
interactive webinars are also organized during
Code Week in order to allow classes to interact
with each other across borders.
Taking part in Europe Code Week is very easy,
but we decided to provide a MOOC which is
an an open online course, instead of simple
video tutorial, in order to invest in teachers’
training, to make a bigger impact and to help
you bring coding in your classroom not just
during code week but to have it available
all the yearlong as a teaching tool to be
used whenever you think it could be useful.
So, welcome on board, enjoy the MOOC, and
enjoy coding with your students during Europe
Code Week.
On behalf of CodeWeek Ambassadors, thank you
very much for your help!
I look forward to playing with you and with
your students during Code Week.
