First Annual Computer Science, Coding and Robotics Event held in Salinas

Monterey County Office of Education held their first annual Computer Science, Coding and Robotics Jam Session in Salinas.

Close to 100 teachers gathered to learn more about coding and robotics. The goal of the event is to prepare teachers for the changing careers their students will pursue in the future.

The event gave K-12 teachers the opportunity to get hands-on experience in Coding, Raspberry Pi, Google CS First, Computer Science Principles, Connections to the Next Generation Science Standards, and Game Designing & Animation.

William Franzell with the Monterey County Office of education says preparing students for their future is a team effort, “We really need to do a lot of work and collaborate together as a team to make sure students have the right skills in order to be college and career ready.”

Organizers, such as Ben Cogswell, say teaching students about how to use technology in the classroom can be a pathway for upcoming jobs. “In 2020 there’s supposed to be 1.4 million jobs in computer science. Well we’re only going to have 400,000 computer science majors. So this gives us a gap of 1 million jobs in there. So we really want to bring awareness to our communities about the opportunities there are in these fields,” says Cogswell.

Assistant Superintendent, Caryn Lewis, says this is a great way for teachers to keep up to speed with all of the changes in education. Lewis says, “It’s definitely impactful and timely right now in terms of the direction of education and what’s needed in a 21st century work force. We’re hoping that as we begin to develop as learners and users of computer science knowledge and resources that we can support the educators that are leading that charge.”

The Monterey County Office of education says while this is their first coding and robotics event, they are not planning on making it their last.