Teach them to code and AI too!

Hour of Code is upon us again! This annual event is a reminder that our future is built on technology and our future technologists need a foundation on a computer science related education.

My Hour of Code!

A few years ago, as president of the PTA for a struggling elementary school in Los Angeles, I dedicated an entire week of vacation from work introducing every student in the school (grades 1-5, 2 classes each grade!) to the wonders of coding. It was the first time they ever got to experience it and my first time teaching it. The school had plenty of tablets, but no curriculum for using them. Hour of Code gave us the perfect opportunity to challenge the kids, use the iPads and engage the teachers and parents in coding! It was such a special time for the school and such a humbling and inspiring moment for me personally. The team at Hour of Code created such an easy and fun way to learn the basics!

AI, ML and Data...how fun!?!

I never imagined teaching little kids about data - as much as it's a part of what I do for a living these days. But this year's Hour of Code features a cool new feature called AI for Oceans that makes it fun and engaging. It shows kids (and adults too!) how to think in data and apply AI and ML techniques (data prep, training models, etc.) to the problem of cleaning the ocean. I love how clever the videos and course is and can't wait to try this with my own kids this year so they finally understand what I do at work :)

I encourage everyone - whether at home with your family, at work with your colleagues or at school with your teachers, parents and classmates - to take the opportunity to learn to code! And for those who already know how to code, it's so fulfilling to spare the time to teach others!

Thanks Hadi and team at Code.org!