Coderdojo

CoderDojo (Netherlands) aims to create awareness for the need of a basic understanding of today's technology. It strives for children to be taught the basics in order to safely make use of today's technology (e.g. internet banking, social media and privacy).
This project allows children to:
- find their passion in developing ICT skills and potentially become ICT professionals;
- be in a social environment where they can interact with other like minded children instead of spending their time alone;
- understand if they are passionate about coding or if it is not for them.
CoderDojo Netherlands is the regional body of the worldwide CoderDojo movement. It focuses on connecting, facilitating and enabling free volunteer-led coding clubs for kids in the entire country of The Netherlands. At CoderDojo Rotterdam, children between the ages of 7 and 17 learn to program, build websites, develop apps & games, create programs and more. They work on the basis of assignments and challenges.
Founded in November 2015 with five locations and one year later already had 40 locations. Everything "coderdojo" does in the Netherlands is, by default, set up under the assumption of "no funds available". Therefore, it is very sustainable. Any funding which is provided (e.g. donations, sponsorships, etc.) is mostly used for promotional activity and communication tools (e.g. t-shirts, flyers, posters, web hosting).

Context: In early 2011, when James Whelton was an 18 year old coder in Cork, he received some publicity after hacking the iPod Nano. As a result, some of the younger students at his school expressed an interest in learning how to code. He set up a computer club in his school where he started teaching students basic HTML and CSS. Later that year he met Bill Liao, an entrepreneur and philanthropist. Seeing the positive impact James was having, Bill expressed an interest in growing the project. Together the pair founded CoderDojo.
CoderDojo creates a learning environment in which children are guided and stimulated to get started with programming. By giving the children control over the learning process, their curiosity is stimulated and they learn from and with each other. Thus, both technically and socially, they are formed into the effective programmers that will be needed in the future.

Stakeholders involved: Mentors
Champions
Parents
Children

Key learning points: NEI

Evaluation: Yes

Information sources: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/digital-skills-initiatives/coderdojo-netherlands

Read the full analysis: https://coderdojo.nl/