More opportunities to bring valuable technology education to adults and children in Athens began this spring, with a new round of code classes, boot camps, afterschool programs, and weekend code clubs coordinated by local economic development nonprofit Four Athens.

On Monday, April 4th, Four Athens introduced 12 Athens Clarke County teachers, support staff, and administrators to the value of coding. After outlining the importance of technology on the future of our workforce, particularly young students in school, the workshop dove into some core concepts of code and introduced attendees to several languages-- including Python and Ruby-- then examined platforms such as penjee, nitrous, and codepen that can be used for teaching programming in the classroom. The session was designed to give teachers the tools to explore ways to get students started in coding beyond the very basics, and to promote existing partnerships with Athens Clarke County afterschool programs to encourage the development of more class offerings and deeper connections with elementary and middle school students engaged in STEM and STEAM topics.

Afterschool code classes are currently underway in several area elementary and middle schools-- including Clarke Middle School, Hilsman Middle, Barrow Elementary, Athens Academy, and several others-- where instructors drawn from the local web and software developer professional community introduce coding skills to kids through a series of workshops designed to engage students at various age levels in the core concepts of coding, and inspire them to explore their new skills relative to the tech fields.

Additionally, Saturday workshops for kids are ongoing at Four Athens. “Weekend Code Clubs” provide further tech education access to local students outside of school, and give parents an orientation to the coding concepts and skills kids are learning in order to encourage their continued interest and exploration.

The recent round of adult classes held from February through April included introductory courses and one-day boot camps in Web Fundamentals and HTML & CSS, as well as entry level instruction in both the Ruby and JavaScript languages. Adult Education Director, Jordan Burke explained, “Whether you want to gain basic technology competency, or you’re exploring a career change into the field of software development, our classes are designed to take you where you want to go.”

Students completing courses this spring will be prepared to continue developing their coding skills with new courses starting in June focused on intermediate app development, in addition to another round of introductory and fundamentals classes. A complete list of upcoming tech classes for adults and kids offered through Four Athens and its partners is at fourathens.com/classes.