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IT’S HARD TO deny the influence Coderdojo has had on encouraging Irish kids to learn coding.
The non-profit organisation has played a major role in bringing such skills to kids and teens, not only in creating an accessible way to learn it but also creating a wider community around it.
While there are plans to introduce programming and computer science to primary and secondary schools, the clubs have helped introduced thousands of kids to programming languages.
All of it started five years ago when the first CoderDojo class was set up, founded by James Whelton and Bill Liao in Cork. After setting up a lunchtime club in his school and realising he wouldn’t be able to continue it as he finished his Leaving Cert, Whelton looked for other ways to continue it.
It was when he approached Liao, an investor based in Cork, that things got moving. Liao realised it could help address two things: give kids in underprivileged areas the chance to learn how to code and help fill a talent gap for programmers.
“Most companies who come to me and don’t get it [funding] have a CEO or COO and say they’re going to outsource their coding. It’s like starting a gourmet restaurant and outsourcing your main dishes to McDonalds to produce,” said Liao.
After convincing the National Software Centre to let them use one of their rooms for free, they held their first class and realised they were onto something.
The main thing was ensuring it was free so that anyone could join and access it. While that is one factor to its success, the inspiration it took from the world of martial arts also played a role, extending beyond just using the term dojo.
“I came up with the name CoderDojo as I believe in martial arts as a kind of cool way to learn things for free or at a low cost,” explained Liao. “It wouldn’t have worked if it was called Saturday Morning Programming Club for Kids”.
At a dojo, once you reach a basic level of proficiency, the expectation of you as a student is to mentor other students and eventually become a master. The best dojos, the ones that are most sustainable, are the ones where the mentors have learnt at the dojo.
That format lends itself to a situation where students can become mentors, usually older kids helping out younger or newer members with languages like Scratch – a programming language designed around making games and animations – before moving onto more complex languages.
Having that format is something Timothy McGrath, a fourteen-year-old from Killorglin in Co. Kerry, enjoys about it.
Having been involved with his local club, both as a student and mentor since it started up four years ago, it’s allowed him to start other projects like setting up a coding competition in Kerry with two of his classmates and create a headset called Pi-Vision, which helps blind people find their way around.
Part of his knowledge comes from helping other kids learn how to code, something that has helped reinforce the knowledge he has.
“It’s great as you’re learning as you’re teaching so let’s say something that you haven’t done in ages like Scratch, and somebody beside you is stuck on it, you’re revisiting that and then learning again and reminding yourself [of the topic].
It’s brilliant that it’s free, some people wouldn’t have the money if you had to pay and also, it’s a big community all over the world, making contacts is easy.
Challenges
Part of the strength of CoderDojo is how it can be set up almost anywhere, provided you have computers and a working internet connection. For those in rural areas where a fast internet connection is rare, setting one up and running it is a greater challenge.
This was a challenge Iseult Mangan faced when setting up a club in Cloghans Hill National School in Galway. Based in a small rural area, the club faced the problem of limited internet access and limited access to laptops and computers when it first started up. Also, not having a background in coding meant she had to learn it from scratch.
However, the effort was more than worth it when she sees how much of an impact it has on kids.
You’re opening doors for them. It’s funny, I’m a teacher and I’m used to teaching kids things but… letting them explore it themselves, you’re facilitating a lot of it. You’re showing them things but you’re letting them search, engage and ask questions as well.
Another person who runs her own CoderDojo, also from Galway, is Éilis Treacy, a principal in Eyrecourt. It was originally set up three years ago as the nearest one in Birr was full so it made more sense to found one there.
“It’s been huge really… it’s really helped kids like that discover they have those talents and expand on it,” she said.
It’s a lovely environment where the kids, who mightn’t be seen as the coolest, excel at this and they always have something they can work on at home. It’s a talent they can show off to other kids… it’s so up to date and current and kids are into it.
In the first year, the club didn’t have internet access either, but that experience and running it helped Treacy with another different project: setting up the first ever club in Tanzania in August.
Speaking to those involved in running these clubs, a general theme began to emerge. Making it free is extremely important and the optional element means everyone participating is there by choice instead of obligation. The result is an enthusiasm shared by kids and adults, creating an environment that makes it easier to learn and grow.
That’s not to say there weren’t problems during its five years. Being a non-profit meant raising funds was always a concern – helped out by partnerships with tech startups and companies – but others like getting more girls involved was an initial challenge.
It turned out it was pretty simple: we just put the girls in charge. That’s not the first thing you think of when you think about learning coding.
And inclusion is at the heart of it. Any child can walk in and start learning and any parent can come along and get involved, even if they don’t know the first thing about programming. A level playing field opens up many opportunities and it’s those stories that Liao says makes this organisation worth it.
“The stories we get of inclusion are the ones I love the most,” says Liao. “Whether it’s the young traveller who won Coolest Projects (a competition ran by CoderDojo) or the note we got from a kid in a wheelchair saying the thing he loved most about CoderDojo is his chair is invisible”.
The ones that make me cry are the ones that I’m proud of.
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Well he is making a very serious point and I hope his comments are noted by the powers that be. If we are sitting at home beside the fire it doesn’t matter if we don’t catch every word but if you are working out on the high seas it could be a matter of life or death.
it’s OK Mary they are all approved by rte first so no need to panic, what an organization is there anything they can’t do.
I understand him perfectlyaybe is some thing to do with me not being deaf, or stupid.
Maybe it’s because you can’t spell!
Maybe it’s because you’re not outside in the wind trying to hear it over machinery and an engine. Like how it was put in the article.
Mary, if he’s that serious about this issue, and the weather forecast is that important to him, why doesn’t he use headphones to block out the background noise.
I’m not racist, but.
Was the Fisherman foreign?
It’s a valid point and a difficult subject to broach. I have friends who work in the HSE who have told me they have similar issues communicating with foreign colleagues, one in particular was reprimanded a few years ago for telling a foreign nurse he couldn’t understand her over the phone and could she perhaps have a colleague repeat what she was saying. She accused him of racism, it was upheld, he was forced to apologise and sent for ‘training’.
The net result of this was that he, and others, are now afraid to tell foreign medical personnel that they are having difficulty understanding them. So rather than clarifying what would be important medical communication between departments and colleagues they fudge through it, hoping to Christ they catch any mistakes. I won’t reveal the ingenious methods they’ve developed to help with it but it’s sheer damn lunacy to tie peoples hands behind their backs like this and punish them for raising genuine problems that could be avoided.
I have had need in recent years to have had to ask for a second person to repeat what foreign medical staff have said to me.
I don’t apologise for seeking clarification on the information I am receiving if it is not clearly articulated.
This gentleman would appear to be doing the same.
The whole point of communication is that the message gets SAFELY from the sender to the receiver. If it does, it succeeds; if it does not, it fails. End of story: Evidently the failure rate in communicating the weather forecast is significant. Despite the feedback, RTE thinks it is of satisfactory standard. What should be made clear is by what measure does RTE establish this? Any failure by a National Broadcaster to communicate clearly to the breadth of its target Nation is open to ridicule: “Ex-centric” accents are for local radio? Communication is not a luxury about “isms” or notional employment “quotas” : It is, pure and simple, about an important Service being “Fit for Purpose”. To be brought up not to speak with something in the mouth is not actually about manners: It is about practical communication. So whether or not a forecaster who sounds as if they have something large in their mouth when speaking actually does or does not do so, the end result is equally ‘inconsiderate’ to the audience it purports to serve. Do not make fun of me if you think I know damned nothing: I assure you I know damned all …
If the complainant still cannot understand the forecasters despite their voice-training and prior approval from RTÉ then it’s clear that the training and standards used are not sufficient.
For those of us who listen to RTÉ Radio One, Harm Luijkx, for example, would be a familiar name over the last few years, and we may well be able to understand his English quite well at this stage through his Dutch accent over our DAB radios with little difficulty.
On a trawler out in the middle of the Atlantic, however, the MW or FM signal quality is somewhat more diminished than what we would experience on dry land, and coupled with the environmental noises of a working boat, it would be challenging to understand the most eloquent English accent, or that from middle Ireland.
The Met Éireann sea-area broadcasts are frequent reports broadcast on their own frequency, I’m certain the complainant isn’t bemoaning the forecasts on TodayFM or RTÉ, which are destined for the general public’s ear. Instead, the Sea Area forecasts are specifically destined for fishermen to protect their safety, they should be broadcast as clearly and without impediment as is possible, by forecasters speaking the vernacular in as neutral an accent as possible.
I wouldn’t have the same expectations for national radio broadcasts, it would be far to understand-PC to expect that.
*read “un-PC”*
Except This guys diction and pronunciation is absolutely perfect
Tell that to he West Cork or Connemara fisherman who, growing up listening to Montrose English over the radio, now has to train his ear to English with different pernunciation, intonation and irregularities such as glottal scrape. It’s fine for us on-shore to understand this, and if we don’t understand fully there’s likely to be no consequence, but for people whose lives depend on the clear delivery and understanding of the weather forecast it is absolutely imperative that the message is sent unencumbered by regional variation of accent.
David if you are at home or in the car you have nothing to worry about. Now consider being out on the high seas with a storm brewing and you need to hear every word then that’s a different matter.
I know we are entitled to our opinion and this is what this comment section is all about, but if you are not doing the job of the complainant then I think your opinion is invalid!
Met forecasts need to be made clearly and concisely in English that is easily understood. When you’re at sea in a near gale you don’t want a forecast that can be misinterpreted or is unclear, you need to concentrate and plan for improving or worsening conditions. It’s not like you need a forecast for a BBQ, it’s vital it’s understandable to all merchantmen, fishermen and yacht skippers.
Surely technology on fishing vessels has moved on from having to listen to the radio to find out what the weather is going to be like.
Spot on Duncan!! There are numerous met services available online and through other media outlets which are very accurate. Foreign crew members onboard fishing vessels complaining that they cannot understand the English!! Am I missing something?
Yes, clearly the guy is only making it up !!
Online? What do you suppose the broadband speed is like 200 miles off the west coast?
Yep. Just log onto the Internet and go to met.ie … What’s that I hear you say, “No internet 200 miles out in the Atlantic ? But how could that be ? …
Do you think it could be unnecessarily challenging using a smartphone or laptop to connect to the internet 200 miles out at sea, to read a weather report whilst operating a fishing vessel in north Atlantic conditions?
I can imagine listening to the radio hands-free is a vital source of health and safety information. It would be a shame to think this was being made unworkable due to low standards of broadcasting.
Someone in the Journal obviously had a family barbecue ruined by bad weather.
Freedom of information request into Met Eireann?! FFS!!
nothing as bad as rain on a bouncy castle for the chislers.
What the hell is with the sudden attack on Met Eireann?? Christ above!
you can be damn sure if it was the other way around something would be immediately.
What do you mean, John, if Met Eireann didn’t understand the fisherman.
In fairness to the fisherman there is a Dutch guy who reads the sea area forecast on the radio and it can be hard to make out what he’s saying
That guy has a really strong accent. If half my family weren’t Dutch I might have difficulty myself.
I guess the obvious thing to do would be to assess the quality of the broadcast at the point of reception in the environment it is heard in. I’m sure it’s perfectly understandable when the assesment is done in a quiet studio with excellent equipment. Wake up Met-eirann. Lives may depend on this.
You would have to respect his opinion as he’s the one whose crew is in danger ..Unless of course the fisherman’s name is Patrick ,whom spends his day posting on the journal ie .
Would the French put one of us in an official broadcasting position even if we fancied our own French accents ? Don’t think so !
Sure I can’t understand the announcements on the train or the bus and if you ask personally you get hrrrrh murhhh murrrrr , and that’s the Irish! Myself and my mother hopped into a taxi once and we got the same strange sounds and a finger pointing and a head nodding towards the door and to the taxi in front. We took that to mean we had to get out and go to the taxi in front! We shuffled out dejected and bewildered. At that moment I felt like a foreigner in my own land.
I’m not racist, but…
Racist ….lol !
- And here is today’s weather forecast ; -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfafno4HND4
I know an Antrim truck driver hauling tankers from Larne to somewhere in Cork. I’m from Louth and can make out both accents if I listen carefully but I sometimes wonder how he manages in Cork. So I don’t know how Met Eireann could possibly satisfy all the fishermen around the country.
Sea Area Forcasts employ a very limited and standard range of term and phrases.
They are never an extempore monologue on weather systems.
They could be understood (and certainly noted) by a properly-briefed non-native English speaker even if they had no real grasp of English for day-to-day purposes.
In a properly managed craft, one person on board should be assigned to listen to upcoming weather forcasts and note the details.
I think the skipper in question simply has a “thing”.
If he’s concerned with health and safety, he should get his skippering up to speed.
Building on my previous comment -
Example of text for today:
===================================================
Gale warning: NIL
Small craft warning: In operation
Meteorological situation at 0300: A weak ridge of high pressure over Wales and England declines, as a southerly airflow over Ireland freshens. Frontal troughs are approaching from the Atlantic and will cross the country later today and overnight.
Forecast for Irish coastal waters from Mizen Head to Loop Head to Rossan Point.
Wind: Southerly force 5 or 6 and gusty, decreasing force 4 or 5 later this morning. Winds will veer westerly later this afternoon and then back southwesterly overnight.
Weather: Rain, drizzle and some patches of fog at first. A clearance to scattered showers will develop during this evening.
Visibility: Poor in precipitation, good otherwise.
Forecast for Irish coastal waters from Rossan Point to Howth Head to Mizen Head and for the Irish Sea.
Wind: South to southwest force 3 to 5, winds increasing force 4 to 6 and gusty this morning, winds strongest on the Irish Sea. Winds will decrease south to southwest force 3 or 4 early tonight and veer southwest to west later.
Weather: Fair at first. Rain developing during the day, with some patches of mist and fog also. A clearance will spread from the west tonight.
Visibility: Moderate to poor in rain mist and fog, good otherwise.
Outlook for a further 24 hours until 0600 Tuesday 22 September 2015: Moderate southwest to westerly winds, will veer west to northwesterly later and may be strong at times along the southwest coast. Some fair weather, but some further rain or showers also.
===========================
It’s structured. There’s a formula.
If a skipper has any doubt of the ability of the assigned note-taker, then use a sheet with the formula in mind and boxes to note times, wind directions and forces, etc.
That should be done even if the person broadcasting could be understood by everyone in the universe.
I am not too familiarised with fishing or its practice, but do people really rely on the radio forecast with the technology that is available to us nowadays??
It’s neither easy or cheap to get wifi broadband, or satellite-broadband, to a trawler several hundred miles into the Atlantic Ocean. Your iPhone’s not likely to work out there. VHF (medium-wave) broadcasts do a far better job.
thank you Brian, I just assumed that if the radio signal reaches that point, the 3g signal would do too.
No bother. 3G or 4G signals don’t have a great range, it’s pretty much line-of-site, whereas GSM signal can travel quite a bit further, depending on wavelength and frequency, to perhaps +/- 20 miles
Cheer up folks and think of Frank Kelly doing a trip around Ireland mimicking all the various accents to perfection, now he would really confuse the trawlermen :-) Not sure if this is on line, he had another skit where he took the pi** out of the announcements made by Aer Lingus pilots on the aircraft Naomh Bingo .
On the serious side have any of you heard the Kerry accent over your boats radio? Not knocking the Kerry people but I heard one boat talking to another and could not make out any of the conversation
Because in today’s digital age there is absolutely no other way to get a weather forecast other than RTE.
Being 200 miles off shore limits one’s options.
Surely they can also receive the reports in text format ? kind of a non story tbh.
Must be the only fisherman I’ve heard of that would use a met eireann forecast
He has a point. Rachel Allen read Friday night’s forecast and I couldn’t understand a single word she spoke.
Everyone is racist today, he’s not an exception. End of story.
Hang on a sec…I only ever see the forecast after the 6 or 9 news, but all of the forecasters are Irish. If he thinks they’re foreign, I don’t this the issue here is with them…
Unless he thinks people from the East coast are foreign.
Oh Avril, really?!?
Professional fishermen, as in those working out at sea for several days, don’t sit down watching the 9 o’clock news and at the end stand up and announce to their wives “right, the forecast is good, I think I’ll go out and do a bit of fishing”.
They need regular, up-to-date forecasts and these are broadcast every three hours on VHF (unless you have a VHF radio you won’t pick it up).
*think
Good idea Avril
Tá sé sách deacair Harm Luijkx a thuiscint anois is arís
Wrong station???
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