What do you know about coding? Tell The Sunday Times for a chance to win a £250 John Lewis voucher NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

The Sunday Times have asked us to let Mumsnetters know that they’re running a Learn to Code series this weekend to coincide with the inclusion of coding in the national curriculum.

They told us: “With coding hitting the national curriculum this week, and our readers becoming more tech-savvy than ever, we will be demystifing computer programming in this weekend's edition of the paper. In partnership with Decoded, a company that specialises in digital training, the Learn to Code in a Day guide out this Sunday will take readers step-by-step through app-making.”.

“Editorial Director Eleanor Mills, who did Decoded's Code in a Day course herself, said: 'This is an exciting moment for us as we are the first British newspaper to offer a course like this. With five year-olds now learning computer programming in school, it is essential that adults keep up too.”

“If you’re nodding whilst reading the above then why not give it a go yourself? The easy guide will empower and equip you with the knowledge needed to tackle those potential conversations with your children over homework after school."

“Simply sign up to The Sunday Times for a £1 for 30-day trial and start learning now: thetim.es/1uD6qml”

So, what do you think about the addition of coding to the curriculum? Do you think it’s beneficial for children to learn this from a young age? Is this something you think you could get your head around when you were younger? Are there any other additions to the curriculum you feel are necessary for children to cope with today’s technologies?

Everyone who adds their thoughts to this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £250 John Lewis voucher.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

I think it absolutely should be an option in schools.

I think the addition of coding to the curriculum can only be good however, there are many other things that could also be good.

It nay be beneficial for children to learn this young as it's sequential and process thinking. I would be concerned that it would be difficult for many 5/6 year olds but would benefit 10yr +

Could I get my head around it? Probably yes as technology interests me generally. It could also be a useful skill in my job.

I think that basic IT and admin skills are lacking from the younger generation (or perhaps it's the ones I've come across) whereby they can't touch-type, use Excel even at a basic level; use Word but wouldn't know how to set out a letter; or use PowerPoint.

Our school has just introduced an after school coding club for year 5 & 6. My son has a little experience of scratch and I think that's the approach they're taking - am all for it.

I think it's a fantastic idea to teach children something practical alongside academic subjects. Modern life is increasingly reliant on technology, so why not?

I think that as long as the children can pick it up easily we (parents) are given the opportunity to learn this also so we know what our kids are talking about and we can also help them with homework.

It sounds difficult but I'm sure it can be picked up by the kids once introduced to them

I think its a good idea to teach it but a bit older like 10 yrs.

I think adding it to the curriculum is a great idea. The world is constantly changing due to technology, however, I think it should be introduced a year or 2 later than planned, purely, as they need to have a firm grasp on the fundamental subjects such as English, Maths and Science first.

The more people who are taught to think logically the better, as the amount of people who cant follow steps to a logical conclusion winds me up.

It's a good idea for kids to understand what it is. I'd be disappointed if it was being taught to any great level though as it's just not required at that early stage. Awareness is fine but this kind of tech is something to be desired to learn not forced.

i think it's a great idea - gives children the chance to get ahead and it's a great, useful skill to learn for the modern world.

I think its the parents which need the lessons in coding, but with such an IT world it's now a necessary subject for children to learn

I think it's a great idea - I really think children absorb new information/ideas quicker at an early age. As for me, I'm being totally left behind - luckily the school are holding sessions to enlighten us non-techological parents!

I think it's really good that coding is being taught - technology is part of everyday life and this might give some children a taster of a career in technology. We were taught computing skills at school, so why not teach coding? It would baffle me though - I have no idea about it!! But, I won't be subscribing to the Sunday Times either just so I can learn - if I want to learn I can google it on the internet, for free!

I know nothing, but DS is keen to learn. Fortunately his Dgrandad was a computer programmer so is hopefully going to teach him. I think I was born in the wrong generation, just on the cusp of computers. I started working in a bank in the 1990's and we kept paper copies of all our computer records, but when I left in 2010's it was all computerised.

As DS career plan is to be a You Tube star, with a back up plan of computer programming learning about coding will be very useful.

I honestly think it's a bit of a gimmick. As with many IT developments whatever they learn at 5 will be out of date in ten years time.

As with many IT developments whatever they learn at 5 will be out of date in ten years time.

Not if they're learning the logic of loops and conditions and so on, the general concepts of algorithms and breaking a job down into separate steps. That's like learning about verbs and nouns and clauses in general, rather than the specifics of how they're used in French or German or whatever.

The concepts won't go out of date, not the understanding of how a computer works and why. It hasn't since I did computer science and computing at school - back in the mid-late 80s. The languages used and the interface we see changes, but not what is actually going on behind.

I think it's daft. It's a very specific skill, and unless you want to be a computer programmer, what's the point? USING applications is much more generally useful than being able to write them. In any case, IT is such a fast-moving subject, that whatever you teach a child today will be antiquated history by the time they leave school. Far better to teach them to be open-minded, inquisitive, flexible, open to new learning, etc. (I did an IT degree, and what I learnt in the 1st year was out of date by graduation time, and is deemed prehistoric now)

I do think, though, that that is the problem with IT.

What you learn in IT is quickly out of date.
What you learn in computer science isn't - there are far more transferable skills involved.

I have taught IT/ICT and I have taught Computing and Computer Science (I did the last two as GCSE/A Levels myself too) - and there is a fairly big difference between the two.

The new Computing curriculum still includes ICT within it, it has just gone back to including elements form computer science/computing as well.

A step in the right direction

I think its good - its the way the world is going! I wouldn't have a clue though!

its great as its a real skill for modern day business needs

I can code in excel and make it do some pretty swishy things (works v well to impress a boss) and it makes my life so much easier as I can automate tasks within a spreadsheet, I wish I could program in other applications. I did a bit at ink (maths based) but couldn't understand why I was doing it so really didn't enjoy it or learn how to do it properly.
I think it's great the DCs are learning to do this but dread the day they can code their way round our internet security.... It won't be long!

Teaching coding is great and a good first step in the right direction.

However it's (for want of a better word) the 'male' side of things when it comes to creating a computer system. The 'female' side of things - working out what the problems that need to be solved are, understanding all the different user requirements, being able to design a usable system that's aesthetically pleasing, effective, enjoyable and efficient, understand the accessibility, content, security, information architecture, and other components within the system, how to creatively problem solve - and that's without getting started on the project management side of things - seems to be missing from all that I've read on what the new curriculum is going to include.

And these are vitally important skills when creating good software - it's relatively easy to tell a coder to create a programme that does x, y and z but to ensure that they create a programme that does x, y and z in a way that doesn't need to be accompanied by a massive training manual is very different.

As an example of this:
Years ago a new ambulance control room system was introduced in London with great fanfare. Within hours it had been taken down and the old system pulled back into service, as there were serious shortcomings with the new system - such as it didn't let control room staff boost a call up to the top of the list if it was urgent (eg a suspected heart attack) - even if there were lots of people in the list before them that were ringing just because they'd hurt their toenail or sneezed and run out of antihistamines - all very trivial things that shouldn't have been calling for an ambulance, let alone taking a high priority one at the expense of other people that genuinely needed them.

When they interviewed the team responsible for creating the software they said they had nothing to apologise for as the system to working exactly as it was supposed to. The problem it turned out was that it had been wrongly specified by people who didn't understand the nature of the decisions the ambulance controllers made and what they needed the system to be able to do. So there was a simple requirement in there that said that calls were to be answered and dealt with as they came in, and ambulances dispatched according to that order, rather than being able to specify whether a call was urgent or not or somewhere in between. It cost the government loads to put right because they had to start again from the specifications because they hadn't specified their requirements properly from the beginning and the people that built the system had just done what they had been asked to do.

It should be obvious that things need to be designed properly - but given the number of so many badly designed things in the world - whether it's software or web sites - but also anything from washing machines to furniture to cars to carving knives - anything and everything - it's a lesson that many companies don't bother with in their rush to the market. For others like Steve Jobs it was vitally important and it's good to see that the 'user experience' is now becoming something that is talked about and seen as important.

If I sound biased - I am. I've been a user experience consultant for the last 20+ years and in that time I've seem way too many systems and web sites being built by companies, governments and charities that have thrown huge amounts of money at the coding side but are reluctant to use a fraction of that on the design side of things, then wonder why they have a product that doesn't sell very well or do what they thought it would and so on. It's only in the last year or two that being 'user friendly' has been seen as something that a product wants to advertise about itself - and a lot of that is down to the Apple products that, whether you love or loathe them, have managed to make good design something to be desirable.