Weekly programming course for beginners

Learning to program a computer can be an extremely rewarding and creative activity, like learning to play an instrument or learning to draw. It can be used to build a website, to make a game, or to understand the digital world from a technical point of view and the best pat is that anyone can do it!

It is a sad fact that almost all programming communities are composed of mostly white & Asian, hetero, highly educated men. This makes it harder for people with other views to join in and keep using the technology as they see fit.

We are trying to help this to change by organizing a course that is aimed at absolute beginners and where everyone should feel safe and welcome to ask and learn.

We will meet every Monday evening. Ideally, a working group will be formed that last 6/8 Mondays, if you can not follow every Monday do not hesitate: we are ready for flexibility since we aim for diversity!

How does it work?

The course is suitable for everyone who wants to learn about programming, independent of if you have little or no prior experience with programming.

During 6 sessions we will provide you with a gentle introduction to programming and we will be using Python as a programming language. Yes, Python is a snake, I know, but this is a good kind of snake, promise!

We have developed our workshop inspired by P2PU learning circles, which are facilitated study groups for people who want to follow an online course together. Meeting one hour and a half once a week for 6-8 weeks, participants work together through course materials in subjects ranging from making programs involving language, logic, and games. We understand that learning should not be hierarchy and we facilitate peer learning groups since believe in lifelong learning, accessible education, and digital inclusion.

Throughout the course, we will use material from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Codeacademy and the book How to Think Like a Computer Scientist, all freely available.

RSV is necessary, please drop a line to geert [at] balkontactics [.] nl if you plan to come.

We expect you next Monday 29 January

19:00 opens doors.

19:30-21:00 coding for noobies. [free of cost].

Tee & coffee on donation

It works best to bring your own laptop! Any operating system will work. If you do not have a laptop, do not hesitate to contact us.