Area youth will be the beneficiaries of a demonstration project that was made possible by the City of Eugene’s Telecommunications Program. The partnership between Lane Community College, the City of Eugene, and Eugene School District 4J will develop a Digital Dojo—a nationally connected and locally developed open source computer coding club—at Lane Community College’s Downtown Center.
The Dojo will provide a host of computer science related educational opportunities and kick off with an open house on Tuesday, November 18, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. at the Lane Community College Downtown Center, 101 W 10th Ave., Eugene. The public is invited. Youth at any level of computer skill are invited to visit to try coding and see the resources the Dojo will have to offer. All attendees are required to pre-register at the website: http://www.meetup.com/Eugene-Region-CoderDojo-Hub.
The Digital Dojo partnership brings together instructional specialists with expertise in computer science from LCC and 4J and a state of the art classroom in LCC’s Downtown campus with $50,000 of telecommunications funds aimed at digital mentoring from the City of Eugene.
“The Digital Dojo is an investment in education for today’s students, and economic development for employers, entrepreneurs and employees in the future,” said Nan Laurence, Senior Planner, City of Eugene. “It will help us strengthen the creative and technical skills needed to build a highly qualified and flexible workforce in the expanding software employment cluster and retain and grow high tech businesses in our region.”
The Dojo creates a dynamic learning environment that brings at least a dozen computer industry employees into the classroom, employs computer science faculty, and focuses on middle and high school students to create an interest in the field early in their school career. Eugene-Springfield area youth are welcome; females and underrepresented youth are particularly encouraged to participate.
Dojo sessions will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30-5:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. beginning in December. The project can accommodate approximately 800 students over the course of the 2014-15 school year. Beginning in November youth will be able to sign up online for sessions in advance.