If you are interested in starting a Code Club to improve and share your digital skills, Code Club’s free online course is a perfect, step-by-step way to begin. Sarah Sheerman-Chase, Senior Programme Manager for Code Club, tells us how she approached writing the course and gives you a taste of what you will learn.

Our volunteers come from all kinds of different backgrounds; some are teachers who have never coded in their lives, some are developers who are new to working with children, and some are parents looking to get involved in their local community.

So I was very pleased when we got the opportunity to create our Prepare to Run a Code Club course on the FutureLearn platform: I knew it would be a great way to give both prospective and current Code Club leaders the information, ideas, and support they need to run a club, no matter what their experience may be.

“I discovered FutureLearn back in 2016, and when I saw the Code Club course, I immediately enrolled! I learned a lot about Scratch projects, and how to make them easy and fun to follow.”
– John Duxbury, course participant and Code Club volunteer

Find out everything you need

A varied group of people like those wanting to be involved in Code Club will inevitably have different questions and concerns. So I wanted to make sure this course would answer all of the common questions, from ‘How do I work with young people?’ to ‘What is coding?’.

When I first sat down to plan the course, I started with the structure. I knew I wanted it to be a three-week course, and it made sense for week 1 to be about everything you need before you start a club. In week 2, you’re going to see what happens in the club and we’ll prepare you for your first-ever club session with young people. Finally, week 3 looks at where you can go with your club beyond the basics, from having show-and-tells to inviting parents and families to join in the fun at your club.

Once I had the structure, I went back to the questions that people starting clubs often ask, like ‘What hardware do I need?’ or ‘How do I recruit children?’, to help me plan the steps in each week of the course.

Get advice from longtime Code Club volunteers

Once I started writing, I realised that I wanted to hear lots of different voices throughout the course, with different ideas about Code Club. So I asked my Raspberry Pi colleagues (and longtime Code Club volunteers) Rik, Katharine, Lorna, and Tracy to share their insights with you.

But above all, I wanted to include the thoughts and advice of people who are running clubs, and our Star Club leaders did an amazing job of sending me their top tips. For example, Star Club leader Denise Philips shared how she likes to end her sessions by asking one club member to tell the group the difficulties or successes they had with programming that day.

Finally, before the course launched, I asked several volunteers to test it, and they gave invaluable feedback that helped shape the content:

“Before the Code Club FutureLearn course was launched to the public, I was asked to give it a go and give my feedback on it. For me it was a good refresher on what I had been doing in my own club over the last few years!”
– Bob Bilsland, Code Club volunteer and course reviewer

We’re improving the course for you

The course has been running since November 2017 and since that time has attracted learners not just from the UK, but from China, India, USA, Argentina, and Tunisia — to name only a few places.

As the lead educator of the course, I act like a magpie, always seeking something new to add to the course, like photos of clubs in action or advice about the upcoming launch of Scratch 3, so each time it runs, there is something a little extra.

“Between the course and the online projects website, there isn’t a reason why anyone shouldn’t start their Code Club today. Just go for it — volunteering can be so rewarding and such a worthwhile thing to do.”
– Bob Bilsland, Code Club volunteer and course reviewer

The next run of the FutureLearn course launches on 6 August. Sign up now! It’s all online and free to complete, so you can learn at your own pace, wherever you can access a computer.