EU Code Week Guide – How to Get Started

Guide on activities

Organise Your Own Activity with #EUCodeWeek

What is EU Code Week?

EU Code Week is a grass-roots movement run by volunteers and supported by the European Commission. Anyone – schools, teachers, libraries, code clubs, businesses, public authorities – can organise a #EUCodeWeek activity and add it to the codeweek.eu map.

To spread the message on the importance of coding.
To see a large number of students get involved.
To build connections with organisations and/or schools in your community or internationally.
To find support from other organisers and teachers.
To gain a Certificate of Excellence.

What do you need in order to organise an activity?

1

A group of people willing to learn. For example, your friends, kids, teenagers, adults colleagues, friends, parents or grandparents. Remember, two is a group already!

2

Teachers or trainers who are familiar with the coding activity, and how to teach and inspire others. The number depends on the type and size of the activity.

3

A place to learn. Classrooms, libraries, conference rooms and various public spaces all make a great activity venue.

4

Computers and internet connection. Depending on your target group, you might ask participants to bring their own laptops.

5

Coding unplugged. You actually don't need computers and internet connection to learn computational thinking. Take a look at our Unplugged learning bit to get started.

6

Learning materials. Show participants how fun it can be to create something on their own. Check out our resources page and learning bits with video tutorials and lesson plans, and adjust them to your group's needs.

7

Register participants. If you have limited space available, you can use online tools such as Google forms and Eventbrite to register participants.

8

Remember to pin your activity on the Code Week map!

How to organise your activity?

The format of your coding activity is up to you, but we do recommend that you include some practical, hands-on time, where participants can create on their own and/or tinker with some hardware.
Make use of tools and technologies appropriate to your target group. We recommend using freely available open source material.
Encourage participants to show and present what they have created to each other at the end of your activity.
Spread the news! Promote and share what you did during your activity on social media by using the #EUCodeWeek hashtag. You can also share on the EU Code Week Teacher’s group and on Twitter (@CodeWeekEU). Talk to your friends, fellow educators, the local press, and make a press release.
Don't forget to add your activity on the Code Week map!

Freely available open source material EU Code Week Teacher’s group

Promotional material

Check out our tutorials and trainings available in 29 languages to get ready to organise activities where young people learn coding and computational thinking.

Download the following toolkits to help you get started:

Communication toolkit: find here the official EU Code Week logos, badge, flyer, poster, PowerPoint and Word templates, examples of social media posts, and illustrations. Communication toolkit

Teachers toolkit: find here the official EU Code Week logos, badge, template of certificate of participation for your students, an introductory presentation about EU Code Week, and social media material. Teachers toolkit

EU Code Week official leaflet. EU Code Week official leaflet.

Questions?

If you have questions about organising and promoting your #EUCodeWeek activity, get in touch with one of the EU Code Week Ambassadors from your country.