Scratch Coding PLC Launched

The Mpumalanga ICT Club and the University of Johannesburg Creative Coding collaborated to launch the Scratch Coding PLC on August 2nd at the Villa Roma Hotel in Witbank with the theme: Strengthening our Indigenous Knowledge Systems through Coding.

Thirty teachers from the Nkangala Education District attended the event, with some traveling from Pankop village in the Dr.JS Moroka Municipality. "The main goal of this Professional Learning Community is to demystify coding and ensure that teachers build confidence when teaching coding and robotics in their classrooms, as well as to facilitate the establishment of coding and robotics clubs in their schools," said Nomusa Keninda, the founder of the Mpumalanga ICT Club and the project's initiator.

The University of Johannesburg also sponsored the event with three presenters who presented their experiences with scratch coding, as the faculty has built a creative coding that teaches teachers to Scratch coding ideas in a fun and pleasant approach, referring to their participants as "Buddies."

"At UJ, we believe in teamwork, and creative coding is driven by four pillars: Passion, Projects, Peers, and Play; teachers are encouraged to use their creativity when teaching coding," stated Kiyara Bellochun.

The PLC will promote Indigenous Knowledge Systems that are anchored in our cultural values through coding. The majority of the scratch projects, such as games, animations, and narrative telling, should highlight South Africa's cultural variety, including Africa. "We have our own unique stories and games in Africa that have gone untold because development begins somewhere and we simply copy what other nations have already started, but in this session we want to cultivate critical thinking and creativity that take into account our indigenous knowledge systems, which is why we chose this theme." Ms Keninda claimed. 

With Scratch projects, teachers produced, shared, and learned from one another.  "We created a game of scoring penalties in a soccer game using the Scratch platform, we knew very well how spectators in South Africa do and shout during penalties and our game showed that cultural aspect of the game." Ms Betty Mpina explained the project. 

These projects were distributed to participants in order for them to be replicated in their schools. The PLC will meet soon to check on their progress, as they have committed to hosting various Coding seminars in respective circuits.