Despite the promise of digital technologies, not all communities around the world have the access they need. One way to bridge the global digital divide is to provide affordable and accessible computing education to everyone, regardless of their socioeconomic background. Focusing on inclusion and affordability empowers young people, helping them develop the skills needed to succeed in an increasingly digital world, while fostering a more equitable and diverse technology landscape.
Endless network, a global organization dedicated to addressing equity gaps resulting from challenges such as insufficient Internet access, strategically allocates investments in global companies that align with its mission and actively work to achieve it. This article highlights the initiatives of one of those companies, the Raspberry Pi Foundation.
Founded in the United Kingdom, the Raspberry Pi Foundation set out to inspire young people to study computer science by inventing a programmable computer for the price of a textbook. Over the past 15 years, its business division, Raspberry Pi Ltd., has become one of the most successful computer companies in the world, selling more than 55 million computers used by engineers, scientists, hobbyists and young people around the world.
The Foundation has the mission of democratizing access to computer science education. While Raspberry Pi computers remain an important tool in this mission, the Foundation is device and platform agnostic and supports learning on a wide range of hardware and software. Its activities include helping schools integrate computing into the curriculum, promoting non-formal learning through code clubs and online resources, and conducting research through a center at the University of Cambridge. The Foundation's approach is guided by 12 pedagogical principles, informed by research, to improve effective and inclusive computing education globally. Recently, EdSurge spoke with Philip ColliganCEO of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, about the important initiatives his organization contributes to.
EdSurge: What are some of the critical challenges facing the education sector, particularly in the IT and IT space, and how does your organization address these issues?
Colligan: There are two big problems in the education sector that we are trying to solve. The first is to ensure that schools offer a comprehensive curriculum that addresses IT, IT and digital skills and keeps up to date with technological advances. ai literacy is the new big challenge. Currently, no curriculum in the world has a credible answer on the skills and knowledge that young people need to acquire to help them thrive in a world that is being transformed by ai. That's a problem we're trying to solve, including through Experience ai, which is a partnership with Google DeepMind research and develop lessons that help young people learn about ai systems. Those lessons are already being taught to hundreds of thousands of young people in the UK and we are now translating them to make them more accessible globally.
The second problem is that almost all computer science lessons will be taught by a non-specialist teacher who does not have a university degree in computer science. There are a small number of computer science teachers who have a background in computer science, and while those teachers are exceptional, they represent a minority. If a government or education system can be persuaded to include computing in the curriculum, that would be fantastic. That's the easiest step. So, the difficult thing is how do you support the teachers of that educational system so that they can teach it? That requires a huge investment in continuing teacher professional development. In India, we are working with two states to train tens of thousands of teachers who do not have a computer science background to teach the computer science curriculum.
How is Raspberry Pi working to make computer science education accessible globally?
The big goal of Raspberry Pi is for all schools in the world to offer world-leading computing education to all young people. Additionally, we want all young people to have access to safe, informal spaces where they can practice technology. This is where Code clubs between. They are the world's largest network of free computer science clubs run by an incredible community of educators and mentors.
It is a genuinely global mission; we want to change the world. We are particularly focused on six countries: the United Kingdom, Ireland, India, the United States, Kenya and South Africa. Additionally, we have partnerships in 50 other countries with nonprofits that we support through curriculum and resources, helping them establish Code Club networks, train teachers, and more.
Our immediate goal, which we are currently achieving, is for almost every classroom in England to use the curriculum and resources that Raspberry Pi created. We have trained tens of thousands of teachers here! We are working in India and Kenya to develop their curricula and introduce large-scale teacher training initiatives, always in collaboration with the local education system and other local organizations.
What major obstacles has your organization faced in executing its mission and what is your team doing to address them?
A major challenge is access to technology and the Internet. This remains a problem in countries such as the UK and the US, where too many young people lack access to a computer at home for learning. It's even more serious in countries like India and Kenya, where young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are much less likely to have access to a device, and even if you have access to a computer, there is often limited or no internet. One of the ways we are trying to address this, with the support of the Endless Foundation, is by making our resources and learning experiences accessible offline. The idea is that we can ship a Raspberry Pi computer with all the educational content and tools you need to learn computer science without needing an internet connection.
That's more complicated than it seems and price isn't necessarily the problem. Political will also influences. Additionally, we are trying to help schools around the world introduce a completely new and fast-moving subject despite the lack of confident teachers. One obstacle we face is emphasizing the relevance of computing to school leaders so that they understand that it is an incredible driver for social mobility. Computer science education gives young people access to jobs and tools to build things and solve problems in their own lives. It can be transformative not only for that young person but also for their families and communities. I am very sympathetic to the pressures on schools. I was school board president for over a decade and know the daily challenges schools face. Putting computer science education at the forefront is difficult, but it is crucial.
How does your organization evaluate the success of its initiatives?
We measure success in two ways. First, through reach, where we look at both volume and demographics. Our goal is to achieve broad accessibility, reaching as many young people as possible, but we especially want to benefit young people who face educational disadvantages or are underrepresented in technology due to factors such as poverty, gender, race, ethnicity or disability.
Second, we focus on the impact of learning, evaluating not only inspiration but also the meaningful and practical knowledge acquired. Our ongoing efforts ensure that we consistently deliver positive learning outcomes.
Could you tell us a success story from your experience with Raspberry Pi that shows the influence and achievements of the organization?
One of the best things now that we have been active for over a decade is that I get to meet young people whose lives have been changed by our work. I was lucky enough to meet one of the kids who attended one of the first Code Clubs when she was just 11 years old. That experience inspired him to get hands-on with technology. He also got an early Raspberry Pi computer and used our free online tutorials to create cool stuff. He went to a school that used our curriculum and was taught by a teacher we had trained, and he used our platform, Ada Computer Science, to study for his A level, which is similar to an AP exam. He is now studying for his undergraduate degree in computing and cybersecurity at Newcastle University, the first in his family to attend university. Every year, there are more and more kids like him whose life path has been changed by our work, and that's pretty special.
