DevConf.cz 2021

Getting people to think about computation is just as important as teaching coding. At work I started a coding basics series for creative designers for our own digital transformation strategy. I realized that if I don’t explain to people about computational thinking then then coding won’t make much of a difference to them. This talk will review how a group of designers with zero coding experience were brought into computational thinking and how that enabled them to use coding in their projects.

Outline:

* What is computational thinking
* Why understanding computational thinking can help coding problem solving
* How to bridge the gap of learning to code for creatives like designers
* Establishing the thought process of sequential problem solving
* Prepare people to understand how to abstract problems down into steps
* Use visual aides and diagrams to help visual learners understand key concepts of computational thinking
* Leading from abstractions to problem solving with simple patterns
*With patterns people can build the basis for creating algorithms
* Case study of how HMC Architects used computational thinking and learning
* Company wide training for designers of diverse backgrounds
* Goals of creating training to learn to code while being mindful of different learning styles
* The results including how people were able to get a handle on coding due to computational thinking
* Review Key points and lessons learned