April 8, 2019

“Hour of Code” is a national initiative which has the goal to get 10 million students to try computer science for one hour, and to demystify computer science and coding. Rock Valley College’s Computer and Information Sciences (CIS) department offered their first “Hour of Code” event on December 12th, 2015. The event brought 126 people from the Rockford Region to learn more about Computer Science fundamentals and coding.

Since that date, Professor Chuck Konkol of Rock Valley College has hosted monthly “Hour of Code” Workshops which are open to the public and welcome people of all ages. The “Hour of Code” workshops focus on creating a drag and drop app to share with family and friends.

RVC CIS added a new series of workshops to the Hour of Code lineup called “Learn Coding with Robots”. These workshops teach K – 8th grade students how to use colored lines and simple drag and drop coding to control a cubic inch sized robot named Ozobot. Upon completion of the workshop, attendees take the Ozobot home to show off their coding skills!

In 2019 Rock Valley has scheduled enough “Learn Coding with Robots” workshops to engage 600 K – 8th grade students in learning and fun with Ozobots. CFNIL was pleased to award this program $30,000 in the 2018 Community Grants Program cycle which will allow RVC to offer the workshops free of charge. Do you have a student that would enjoy “Learn Coding with Robots?” Learn more and register HERE.

Your donation to CFNIL’s Community Grants Program helps support innovative programs just like “Learn Coding with Robots”. Make a donation to Community Grants today!