Apple has announced a new collaboration with Chicago Public Schools and Northwestern University to offer free professional learning to teachers across Chicago, designed to give educators the tools they need to bring coding and computer science into the classroom.
They’ll establish a Center for Excellence at Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago, which will serve as a teaching and learning hub to introduce high school teachers to Apple’s Everyone Can Code curriculum. This collaboration will help expand opportunities for local teachers, giving them new expertise to share with their students, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Everyone Can Code is a program designed by Apple to help everyone learn how to code using a Swift curriculum. The program includes a range of free resources, from helping students explore basic coding concepts to building fully functional apps.
Teachers will also have the opportunity to be trained on the App Development with Swift course in an effort to help address the national shortage of high school computer science teachers. This effort is an extension of an existing collaboration between Apple and the city of Chicago to bring coding opportunities to Chicago’s nearly 500,000 students through a citywide expansion of Apple’s Everyone Can Code program.
Apple will develop the teacher training in collaboration with Northwestern University, leveraging decades of research and experience. Professors from Northwestern will lead the sessions. Teachers will gain expertise in the Everyone Can Code curriculum, a free program designed by Apple to help students of all ages and backgrounds learn how to code, starting with basic coding concepts and advancing to tools for building fully functional apps.
In addition to free professional learning sessions at the Center for Excellence, participating educators will also have access to in-school coaching and mentorship opportunities to ensure they are comfortable teaching the complete Everyone Can Code curriculum. Apple will provide iPads, Macs, carts and accessories to support the hands-on learning at the Center for Excellence.
Swift is Apple’s programming language that gives developers the freedom and capabilities they need to create the next generation of software. Popular apps including Airbnb, KAYAK, TripAdvisor, Venmo and Yelp are all created with Swift.
