Schlagwort: refugee

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[publication] Should Universities partner with NGOs? A Case Study of a University of Technology and a Coding School for Refugees #research

At this years‘ EDEN conference we made a publication titled „Should Universities partner with NGOs? A Case Study of a University of Technology and a Coding School for Refugees„

Abstract:
This paper explores the advantages of a University-NGO Partnership between the Faculty of Informatics at Vienna University of Technology (TU Vienna) and the NGO „refugees{code}-, a coding school for refugees in Vienna, Austria. The goal of this collaboration is twofold: Firstly, to help students apply coding skills practically and enhance their proficiency through teaching experiences with underrepresented groups; and secondly, to provide refugees with meaningful activities that match their profession, education, and personal interests, which might have been interrupted in their home countries. The study evaluates the perspectives of the stakeholders involved. To do so, written surveys and interviews with computer science students, refugees and team members of the NGO were conducted. The results indicate that meaningful educational benefits for computer science students can be created within such partnerships, such as enhanced teaching abilities, dispelled prejudices, insights into the factors affecting refugees‘ educational and career trajectories, as well as improved communication and empathy skills. However, challenges for such partnerships also exist, including giving student teachers more time for meetings and discussions, empowering them to make decisions, providing access to counseling psychologists and interpreters, and offering support in managing participants‘ expectations. The findings shed light on the potential benefits from participating in campus-community partnerships and suggest several measures to improve them, such as providing additional ECTS credits, intensifying promotional activities to encourage greater student participation, providing alumni support, and issuing official certificates.

[article @ proceeding’s homepage]
[article @ ResearchGate]

Citation: Wolf, D. and Ebner, M. (2024) ‘Should Universities partner with NGOs? A Case Study of a University of Technology and a Coding School for Refugees’, Ubiquity Proceedings, 4(1), p. 36. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5334/uproc.158.

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[imoox] Start: Learning to Code – Programmieren mit Pocket Code #imoox #pocketcode #refugees

Pocket CodeWir freuen uns, denn heute geht die bereits die dritte deutschsprachige Runde los. Und zwar der MOOC der sich explizit an Schulkinder richtet „Learning to Code: Programmieren mit Pocket Code„. Diesmal werden wir den MOOC auch einsetzen für eine kleine Veranstaltung an der TU Graz selber, die geflüchteten Menschen hilft einen Einstieg in die Programmierung zu geben.
Wir wollen aber dabei nicht, nein wirklich nicht, die ganze Welt zu InformatikerInnen ausbilden. Im Gegenteil wir wünschen uns einfach, dass man versteht wie die Welt von morgen funktioniert, um damit auch die Welt von morgen mitgestalten zu können. Also anmelden, mitmachen und weitersagen.

B Bezüglich Programmieren bestehen viele Vorurteile und Ängste. Mithilfe von Pocket Code sollen vor allem Kinder erste Erfahrungen mit dem Programmieren sammeln. Durch eine einfache und visuelle Benutzeroberfläche wird eine spielerische Umsetzung eigener Ideen ermöglicht.
Der Kurs richtet sich somit sowohl an Kinder und Jugendliche (Altersgruppe 10-14 Jahre), als auch an Lehrerinnen und Lehrer aller Unterrichtsfächer und hat als Hauptinhalt das Erstellen eigener Spiele, interaktiver Animationen sowie Apps mithilfe von Pocket Code. Primär werden dabei Struktur und Funktionsweise der App vorgestellt, im Hintergrund werden „Computational Thinking”-Konzepte erarbeitet wie zum Beispiel: Konditionale, Variablen, Events oder Parellelismus. Dabei ist es den Kindern überlassen ob sie die den Kurs selbsständig oder gemeinsam mit ihren Eltern machen.

[Link zum MOOC]

Wie macht man mit? Das geht jederzeit, einfach auf iMOOX registrieren und hier anmelden – viel Spaß allen.

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[publication] From refugee to programmer? A framework for a collaborative coding program for higher education institutions

Our article about „From refugee to programmer? A framework for a collaborative coding program for higher education institutions“ got published in the Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning.

Abstract:

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to share the lessons learned in teaching programming skills to refugees during a time when circumstances were changing quickly and constantly and the needs of the target group were not well known.

Design/methodology/approach
The integration of refugees poses serious challenges for the hosting society’s education system. A large number of refugees can put a strain on all kinds of public resources, and difficulties with differences in languages, previous curricula, falling behind due to having to spend time outside of education, and psychological traumas have to be expected. In response to the refugee crisis and in order to manage mass migration, the adaptive nature and rapid development of civic approaches can contribute to overcoming some of these challenges. To evaluate the impact of civic approaches, the authors have paid attention to refugees{code} an Austrian coding school for refugees which was developed by the civic community and which shows great potential in terms of providing rapid, innovative and adaptive kinds of educational support for refugees, as well as helping to combat the lack of programmers in the Austrian job market.

Findings
As the great potential that initiatives like refugees{code} have for education, there are also substantial challenges. As we learned from the first course, course completion rates were very low. Therefore, it is important to build an infrastructure and a learning environment around the course. This learning environment includes providing mentoring and support, creating spaces where participants can learn. It was also found that having a pedagogically trained staff who is sufficient in the English language, too, is necessary to cater to a heterogeneous group. Also varying teaching strategies according to the needs and skills of the learner is necessary. One of the issues that confronts projects like refugees{code} is also receiving legal status. The collaboration with universities and colleges can be greatly helpful because they are already familiar with the structure of public authorities as well as with heterogeneous groups. Initiatives like refugees{code} are agile and flexible and know how to take advantage of that. The authors conclude that bringing successful education to heterogeneous and culturally different groups is multi-faceted. It is not something any individual organization or project can do; it can only be the result of a system of different actors working together with traditional educational institutions.

Originality/value
This research study reports on two courses of programming for refugees and seeks to offer practical advice for further research and for the implementation of such courses into the educational system. Therefore a framework is proposed which should be taken into account in case of doing similar work.

[article @ Journal’s Homepage]

[article @ ResarchGate]

Reference: Wolf, D., Ebner, M. (2018) From refugee to programmer? A framework for a collaborative coding program for higher education institutions, Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning, https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIT-09-2017-0024