Teaching of coding, robotics will positively impact development

Coding and robotics will play a significant role in changing the face of education on this island.

This is the view shared by Principal of Erdiston Teachers’ Training College, Dr. Ramona Archer-Bradshaw, noting that this transition could only spell great things for the job sector and the country’s economy as a whole.

Speaking as 19 instructors from tertiary level educational institutions showcased the coding skills learnt during a month long workshop at the training college last Friday evening, she noted that vital developments were being made to the traditional educational system.

“We all understand that the process of transformation we are looking at for our country, will not be immediate, however, we are encouraged by the fact that strides are being made to revolutionize our education system. When the instructors that participate in this workshop, and in subsequent workshops implement coding at their institutions, they know that they must do it in a very purposeful way.

“The tutors and instructors by honing their associated habits of mind and by developing certain competencies in their students will know unequivocally that they are contributing to the future development of Barbados, thereby enabling it to be a country that can improve its social and economic status,” she continued.

The instructors or ‘scratchers’ as Archer-Bradshaw called them due to the coding language they learnt, came from the Barbados Vocational Training Board, the Barbados Community College, the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology and the Caribbean Science Foundation.