School of Computing participates in annual Hour of Code event

CodeLNK hosted its annual Hour of Code event this past Saturday at Nebraska Innovation Campus with more than 600 participants in attendance. 

Hour of Code is a global initiative to introduce computer science to K-12 students through local events across the world. Lincoln’s Hour of Code included a morning full of fun coding activities for all learning levels and an interactive tech fair, which featured more than a dozen technology-focused booths offering educational and interactive demonstrations. 

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s School of Computing has been a leader in promoting computing initiatives and the event in the state of Nebraska for more than a decade. This year, several faculty members and students also participated in the Hour of Code event by hosting booths and leading activities featuring drones, robots, and virtual reality games. Assistant professor Robert Dyer, the school's lead representative for this year's event, said Hour of Code offers something for everyone.

School of Computing senior associate director and professor Leen-Kiat Soh has also been involved in coordinating, promoting, and expanding Lincoln’s Hour of Code since 2013, when the event was initially held by the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) Huskers chapter.

“We started with about 60 attendees at the Southeast Community College,” said Soh. “We moved to Nebraska Innovation Campus about ten years ago, and we have continued to grow this Hour of Code and tech fair event.”

CodeLNK has continued to organize the event every year (with the exception of two years due to COVID-19) since its founding in 2015. CodeLNK is a local organization dedicated to promoting K-12 computer science education and participation in the Lincoln community. The group consists of members from K-12 schools, post-secondary institutions, and the local tech industry. Hour of Code is the group’s biggest event of the year, held in partnership with the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, several local tech companies and employees, academic representatives from the School of Computing and UNL’s Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education Department, the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) Huskers chapter, Lincoln Public Schools, and Nebraska Innovation Campus. 

Soh said computer science education is vital for students in today’s technology-driven world, and hopes these events will allow students to explore the field and facilitate further learning.

“The event has been designed to inspire them about what computer science and computing can do and about what they can do with computer science and computing,” Soh said. “Computing is fundamental to all disciplines, and every student should learn about computational thinking and programming.”