BBC announce ‘make it digital’ initiative to help kids learn programming in UK

BBC’s “Make It Digital” is a new initiative to help new generation of children get better exposure to coding, programming skill and digital technology. As part of the program, BBC will be partnering with 50 organization to distribute a million devices, create upto 5000 digital triness and launch a season of dedicated programs and online activity.

The Make It Digital initiative includes:

• A major partnership to develop and give a ‘Micro Bit’ coding device to all year 7 children across the UK for free to inspire a future generation – 1 million devices in total
• A season of programmes and online activity involving the BBC’s biggest and best-loved brands, including Doctor Who, EastEnders, Radio 1, The One Show, Children in Need, BBC Weather and many more, including a new BBC Two drama based on Grand Theft Auto and a documentary on Bletchley Park
• The Make it Digital Traineeship to create life-changing opportunities for up to 5,000 young unemployed people, the largest traineeship of its kind
• Partnerships with around 50 major organisations across the UK, including Apps for Good, ARM, Barclays, British Computing Society, BT, Code Club, DWP, Google, iDEA, Microsoft, Nesta, Samsung, Skills Funding Agency, Tech City UK, the Tech Partnership, TeenTech, Young Rewired State
• A range of formal education activities and events, including Bitesize, Live Lessons and School Report

Tony Hall, BBC Director-General, said: “This is exactly what the BBC is all about – bringing the industry together on an unprecedented scale and making a difference to millions. Just as we did with the BBC Micro in the 1980s, we want to inspire the digital visionaries of the future. Only the BBC can bring partners together to attempt something this ambitious, this important to Britain’s future on the world stage.

The device that is distributed to children is called ‘Micro Bit’ which is a tiny programming computer similar to Raspberry Pi, developed by partnering with 25 organizations. Micro Bit will be distributed every year to kids aged around 11-12 years. You can find more information about MicroBit here.

The new programs that will be scheduled to run in 2015 are:

• Major brands like Doctor Who, Radio 1, EastEnders, The One Show and BBC Children in Need, encouraging their fans to get creative with digital
• A new drama based on Grand Theft Auto, one of the most extraordinary creative and controversial success stories of our time, and a BBC Three talent show, Girls Can Code
• The 2015 Dimbleby Lecture from Baroness Martha Lane-Fox on BBC One; Gordon Welchman – The Forgotten Genius Of Bletchley Park on BBC Two; and documentaries on the pioneering mathematician Ada Lovelace, and the wonder or algorithms on BBC Four
• A raft of programming for Radio 4 that celebrates both the history of coding, computing and digital, and looks to the future
• A series of BBC iWonder guides, including Ian Livingstone on the story of the British games industry, Lauren Laverne and Piers Linney on coding, and many more to come