SOUTH AFRICA: UNPLUGGED CODING

Rujeko Moyo interviews Randal Rousseau about how and why he began championing unplugged coding in libraries and schools

I met Randall Rousseau, a librarian at Bonteheuwel Library in Cape Town, during Coolest Projects South Africa 2023 in November of that year. His passion for introducing coding concepts to young people in practical and tangible ways impressed me and I was intrigued to learn more about his remarkable journey and impact.

Why unplugged coding?

I have always been drawn to technology and information. I recognised this gap in our education systems and curricula long ago, and was looking for something to bridge the gap and stem the fear of technology. Unplugged coding was a natural fit for the library environment, as it assumes a non-threatening experience of learning coding. As the unplugged resources and apps we use are game-based, children don’t even realise they are coding because they are having so much fun.

Unplugged coding requires only a mobile phone and cardboard tokens, so it’s tangible. They can touch the code, manipulate it, and make it their own.

In a country like South Africa that is plagued by several challenges, unplugged coding seemed a logical and sustainable means to introduce coding and robotics concepts to our young people.

What are the challenges to teaching coding in Cape Town? And how does unplugged coding address some of these challenges?

There are various challenges. The cost of setting up and maintaining computer labs is astronomical, resulting in a lack of computing infrastructure in many schools. Frequent power cuts do not allow for the efficient operation of computer labs and computers. Schoolteachers are not equipped to teach coding, and are also overwhelmed by curriculum demands. Coding is therefore not part of the curriculum in public schools, only provided as an extracurricular activity in some. This is problematic, as coding helps to nurture vital twenty-first–century skills like computational thinking collaboration, problem-solving, and communication, to name but a few.

Unplugged coding eliminates all of these challenges. What is even more exciting is that literally anyone can learn coding concepts through unplugged coding activities, as long as they have access to a mobile phone and tokens.

Tell us more about your unplugged sessions. What do they involve? What space or equipment do you need? What are the children learning?

A typical unplugged coding session does not take up much space. You basically need a flat surface to lay out your coding tokens, a smartphone that has the apps on it already, and good lighting to capture the code. We make use of the whole library and the outside as well.

To consolidate movement concepts, I use a temporary grid (with adhesive tape to tile the floor) in the library. This works well, as the grid patterns simulate the app layout. The first session introduces movement on the TANKS (helloworld.cc/TANKS) or RANGERS (helloworld.cc/RANGERS) app. Children physically walk out the path they think the tank or ranger needs to follow on a physical grid, and then use their coding tokens to build the relevant code. I allow them to make mistakes, as this is the fastest way to learn. Other sessions can include a game of battleships to introduce shooting concepts.

I also include physical obstacle courses and treasure hunt sessions with coding movement instructions such as ‘if’, ‘infinity/ loop’, or ‘repeat’. I also use Lego Six Bricks (helloworld.cc/sixbricks) concepts to add some variety to the sessions. It’s a lot of fun and the children don’t even realise that they are coding!

How did you learn about unplugged coding?

In 2021, our department head of professional services and programmes invited library staff to an introductory session in unplugged coding. I immediately knew that this was my missing link to teach children coding concepts. After the initial session with representatives from Nelson Mandela University (NMU), I contacted Professor Jean Greyling, head of computing sciences at NMU and founder of Tangible Africa, to help me understand the concepts better and explore how I could teach others.

Link: Tangible Africa Website

Professor Greyling then sent a team that was based in Cape Town to help me consolidate the concepts. I received my first training kit from the University and the Leva Foundation to get me started teaching children.

Please share your journey of growing unplugged coding sessions in Cape Town.

In May of 2023 I approached school principals and offered to teach unplugged coding to teaching assistants based in their schools. They agreed. I invited the assistants to the library, introduced them to unplugged coding, and then requested they implement what they’d learnt in their schools. I asked them to organise mini tournaments within a class, between classes of the same grade, and eventually among classes of different grades, in each school. The ultimate plan was to yield teams that would represent their schools in a regional Coding4Mandela tournament on Mandela Day across various regions in South Africa.

Three libraries from the national competition went on to represent South Africa against 55 teams from 21 countries in the Coding4Mandela World Champs event on 5 December 2023.

All three libraries finished in the top ten, taking third, sixth, and eighth positions.

Link: Article regarding the three libraries that took part in the World Championships.

What’s next on your unplugged coding journey?

The vision for unplugged coding is to introduce coding concepts to children and adults in a way that is easily understood. Once this foundation has been laid, we would like them to move on from the ‘unplugged environment’ to software coding.

Our partnership with CoderLevelUp (coderlevelup.org), who are partners of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, will enable us to introduce CoderDojos (coderdojo.com) in our libraries, which will provide our young people and volunteer network with free access to various coding projects and languages and online learning courses.

Libraries are safe spaces that are conducive to learning and exploring, and CoderDojos require exactly that: a safe space. We hope to realise this partnership by appointing Dojo champions in every library in Cape Town. These champions will lead vibrant coding hubs and transform the hashtag Ilearntocode@mylibrary into a tangible reality.

Looking further to the future, the big dream is to have these coding and digital making experiences translate into real jobs that will change the economic circumstances of many people in South Africa.

Link: Download the full magazine.