Salt Lake City, UT. November 28, 2018/PR Newswire/ – Canvas by Instructure (NYSE: INST), the open learning management system (LMS) that makes teaching and learning easier, has collaborated with Vocareum and the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University to offer a free course in support of Hour of Code. The course will help teachers prepare to teach an hour of code in their classrooms, providing the tools and confidence they need to introduce their students to coding.

“We want to empower teachers with the resources they need to provide an introduction to coding in their classrooms,” said Tara Gunther, Vice President of Partnerships at Instructure. “Our hope is that teachers who take this free course will feel more at ease when introducing coding to their students, and will participate in one of the many activities offered by the Hour of Code organization during the 2018 Computer Science Education Week, December 3-9.”

With Vocareum closely integrated with Canvas, teachers have access to virtual computer science labs to support coursework in data science, programming, robotics, and more—all without ever having to leave their Canvas environment. The content for the course has been provided by Phillip Miller and Dr. Ryan Meuth Lecturers in the Fulton Schools.

“Learning to program unlocks the full power of the mechanics we use every day,” said Dr. Ryan Meuth, Lecturer at Arizona State University, “We think that if teachers learn to program and see the potential, they’ll want to share the experience with their students.”

The free, online, self-directed course prepares teachers to facilitate computer programming activities in their classroom by introducing the basics of computer programming and computer science pedagogy. The course gives teachers computer science confidence through a hands-on introduction to programming using the Python language, no experience, or extra software required. The course will be available on Canvas Network starting November 26, 2018. Teachers completing the course with a grade of 70 percent or better will be eligible for an 8-hour Professional Development Certificate issued by Arizona State University.

“Technology is rapidly transforming the global workforce,” said Sanjay Srivastava, CEO at Vocareum. “Helping our young people develop the skills they need in order to build technology will position them for success in whichever line of work they choose in the global economy of tomorrow.”