As part of the Make It Digital Campaign, British Broadcasting corporation (BBC) has announced it will be giving out the BBC micro:bit, a microcomputer each to every child in the UK of the age of 7 to enhance digital literacy.
The BBC micro:bit is a pocket-sized device which can be programmed into being used to work alone or connected to other devices as it comes with the raw materials of a computer – Sensors and processor.
The device would be handed out to students around October and would be fully owned by them, not the school while their teachers would receive theirs by September, a month earlier. A website to learn programming and coding will be launched this summer for users to see how their micro:bit works.
Commenting on the scheme, the Head of BBC Learning, Sinead Rocks said:
“We happily give children paint brushes when they’re young, with no experience – it should be exactly the same with technology. The BBC micro:bit is all about young people learning to express themselves digitally, and it’s their device to own.
And as the micro:bit is able to connect to everything from mobile phones to plant pots and Raspberry Pis, this could be for the internet of things what the BBC Micro was to the British gaming industry.”
The Make It Digital Campaign is a collaboration between several companies which includes tech giants like Microsoft and Samsung. The scheme hopes handing out the micro:bit would bridge the gap between shortages of skills currently affecting the sector whilst also triggering an increase in digital creativity.
Launching the BBC micro:bit follows the company’s BBC Micro scheme which allowed school children access to computing for the first time in the 1980s. By the end of 2015, the general public would be able to buy the micro:bit, while the pricing is not know yet it is expected to be very cheap.
