Raspberry Pi set to enrich adult learning curriculum Wednesday, February 29, 2012 - 12:55

Secretary of State, Michael Gove, specifically cited the Raspberry Pi in his speech at the BETT Show in January, where he called for an overhaul of the school ICT curriculum. NIACE echoed this by calling for adult learning providers to consider using the new Innovation Code announced in New Challenges, New Chances, to offer new and exciting courses on technology. The newly launched Raspberry Pi is an exciting example of an innovation has the potential to enrich what's currently on offer for adults learning digital skills.

The NIACE Digital Special Interest Group has been debating the shape and form of a new ICT curriculum and one member and former E-Guides tutor, Terry Loane, said:

"I know that adult educators have already been using the low cost Arduino computers to explore simple programming and I think the Raspberry Pi will be welcomed as it will help us to enrich the learning offer for adults around IT skills. Programming really is not that difficult and we need to make sure that adult learners get a chance to discover this for themselves."

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has been launched after six years of development and it connects to a keyboard and screen where learners can get straight into programming. The Raspberry Pi Foundation was launched in Cambridge by Eben Upton, who was seeking to offer school children a device which would inspire them in the same way that the BBC B computer succeeded 25 years ago.