Campaigns to show young Thais how to succeed in a digital world

Similarly Microsoft Thailand will also host its annual Hour of Code on December 19, 2015. Held at Microsoft Thailand’s office,it is for young Thais aged from six and above.

Hour of Code has also been expanded to reach young people in remote areas.

To equip a greater number of local youths with skills essential in the digital age, Microsoft Student Partners in Thailand will train 50 students on December 19 at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang. The training session will also be virtually connected to the Hour of Code event at Microsoft Thailand via a Skype for Business video conference call.

Organisers say this epitomises the digital transformation of education today. Prior to the session, Microsoft is providing a “Minecraft” coding tutorial to local youngsters in remote areas in an effort to support coding education throughout Thailand.

The new tutorial introduces players to basic coding within the “Minecraft” environment. Created by “Minecraft” game designers together with Code.org, the tutorial features Steve and Alex from “Minecraft” and “Minecraft”-inspired challenges that will be familiar to its more than 100 million players around the world.

“A core part of our mission to empower every person on the planet is equipping youth with computational thinking and problem-solving skills to succeed in an increasingly digital world,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft. “With ‘Minecraft’ and Code.org, we aim to spark creativity in the next generation of innovators in a way that is natural, collaborative and fun.”

Designed for ages six and up, the “Minecraft” tutorial introduces players to basic coding skills, encouraging them to navigate, mine, craft and explore in a 2-D “Mine-craft” world by plugging together blocks to complete all actions and generate computer code. Players are offered a set of 14 challenges, including free play time, to explore coding concepts they’ve learned through the tutorial.

“‘Minecraft’ is a special game that girls and boys alike often can’t be pried away from,” said Code.org CEO and co-founder Hadi Partovi. “Microsoft continues to be Code.org’s most generous donor and one of the largest supporters of the worldwide movement to give every student the opportunity to learn computer science.

“This year’s ‘Minecraft’ tutorial will empower millions of learners across the world to explore how a game they love actually works and will inspire them to impact the world by creating their own technology or apps.”

More than 100 million students across 180 countries and 40 languages have participated in the Hour of Code. This year, the campaign expects to exceed 100,000 events during the Computer Science Education Week and to continue introducing more girls and underrepresented students to this foundational 21st century field.

In support of Code.org and the global Hour of Code campaign, Microsoft will also lead thousands of Hour of Code events in more than 50 countries around the world, including Thailand. Events will take place at Microsoft stores, offices and innovation centres as well as facilities of Microsoft’s YouthSpark nonprofit partners and schools. They will be led by over 7,000 Microsoft Student Partners, Most Valuable Professionals and employee volunteers. In addition, Microsoft is gifting Windows Store credit to every educator who organises an Hour of Code event worldwide.