The goals of the Oneida Road to Code Project remain the same however, due to some unexpected changes in administration, resignation of the grant co-pilot, delayed grant funding availability, and various school-related road bumps along the way, the Oneida team requested an amendment in how we will come to meet our goals.
The Road to Code team started off successfully in March 2022 by sharing project information with new administration and developing and implementing a recruitment process for teacher participation in the program. Once the Road to Code team was formed, the grant team leader met with each teacher to explain the goals in greater depth. Due to the shortened timeframe initially set aside for curriculum writing and professional development, the team collectively thought it would be best if we shifted the curriculum writing and professional development to year 2 with revisions in year 3. This change would give the team more time to meet over the summer and not have the constraints of typical year-round duties including other committee obligations. Any hardware that was initially meant to be spent in year 2 and 3 would be moved to curriculum writing and professional development since hardware would all be purchased in year 1.
The team met to brainstorm how the heart of the grant can remain while meeting grant expectations and staying true to the district’s mission and vision. During our discussions, Project Lead the Way (PLTW) was mentioned as a possible foundation of the Road to Code program and the ultimate goal for integrating STEAM- related activities at the elementary and middle school level. PLTW is a STEAM based program that our district has invested in for both our middle and high school. The Oneida City School District is the only school in our region that has these programs built into the school day. It is our research-based belief that exposing the students to STEAM- related activities at an early age will not only increase the number of students interested in STEAM- related courses and careers, but also show an increase in attendance and math scores. PLTW currently uses VEX kits in their program, so adding elementary levelled kits into the after-school program was where we started in relation to hardware. In addition to VEX, the group has added STEAM- related equipment from Eduporium to not only help meet the NYS Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards but also meet M/WBE grant requirements. With both VEX and various STEAM- related equipment from Eduporium, the Road to Code team will utilize the NYS Curriculum that VEX provides and integrate the NYS Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards to create a custom after-school program.
The Oneida City School District is requested and received permission from the NYSED Learning Technology Grant team to make the following revisions to the Road to Code plan:
• Move the majority of the funding in year 1 allocated for professional development and curriculum writing to purchase hardware.
• Move the funding allocated for hardware in years 2 and 3 to professional development and curriculum writing.
The Road to Code program will be housed in 4 elementary buildings and 1 middle school building. The following hardware was purchased to support the program.
Items purchased from Vex Robotics:
123 Classroom Bundle / Quantity 4
Vex Go Large Classroom Bundle / Quantity 4
Vex Go Competition Field Kit / Quantity 8
Vex IQ Large Classroom Bundle / Quantity 2
Vex IQ Competition Field Kit / Quantity 4
Items purchased from Eduporium (MWBE):
Ozobot Evo Classroom Kit / Quantity 8
Makey Makey STEM Pack / Quantity 8
Cubetto School Bundle / Quantity 4
Wonder Workshop Cue / Quantity 1
Items purchased from Apple:
20 iPads (10 pack bundle)