Google and Adelaide Uni partner free course to develop new generation of digital technology creators TEAMWORK: Google and University of Adelaide will partner a free online course from next year. A NEW free online course to help teachers encourage the next generation of students become the creators rather than consumers of digital technology is being developed in a partnership between the University of Adelaide and Google. The 8-10 week course will be available online from March next year and will provide resources and example learning activities for the digital technologies section of the new national curriculum from kindergarten to Year 6. Deputy head and director of teaching in the university's School of Computer Science, Associate Professor Katrina Falkner, said the project would bring computer science and computational thinking into primary school classrooms. "Our ultimate aim is to enable Australia's future as creators of digital technology, not just consumers," she said. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) contributes six-eight per cent of GDP in Australia, but currently there is an accelerating ICT skills shortage, with declining numbers of higher education enrolments in computer science nationally and a school education system where computer science is taught primarily in upper secondary, and then only as an optional subject. The project brings together the expertise of a network of teachers and industry representatives to develop materials that will help teachers meet the learning objectives of the new curriculum. "With the new Digital Technologies curriculum and the strong focus on computational thinking right from early education levels, we have an opportunity to turn this around, and make computers and how they work part of everyday education and life," Prof Falkner said. There is general recognition, however, that busy teachers will need help to build these concepts into their lesson plans - that's what our course is about. Google's director of education and university relations, Maggie Johnson, said the global search giant believed "all students should have the opportunity to become active creators of tomorrow's technology." "This course will help create a foundation of technology by introducing students to computer science and computational thinking at a young age, and work to keep them interested in and excited about those subjects throughout their entire education," she said. The university is using Google's open source platform to build the course, which will be open for primary school teachers around the country to access at any time once it is released online. The online course will be announced at a Google-hosted Digital Technologies Curriculum Summit in Sydney today. Participants will complete a portfolio of activities which will be assessed, with feedback. The course will also provide a certificate for successful completion.