Hour of Code: The challenges of training BBC staff worldwide in a single day

Today is Hour of Code day and the BBC is inviting staff to take part in an hour-long session designed to give people the opportunity to experience and understand coding.

Run by Code.org, The Hour of Code is a worldwide movement which last March saw more than 26 million participants in the United States, and more than 3 million in the UK, get involved. The project aims to give 100 million people worldwide the opportunity to experience and understand coding. Through the online tutorials, you can learn the basic concepts of computer science, in just 60 minutes, with simple drag-and-drop programming.

To quote Joanna Shields OBE, chairman of Tech City UK and UK Ambassador for Digital Industries, "The way we work, live and experience the world is changing. Digital tools are helping everyone - not just engineers and computer scientists - to create exciting new experiences, products and services.”

The Hour of Code gives BBC staff a chance to develop exciting skills and be at the heart of a major BBC initiative for 2015: Make it Digital, which will run across BBC TV, radio and online, inspiring a new generation to get creative with coding, programming and digital technology.

We are holding 23 live sessions across various BBC sites in the UK, including London, Cardiff, Salford, Glasgow and Belfast, for around 600 people.

To reach an even bigger audience, we will also be hosting three sessions on Lync throughout the day. These sessions are open to all staff at the BBC and can potentially reach an audience of up to 250 people per session. There are people from Sydney, Hong Kong and Delhi interested and participating in Hour of Code sessions we will be delivering via the virtual training tool Lync.

One of the biggest challenges we face in trying to deliver a session on a global scale is making sure people are connected and able to use the Lync tool. Although it is standard on the BBC desktop, many users are unaware that it can be used for anything more than instant messaging.

To be able to use it for virtual training, we need to ensure users can hear us and see the screen we are sharing. Ideally they will have the right equipment, such as a headset, as well as an understanding of how to use Lync and a good internet connection. But because the sessions are open to staff worldwide it is hard to check.

We also have the issue of trying to make the session interactive, as we have more than 30 or so people calling into the session and only an hour to deliver the content. How do we engage all users even though we cannot see them all?

To limit technical issues during the training session, we will have the Lync project manager there to help sort out any difficulties with people connecting. We will also be running the sessions with two trainers, to allow one to deliver the training and the other trainer to assist with any queries or questions that staff may have.

We have sent out very detailed joining instructions for users, explaining how they can use Lync software to participate. Before even booking a session, it was made clear to staff that they would need headsets and an understanding of using Lync to be able to join.

As trainers, we are making ourselves available 15 to 30 minutes prior to each session for staff to join and check that they can hear us and connect correctly.

It will prove an interesting and exciting challenge to be able to provide training to so many people on one day. It is something that both myself and my colleague have not done before. Only tomorrow, when all sessions have been completed, will we truly know if the goal has been achieved.

The Hour of Code (BBC staff only)

Get involved in the Hour of Code (BBC staff only)