Apple Will Host Thousands Of Free Coding Sessions At Its Stores Next Month

Apple will be hosting free coding classes at its retail stores, the company has announced, offering them for a total of two weeks during the month of December. Thousands of "Hour of Code" sessions will be held, giving students the opportunity to learn coding skills. This will be the sixth year Apple has hosted daily Hour of Code sessions.

The classes will be targeted at students with varying skill levels, including Kids Hour for children aged 6 to 12 — those classes will involve coding with robots. Older kids will be able to learn coding concepts using iPads and Swift Playgrounds. The sessions will take place from December 1 to December 14.

The sessions will be offered under the Everyone Can Code program; they will be available in every Apple Store across the globe. Interested attendees can register for a session starting today through Apple's Hour of Code website.

In addition to the free sessions, Apple has created an Hour of Code Facilitator Guide for educators who want to host sessions in their own classrooms. Teachers get access to the Swift Coding Club kit with tools for starting coding clubs; this is also available to 'mentors' and students.

The kit is designed for students aged 8 years and older, getting them started on the role coding can play in a community, the development of prototype apps, and more. For older students, Apple plans to launch a free AP Computer Science Principles course curriculum with syllabus.