Learners encouraged to create their own adventure game with the Raspberry Pi Foundation and FutureLearn

‘Object-oriented Programming in Python: Create Your Own Adventure Game’ is open for enrolment now and starts on 4th September 2017

London, 30th August 2017: FutureLearn is announcing with its partner, the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the upcoming launch of an online course which will guide learners through the principles of object-oriented programming, by creating their own text-based adventure game in the programming language, Python.

‘Object-oriented Programming in Python: Create Your Own Adventure Game’ starts on 4th September and is aimed at those who are familiar with coding and want to learn a different programming paradigm, understand and use existing libraries more effectively, or create code which is useful to other people. Educators of A-Level students may find this course particularly useful.

The course will introduce learners to the principles of object-oriented programming, integral to many programming languages, showing learners how to create objects, methods, and classes, and even their own game. The FutureLearn social learning platform will enable those participating in the course to share their code with other learners and learn from their ideas.

Learners will be introduced to the idea of an ‘object’ and and how they may have previously used objects in their programs without realising it. Learners will progress to compare functions to methods and cement their knowledge by engaging in various coding activities using Python. As course participants begin to create their own adventure game, they’ll develop skills such as creating a constructor and defining attributes, creating ‘getters and setters’, a room class and an item class. Finally, learners will explore the concepts of inheritance, polymorphism, and aggregation. By the end of the course, learners will have a firm understanding of the difference between procedural programming and object-oriented programming.

Laura Sach, Content and Curriculum Manager at the Raspberry Pi Foundation and lead educator, said:

“As well as supporting educators who are starting to learn to program, we wanted to be able to support educators teaching students at an intermediate-advanced level, so this course was created in response to their feedback. We found that the most effective way to learn object-oriented programming is by using objects to write a program that has a visible application, rather than by simply studying the theory of object-oriented programming, which is why learners will create a text-based adventure game in Python. We’re excited to see the rich discussions between learners from all over the world on the FutureLearn platform as they develop their creativity and programming skills whilst learning from one another.”

Nigel Smith, Head of Content at FutureLearn said: “We’re thrilled to be working with Raspberry Pi on a course that enables those familiar with coding to develop their skills further, and have the opportunity to apply their knowledge by engaging in a range of practical activities. With many code-literate students emerging in schools today, we’re proud to be able to support educators so that they’re able to transfer knowledge gained throughout the course to the classroom.”

As with most FutureLearn courses, the course can be taken for free or there is the option to upgrade to receive additional benefits.

Notes to Editors

For further press information, please contact:

Rachel MacPherson, PR Executive, FutureLearn comms@futurelearn.com

About FutureLearn

Founded by The Open University in 2012, FutureLearn is a leading social learning platform, enabling online learning through conversation. With over 6 million people from over 200 countries across the globe – a community that is continuously growing – it offers free and paid for online courses from world-leading UK and international universities, as well as organisations such as the European Space Agency, the British Council and Cancer Research UK. FutureLearn’s course portfolio covers a wealth of areas to promote lifelong learning for a range of applications including general interest, an introduction to university studies, continuing professional development and fully online postgraduate degrees.