The community was founded in 2015 and is registered as a public organization. All mentors at IT2School are volunteers, education for children is free. Costs are covered by charitable contributions and company sponsorships.
IT2School operates in the following formats:
– teaching school children by Code Club courses and mentors’ educational programs;
– training for children from 16 to 20 years old in the educational tech-space Atom Space;
– cooperation with educational institutions of the city, in particular with the Richelieu Lyceum.
Code Club Ukraine provides its own programs for conducting classes, but you can create your own, author’s course program and teach it to children. Classes are held once a week in a group of 8-10 people. The course usually lasts 10-12 weeks.
Specialized ICT classes have appeared in the Richelieu Lyceum, IT2School is a partner of the Lyceum, attracting mentors to train pupils in 10-11 classes. The main direction is programming using Python, however mentors can offer their own programs.
IT2School promotes the idea of intellectual volunteering – mentorship in Odessa among IT professionals. Through personal communication and the transfer of knowledge based on real life examples, children and teenagers learn to solve problems in real time, applying theory to practice. Mentoring support helps them shape their life path, understand what they like and what steps need to be taken towards the goal.
The mentor himself, in the teaching process, works out and systematizes the foundation of his knowledge and elaborates his communication and leadership skills.