MaltaPi Jam – a chance to connect and share
When the students from Taitotalo visited Malta in May 2022, we wanted to give them the opportunity to share their passion for games with a wider audience. An ideal opportunity presented itself as the timing of their visit coincided with one of our #maltapi hackathons, so we invited Taitotalo to participate, which they immediately accepted to do.
What is a RaspberryJam? The idea originates in the UK, where the Raspberry Pi foundation started organizing open community hackathons, where people from all ages and backgrounds could come and learn about digital making and coding in an informal way. We strongly support this informal approach to education, and introduced this concept to Malta by organizing #maltapi: a free, open-to-all event to learn, share and experience digital making, robotics and coding irrespective if background and knowledge level.
This was a new experience for many of the students, and the direct interaction with kids and adults was an interesting one. We used the time to also hack away at some of the game ideas they had previously collected from students at MariaRegina, but we added the challenge of developing these as Retro style games using MakeCode Arcade. To make things more exciting, we also game each student their personal MakeCode console, so that they can continue developing games and share their passion with friends.
It was fun, informative and educational! This particular event was organized together with the European Commission Representation in Malta, to support the concept of ‘A Europe fit for the Digital Age’. The involvement of Taitotalo students really turned this into a pan-European event.
Below you can experience some moments from #maltapi!