Engaging students in computer science with extracurricular projects – Oracle Academy Workshops in a Box use case

Today’s students have been surrounded by information technologies since birth and most often have no patience to learn programming as it is commonly defined in the traditional curriculum. The modern Croatian Curriculum of Informatics in Elementary and Secondary School defines the learning outcomes and (with certain recommendations) is giving complete freedom and responsibility to the teacher in the design of teaching during which the students will achieve the anticipated learning outcomes. However, today’s society and the national economy expect a growing number of educated professionals in the field of information technology, but it is unfortunately not happening. In addition to motivating students, different extracurricular activities can be provided by the teacher, as well as other stakeholders who may not specialize in teaching in cooperation with the school (parents, volunteers, sponsors…). Taking into account the already implemented examples of good practice in Croatian schools, this paper lists examples of globally successful curriculum from Oracle Academy program, which are better known under the name Workshops in a Box. The paper also presents a short survey on the current implementation of computer science extracurricular programs in the Croatian schools.