Until recently, no one could have imagined that ‘Drones 101’ would be listed as a course students could register for. Now, drone educational programs are springing up in schools, community colleges, and universities across the globe offering students a whole new perspective on learning….an aerial one.
Parrot Drones, a global leader in drone technology, has announced Parrot Education in support of this academic revolution. The core objective of the program is to encourage students and educators to learn, teach, and innovate using drones and to help prepare a new generation for what is expected to be a multi-billion dollar commercial UAV industry.
Henri Seydoux, founder and CEO of Parrot states that they are seeing countless applications of Parrot drone technology that span a wide range of academic disciplines. “From coding, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to film, media, and journalism, the use cases are as diverse as they are astounding. And Parrot offers the most diverse lineup of products for the academic setting of any drone company in the world.”
Henri Seydoux, founder and CEO of Parrot states that they are seeing countless applications of Parrot drone technology that span a wide range of academic disciplines.
“From coding, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to film, media, and journalism, the use cases are as diverse as they are astounding. And Parrot offers the most diverse lineup of products for the academic setting of any drone company in the world.”
Parrot has partnered with several companies to build its program:
Tynker, the leading platform for kids to learn code, will build the first drone curriculum using visual programming.
“We are excited to collaborate with Parrot and make it easy for schools to introduce drone programming to students in a classroom or makerspace setting,” says Krishna Vedati, CEO of Tynker. “Drones are a great way to inspire kids to expand their coding skills and create real-world applications, enabling them to become hands-on makers.”
Workbench has built the “Parrot Education Community” which connects maker educators to each other so they can share lessons within the community. Educators can use the platform to access lessons that tie teaching with drones and robots to STEM skills such as geometry, science, art, physics and coding.
“Tomorrow’s jobs will use the latest technologies such as drones to accomplish new things and Parrot offers some of the best teaching drones on the market today. We are thrilled to help Parrot galvanize their community by helping educators access and share dynamic lessons that help prepare students for advanced learning. It is truly an exciting time in education,” said Chris Sleat, CEO of Workbench.
Magic Makers & Parrot have created “Drone Making”, innovative workshops where kids hack their Minidrones with 3D printing, Arduino electronics and code.
Magic Makers joins the Parrot Education program by creating instructional resources throughout the upcoming school year and help K-12 teachers bring Minidrones enhancement into the classroom.
“Having Kids take power on the Minidrone with code and electronics, besides great fun, is a great way to learn concrete logic,” said Claude Terosier, founder of MagicMakers.
The initial launch of Parrot Education is in the U.S, where there is expected to be an increase in educational drone use in the coming school year. Recent rule changes by the Federal Aviation Administration now allow students to operate drones for educational purposes today, provided they follow the basic rules for model aircraft. As a result, students will no longer need special FAA authorization to fly as part of their courses, previously a significant hurdle.
Parrot has plans to expand their educational program globally over time.
