GitHub Universe 2021: Education Track Highlights
GitHub Universe 2021 has come and gone, but the education-focused announcements from the two-day event are worth revisiting. The conference covered DevOps, security, developer productivity, and open source communities, with GitHub Education hosting a live watch party on the GitHub Education Twitch channel alongside Campus Experts and student community leaders. For those who missed the live sessions, here are the key updates from the education track.
Campus TV and Event Highlights
The Campus TV stream featured multiple hosts reacting to the main stage content in real time. Notable moments included a live gaming session with TwilioQuest, where participants could learn JavaScript fundamentals through the TwilioQuest JavaScript Test Lab mission. The team also announced the Game Off 2021 quick-time event, which kicked off November 1, with Campus Experts playing previous Game Off entries and discussing game development.
A New Home for Students
GitHub Global Campus is now the central hub for students on the platform, offering a one-stop shop to connect with a community of over 1.7 million students worldwide. The new space consolidates access to:
- Local Campus Experts for community connection
- Industry tools through the Student Developer Pack
- GitHub Classroom assignments
Students can register by applying for the Student Developer Pack; once accepted, Global Campus is accessible at https://education.github.com/.
Intro to Web Dev Experience
To address the cost and complexity of website development, GitHub Education launched the Intro to Web Dev Experience with partner tools at no cost to students. The offering covers the full development lifecycle:
- Build and edit with JetBrains and Bootstrap Studio
- Host with GitHub Pages and DigitalOcean
- Learn fundamentals through TwilioQuest, Microsoft's Web Development for Beginners curriculum, and Educative
The experience is available now at https://education.github.com/experiences/intro_to_web_dev. Campus Expert Kunal Kushwaha demonstrated building a website in under 30 minutes using these tools.
GitHub Classroom 101 for Educators
A dedicated session covered getting started with GitHub Classroom, whether for courses, workshops, or hackathons. The walkthrough included first-time setup, best practices, and a look at how students interact with Classroom assignments.
New experiences were also shared, including a Visual Studio Code extension for students working in Classroom. The session recording is available on the Universe 2021 site.
