COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho – Inspire Idaho is bringing economic opportunity to all Idaho residents by providing a free app development curriculum.
A partnership between the Innovation Collective and the University of Idaho will provide an online curriculum demonstrating app development and programming, and motivate participants to enter into the growing app economy.
"Software is eating the world. It is time that we start to understand that we need to participate in this knowledge economy in a way that is meaningful, that creates high wage opportunities for everyone, and changes legacies for families," said Nick Smoot with the Innovation Collective.
Throughout the month of March, Inspire Idaho will introduce the program to 20 cities throughout the state to show that coding is not as intimidating as it seems.
The tour will feature experts from around the country, trained in Apple's Swift programming language to highlight the advanced features and capabilities of the Swift programming language and app development curriculum.
Innovation Collective will connect in the communities to assemble the support teams for the program.
"This is revolutionary not just for Idaho but for the United States of America. This will be our solution going forward in a modern economy, " said Idaho gubernatorial candidate Tommy Ahlquist.
Alquist believes this program provides future growth for rural Idaho.
"This will provide mentorship, streamlining people to jobs, and it will provide a line of site to the future because all of a sudden we are thinking differently," Ahlquist said.
Inspire Idaho will enroll participants during and after the Experience Tour into local app development teams who will complete the curriculum over the course of 12 months at no charge.
Participants will learn from a curriculum designed and developed by Apple engineers and educators with the guidance and support of program mentors and experts assigned to a team.
Ultimately, participants will develop iOS apps with Swift using Apple’s Xcode.
Previous coding experience is not required for participation in the program.
The “App Development with Swift” curriculum is designed for people with any and all levels of coding experience.Their goal is for all Idaho citizens to have the opportunity participate in the new knowledge economy.
For more information visit Inspire Idaho's website.