The BBC micro:bit – from the UK to the World

Austin, Jonny and Baker, Howard and Ball, Thomas and Devine, James and Finney, Joe and de Halleux, Peli and Hodges, Steve and Moskal, Michał and Stockdale, Gareth (2020) The BBC micro:bit – from the UK to the World. Communications of the ACM, 63 (3). pp. 62-69. ISSN 0001-0782

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Abstract

The micro:bit is a small programmable and embeddable computer designed, developed, and deployed by the BBC and 29 project partners to approximately 800,000 UK Year 7 (11/12 year old) school children in 2015-2016. The micro:bit has been described by the BBC as "its most ambitious education initiative in 30 years, with an ambition to inspire digital creativity and develop a new generation of tech pioneers". This article describes the design of the BBC micro:bit, the realization of its goals through examples of the diverse projects crested with the micro:bit, reviews the project's history as it transitioned from a UK-centric to a worldwide project, and concludes with lessons learned and project outcomes.