My "hour of code" experiment
The availability of some great activities have encouraged me to incorporate "an hour of code" into my Education Graduate course "Emerging Technologies and Learning"
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For a couple of years now, I've wanted to host a basic HTML workshop. I see people frustrated with getting their websites / blogs / email campaigns to look they way they want, or to manage minor bugs in the layout. All it takes is a quick look at the HTML to see what the problem is, however, people don't know how to read HTML. I think a quick tutorial on HTML would make their lives so much better! This was my initial motivation for incorporating an hour of code in my class, but as I explored further I liked the idea more and more.
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Obama and Republicans unite for ‘Hour of Code’ computer literacy campaign
Today marks the launch of the “Hour of Code,” a massive publicity campaign to promote computer science education in schools across the gl… -
The concern I have is that the initiative is being driven from industry and not from education. I'd like to hear the voices of educators rather than politicians, industry leaders, and celebrities.
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Early Acquisition of Computer ScienceWhile they are somewhat few and far-between, studies by various universities and research organizations have confirmed the positive effec…
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This annotated bibliography reviewed some research to back up the idea that teaching computer science foundations is useful. Although the Milojkovic dissertation doesn't exactly sell the idea. They do bring up a good point, even if there are no "measurable" educational benefits, the motivational benefits are real. If an hour of code in elementary school causes more children to be interested in computer science, that may very well be a meaningful outcome.
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Scratch – Imagine, Program, ShareInformation for educators about the Scratch programming language and online community.
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My further searches within the academic world brought me to MIT and Scratch.
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Mitch Resnick: Let’s teach kids to code | Video on TED.com
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I first learned about Scratch in this TED talk. I immediately had to try it out, but it didn't hold my interest long. That was a few years ago, and at the time it didn't have enough interesting lessons to hold my attention. Perhaps what was missing was scaffolding?
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Code.org – The Maze #1
Provide feedback – Help us translate to your language Engineers from Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Twitter helped create this tutorial… -
Once I saw and tried out this little app, I was hooked. This is a great way to teach some of the basic concepts behind computer programming. It has all the necessary scaffolding to help a hesitant students through the process. Although it is built for children, I think the tutorials will also hold the interest of technology-nervous adults.
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And I really like that they have a lot of options. So if you have students who are already familiar with some basic concepts, they can tackle a more challenging project. Either way, all students can spend an hour on a coding project.
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Web FundamentalsNew to coding? Start here! Learn the building blocks of web development with HTML and CSS, and create your own website by the end of the …
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To answer my desire to teach people HTML, I found great tutorial (Thanks Jackie!). So, now my students can choose. They can do an Hour of Code activity that uses a fun visual coding language, or they can learn how to build a basic webpage in HTML.My goal behind this activity is to help build confidence in my students; especially, student who might be afraid of technology or nervous about exploring new technology. I'm aware that programming sounds pretty scary. I think an hour on one of the coding activities could help demystify what computer programming is all about.I look forward to hearing what my students think of this little experiment!
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