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We are often asked whether we run courses in Robotics, Scratch, Minecraft, Witchcraft and Wizardry and all sorts of other things.
No, we don’t.
At CodeToday we teach coding (or programming if you prefer) and the best way to do so is with a computer and a proper (text-based) programming language such as Python, and nothing else.
Coding is not new, but as a subject taught to children it is still in its infancy. In many places it is still treated as an activity primarily aimed at keeping kids entertained, or simply to tick the coding box in the national curriculum. As computer programming matures as a subject there is no doubt it will take a more serious form, but today’s children don’t have the luxury to wait 10 or 15 years until school teachers are trained sufficiently to teach coding competently and until parents learn to understand this topic better and demand more from their schools and holiday camps. At CodeToday we believe that coding should make the transition to a serious, important subject at a much more rapid pace and this is a message we will keep shouting from the rooftops because we are passionate about it.
We are also asked why we don’t teach other programming languages. Why should we? Learning how to code is very different to learning a coding language. We help students learn the former: programming is about learning a new way of thinking that is logical and systematic, that requires planning and problem solving, that fosters a mindset in which errors are welcome as they are the only way to move forward. The programming language is merely a means to communicate this thinking to a computer. Until one is proficient in programming it is best to stick to a single language, and Python is the language of choice for beginners.
Now let’s be honest, it’s not easy to deliver fun and engaging coding courses for children without gadgets and gizmos and fancy software that does all the coding for you. Just as I’m sure it’s not easy to perform open heart surgery, which is why we seek professionals to operate on patients. At CodeToday we are proud to bring a high level of competence and professionalism to teaching proper coding, properly.
How do we know that we are succeeding in delivering this high quality service? Over 75% of our clients come back for more*.
We’ve got nothing against robotics and Minecraft and we’re glad there are others providing this service. But our line of business is teaching coding. That’s all we do. And we do it well. Very well.
[Correction: we do teach Witchcraft and Wizardry; it’s just that we call it programming.]
Stephen Gruppetta is the founder of CodeToday. After graduating in Maths and Physics from the University of Malta and obtaining a PhD in Physics from Imperial College London, Stephen spent 15 years working as an academic scientist, using programming as an indispensable tool in his research. After moving on from academia he set up CodeToday which runs coding workshops in schools and courses for children across London, and starting this summer in Malta too.
*Based on an analysis of 100% of clients in the latest two full quarters in which 76% of the participants in our 2016 fourth quarter (Q4) courses requested a place on a course in the following quarter.
