What a great couple of weeks we've had over the Easter holidays seeing so many children and teenagers join us (virtually) to learn coding in Python. Our Live Online courses combine the best of both worlds: live, interactive session run by our experienced instructors and on-demand content including video lessons, notes and quizzes.
We had sessions run throughout the day, whether it's for the younger students or the older teenagers, and whether it's early morning or late afternoon sessions.
Over these holidays we had courses for beginners to coding or those who are new to Python. Coding in Python is very different from using children's platforms such as Scratch. But don't worry, courses for more advanced students are being rolled out over the coming few weeks.
As a highlight I'd like to share the work of one our youngest students, Freddie, who couldn't stop coding after the session and he shared with us his finished work of art (video above).
How do the Live Online courses work?
Each Live Online course consists of 4 lessons.
For each lesson, students first watch a video introducing key topics. These videos are available on our online learning platform and can be viewed whenever a student wants, and as often as they need.
Students then join the live session led by our instructors. These sessions focus on working on projects to consolidate what has been learnt and include group discussions and other activities and a lot of coding by the students with guidance and help from our instructors.
Following the live session, students can test their knowledge through a quiz on our online platform, and if they wish view the videos again as well as read some notes summarising the key points.
And of course there's ongoing support during and after the course.
Is it difficult to get the technology to work?
In setting up these courses we worked hard not just to translate our curriculum and methods into a format that will work well online, but we also wanted to make sure that technology is not a barrier for anyone and that we can use it to good use. The course is run via our brand new online learning platform which hosts all the content and is very easy to use. All the coding is also done on this platform for the introductory courses.
From within the learning platform students can join the live session. This uses the video conferencing software Zoom that many are very familiar with these days. This also allows us to view the students' code during the session so we can help and assist. We guide students in the first session into how to use this technology effectively and within minutes everyone is comfortable with the tech.
Moving Forward
We always receive lots of thank you emails at the end of holiday weeks, but over these two weeks we had even more flood into our inbox. With children at home having less interaction with their peers and teachers, these live sessions also provide a way of getting a bit closer to "normality" for students.
For us at codetoday, kids' online coding courses are not just for these few weeks and months. It would have been easier for us to simply run our usual courses online over the past weeks but we feel that would not have worked. We have therefore worked tirelessly to bring our Live Online courses to our customers months ahead of schedule and we're pleased that these have been received so well by our students and their parents.
And now, we move to weekly Live Online sessions held after (home) school hours. Join us for a free demo and sample some of the content of our Live Online courses (sign-up at the top of the page) and we hope to see you soon, online.
