Tag Archives: Coding

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On Immersive Learning

One of the major benefits of CodeRev Kids is that it immerses your child in coding. EdSurge explores immersive learning in a recent article titled “The Benefits of Immersive Learning: From the Eyes of a Coding Bootcamp Student.”

Rex Salisbury of EdSurge writes, “I went to a selective liberal arts college and studied economics. Over the course of four years, I spent about 1,000 hours to get an economics degree. Four years after graduating, doing work I found unfulfilling, I went to a coding bootcamp where I spent 1,000 hours learning to code in around 14 weeks. At this point, you might be thinking, ‘Wow, 1,000 hours in 4 years versus 1,000 hours in 14 weeks—that’s a big difference.’ You also might be wondering about the utility of each of these programs. Am I more of an expert in economics—or coding? Becoming an expert in something isn’t easy. It takes work—a lot of work, in fact. Writer Malcolm Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours. But just doing anything for 10,000 hours isn’t enough. It has to be rigorous, self-reinforcing learning that continually challenges you. While most coding bootcamps fall quite short of Gladwell’s 10,000-hour rule, these programs will get you 1,000 hours of some of the most rigorous, self-reinforcing learning that you could ever imagine in an incredibly short period of time. How are bootcamp students able to learn so much, so quickly, you may ask? It’s simple—for 14 weeks, you don’t do anything else. You immerse yourself in coding as deeply as possible… Immersion is nothing new. We’ve known for years that it’s an incredibly effective way to learn. Consider, for example, learning a foreign language in that language’s country of origin. Learning coding at a bootcamp is similar to studying abroad when you want to learn a language; it’s immersive, it’s exciting, and there are tons of people surrounding you and supporting your learning every hour of every day.”

If you’re looking for quality, customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our camps today!

Coding Education, Skills

Young Professional Using Coding to Double Salary in a Year

A coding career can be life changing. Black Enterprise explores this in a recent article titled “How Coding Helped This Young Professional Double Her Salary in One Year.”

Courtney Connley of Black Enterprise writes, “As a high school student who enjoyed HTML and CSS coding, Jayana Johnson discovered her love for tech at an early age but had no clue how to establish a career within the industry. After dropping out of Long Island University as a broadcast major, she went back to the drawing board on what she wanted to do professionally and eventually landed a job as an events coordinator forCitigroup. After eight months at the company, Johnson then went to work as an assistant in the tech department at Weber Shandwick, and it was there that she solidified her decision to get more involved in tech. Now, as a UX Designer for MasterCard, the 27-year-old shares how coding school helped her to double her annual salary to $100,000 in just one year… It’s definitely something I was always interested in, but it was always just an interest and not something I pursued or was told there was a possibility to have a career in. I never saw anyone who looked like me that was doing what I wanted to do. I didn’t even know how to go about it until later on in life. Now, it’s easier to ask about programs instead of going to a four-year university and having to spend so much money… What I do is a little bit different than what most of my peers do. One of the reasons I wanted to go with MasterCard is because not only do I do Web design, but I also do user experience design, including front-end development… Other skills, besides actual tangible skills, are soft skills in terms of being able to network, because a lot of this has to do with who you know at the end of the day. So just getting yourself out there and becoming a part of the community and being involved not only in taking in the skills but giving back a lot. People will get to know you, find out what you’re about, and be willing to help you.”

When it comes to customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our camps today!

Coding Education

How an Engineer Father is Closing the Coding Gap in Utah

Improving the coding capabilities of America’s youth is a top priority. These are the jobs of the future and in many cases, these are also the jobs of the present. Consider a recent article for KSL titled “Father, engineer runs coding camp to help Utahns hone high-tech skills.”

Carrie Rogers-Whitehead of KSL writes, “Pat Wright, a father and engineer, was at a meeting in 2006 when someone asked: ‘Does someone want to put on a conference for coding?’ Even though he had never done such a thing, Wright raised his hand and said, ‘I’ll help put it on.’ That simple action started a chain of events for Wright that has impacted many. Wright started with small coding camps for professionals through his job at MaritzCX, which led to Digiforge, a youth technology conference. He has been the chairman of Digiforge the last two years. Digiforge is aimed at helping high school students in school districts in the Salt Lake Valley. It has been running for almost a decade and is put on by the Wasatch Front South Consortium, educators, professionals in the tech community and dedicated volunteers. The Digiforge conference was held again last Wednesday, March 16, at Salt Lake Community College’s South City campus. Over 500 teens attended keynote and professional presentations on topics such as big data, graphic design, video game programming, 3-D animation and coding. Jana Davis, programs coordinator of SpyHop Productions and one of Digiforge’s organizers, said, ‘The professionals giving tracks are giving a real world outlook of what other jobs are out there — teens get introduced to other positions that they might not be aware of.’ When the students attend these presentations, they don’t only learn about the topic, but all the work that goes in to create their favorite games or the apps and tools they use every day.”

When it comes to customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our camps today!

Education

A New Bracelet Designed to Get More Girls Coding

Technology is improving every day. It is permeating all aspects of our life. New wearable technology is being used to encourage more girls to code. Consider a recent article for Kill Screen titled “THE WEARABLE TECH THAT’S GETTING GIRLS INTO CODING.”

Cassidee Moser of Kill Screen writes, “Taking friendship bracelets into the digital age, Jewelbots teaches young girls to tinker and code their way into the exploding world of wearable technology. Whether it’s the Queen of Coding Grace Hopper or the new wave of women innovation engineers, fashion brand CEOs and musicians, young girls today have a growing number of role models who use science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) in their recipes for success. Having more role models is critical, but according to the founders of Jewelbots—the so-called friendship bracelets for the iPhone era—the next generation of women leaders and inventors will chase STEM endeavors at an early age, like a game of tag. ‘Kids want to have fun; it’s their job,’ said Brooke Moreland, co-founder of Jewelbots. These programmable wearables, which are powered by Arduino Gemma microcontrollers, teach girls how to hack hardware and code software so they can customize their own watches. ‘The sooner they realize how much fun they can have, the sooner they will be hooked,’ Moreland said. Hooking young girls with hands-on technology could lead them to careers that are underserved by women today. It might even inspire many to start their own STEM-related businesses, like Moreland and Jewelbots co-founder Sara Chipps. Through Jewelbots, Moreland and Chipps hope to inspire girls to pursue any careers, whether that means programming new video games or studying computer science. Hacking digital bracelets helps girls unlock their own curiosity and potential for becoming leaders in technology and business… Chipps is also a developer and co-founder of the non-profit Girl Develop It. She first noticed the importance of empowering young women while teaching them to write software at Flatiron School. Her female students were particularly excited, never realizing what they could do with software until someone took the time to show them.”

When it comes to hands-on coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our camps today!

Coding Education

Louisiana Governor and Deuce McAllister Spread the Word About Coding

While there are no shortage of coding educators willing to tell people about the wonders of coding, sometimes it takes outside voices to spark interest in children. Consider a recent article for the Clarion-Ledger titled “Gov. Bryant, Deuce McAllister spread coding gospel.”

Bracey Harris of the Clarion-Ledger writes, “Former New Orleans Saints running back Deuce McAllister joined Gov. Phil Bryant Monday in evangelizing the need for coding in the state’s classrooms. During the Bytes + Bites coding event to raise legislative awareness about the benefits of incorporating programming into a school’s curriculum, roughly two dozen students from a cluster of Jackson-metro elementary and middle schools switched roles to become teachers for the day. Sen. Brice Wiggins and Rep. Jay Hughes crouched down between scholars from Brown Elementary, Olde Towne Middle School, Reimagine Prep and Highland Elementary who showcased what they’d learned through programs like code.org and SCRATCH. McAllister, a longtime advocate for childhood education in Mississippi, told the young group of 15-year-old Luke Bannister from the U.K. who won $250,000, after placing first in World Drone Pix in Dubai. ‘I believe that next individual could be one of you guys in this room, because that’s the type of talent that you have,’ said McAllister. A common theme was that early exposure makes a difference. Half of the hands in the room shot up when Alexandra Vlachakis, southern district manager for code.org, asked how many students had an interest in computer science. Only a few were raised when she inquired how many had even known such a career path existed. Participants sat in three rows, deep in concentration as they tried to maneuver Princess Anna from the popular movie ‘Frozen’ around the screen, using a learning program from code.org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting computer science. The budding coders may have seen what was a favorite character from a beloved movie, but Gov. Phil Bryant saw something different — workforce development. ‘We’re getting you ready for a job,’ said Bryant. ‘Go tell your mom and dad that you’ll have a really good job in the future.’”

Looking for the best in hands-on coding education? Your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our camps today!

Coding Education

Coding Used for Suicide Prevention at MIT

Coding is about more than just helping young people prepare themselves for jobs later in life. Students at MIT recently showed it can be used to save lives. Consider a recent article for NBC News titled “MIT Students Use Their Coding Skills For Suicide Prevention.”

Allison Tate of NBC News writes, “Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are using their coding skills for an important cause: lowering the suicide rate at their school. In the past decade, there have been 12 suicides among MIT graduate and undergraduate students, according to the Boston Globe. While the university has instituted its own initiatives to support mental health, three students took it upon themselves to go a step further. Through an anonymous texting hotline called Lean On Me, anyone in the MIT community in need of support can reach out at anytime and connect with a peer — which can be just as important as getting help from a professional, says MIT sophomore Andy Trattner, one of the hotline’s creators. Trattner’s mother died when he was 10 years old, and he and his sister were sent to a therapist to help them with their grief. But that wasn’t what Trattner needed, he said. ‘It was really ineffective for me, because I didn’t have anyone who was a peer to speak with,’ Trattner, 20, said. So last fall, when he and fellow MIT students Nikhil Buduma, 21, and Linda Jing, 20, came together at MIT’s annual HackMIT hackathon with the intent to build something that could help support students’ mental health, Trattner wanted to make sure it would provide that kind of authentic peer connection. ‘I wanted to find a way to create a safe space where students could get past the trivialities of ‘How are you? What classes are you taking?’ and really get to the core of each other,’ Trattner told NBC News.”

When it comes to customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our camps today!

Skills

The Similarities Between Basketball and Coding

Basketball and coding are much more similar than you might think. How so? Consider a recent article for Motherboard titled “How is Basketball Like Coding? Ask the Kids at This Madagascar Tech Camp.”

Emiko Josuka of Motherboard writes, “On Saturday mornings, Patrick Andriamahenina takes a group of 14 excited Malagasy kids through their basketball paces. But these are no ordinary lessons: Most have never touched a basketball before, and Andriamahenina is not using the lesson to teach them sport; he’s trying to teach them to code. ‘We’re drawing out the similarities between basketball and coding,’ Andriamahenina, a local Malagasy basketball coach, told me in French over the phone. ‘For example, while playing Scratch (a free programming language), kids have to think strategically and make quick decisions. It’s pretty much the same thing in basketball.’ Dream Camp—where 42 kids are currently receiving lessons—is a project geared to teach underprivileged Malagasy kids coding, conservation, sport, and hygiene. It was set up in November 2015 by Chris Corbett, the founder of Human Development League (HDL), a non-profit organization based in Madagascar. The Malagasy are an ethnic group that forms almost the entire population in Madagascar. The camp provides training to kids aged between seven and 12. To set up the pilot operations, Corbett teamed up with Andriamahenina, Malagasy coding guru Sahaza Marline, and basketball coach Cray Bony, who has run basketball camps in both the USA and Tanzania. The training venue is at the local technical high school, which has a basketball court but only five very old computers for roughly 1,000 students. ‘We really wanted to give these kids some coding skills that could help with future employment,’ Corbett told me. In a report, UNICEF states that out of the 100 children that attend primary school only 60 percent graduate, and only 25 percent go on to complete junior high school.”

When it comes to customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our winter camps today!

Skills

Turning from Mining to Coding for New Careers

Coding offers plenty of potential for those looking to change careers later on in life. Consider a recent article for Arkansas Online titled “Miners switch from coal to coding.”

Tim Loh on behalf of Arkansas Online writes, “Today, he rolls into an office at 8 a.m., settles into a small metal desk and does something that, until last year, was completely foreign to him: computer coding. ‘A lot of people look at us coal miners as uneducated,’ said Ratliff, a 38-year-old with a thin goatee and thick arms. ‘It’s backbreaking work, but there’s engineers and very sophisticated equipment. You work hard and efficiently and that translates right into coding.’ He works for Bit Source now, a Pikeville, Ky., startup that’s out to prove there’s life after coal for the thousands of industry veterans who’ve lost their jobs in an unprecedented rout that has already forced five major producers into bankruptcy. Bit Source has hired only 10 coders, but almost 1,000 responded to its ads as the realization spreads across Appalachia that coal’s heyday is over. What fills its void is a challenge so immense that presidential candidates including Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have cited the industry’s woes on the campaign trail. ‘We’ve got a lot of high-skilled hillbillies here,’ said Rusty Justice, a 57-year-old co-founder of Bit Source. ‘We want to prove we can run a tech business from the hills of eastern Kentucky.’ Few places are as steeped in coal lore as Pikeville, a town of 6,900 wedged into a narrow bend in the Big Sandy Valley. Over the years, surrounding Pike County has produced more of the fuel than anywhere else in Kentucky. In 1996, when Ratliff was still a teenager and his father worked in the mines, the local producers dug up 35.6 million tons, a state record. He eventually followed his dad into those mines.”

When it comes to customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our winter camps today!

Coding Education, Education

Turner Joins Obama Coding Initiative

President Barack Obama has made no bones about his push to get more young people into coding. Now Turner Broadcasting is putting its name into the fold. Consider a recent article for Fortune titled “Why Turner Is Investing $30 Million in Obama’s Coding Initiative.”

John Gaudiosi of Fortune writes, “President Barack Obama has made the ‘Computer Science For All’ initiative a key priority for his last year in office. And Turner Broadcasting is the latest company to invest in this initiative, which focuses on making coding and other hands-on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning an integral part of every student’s education. Turner’s $30 million investment in engaging kids in creative coding will roll out this year and become part of how Cartoon Network connects with its 6- to 11-year-old audience moving forward, according to Christina Miller, president and general manager of Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, and Boomerang. The network’s multimedia platform reaches over 94 million children. ‘Technology is transforming the access point for the next generation of creators and we have the outreach to go to our audience and let them know that if they want to be an animator or a storyteller there are PC tools available at their fingertips,’ Miller says. ‘We know this generation of kids is different than the one before it because they want to participate. They’re more of an open source generation.’ Turner has partnered with the MIT Media Lab to alert kids that the free block-based coding language Scratch is available. The Adventure Time characters were used in a recent DIY.org animation contest as a way for kids to use Scratch to code simple animation like the show’s characters walking.”

When it comes to customized coding education, you can’t go wrong with CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our winter camps today!

Coding Education, Education

Proposal to Make Coding a Foreign Language Shows Need for Customized Coding Education

The need for more computer programmers in the U.S. is very serious. People all throughout the country are taking steps, some more drastic than others, to catch up. Consider a recent article for the Tampa Bay Times titled “Proposal allowing computer coding as foreign language advances.”

Kristen M. Clark of the Tampa Bay Times writes, “A controversial idea to allow high school students to count computer coding classes toward foreign language credits cleared its second committee in the Florida Senate on Wednesday — but senators did not seek to resolve concerns it could impose an unfunded mandate on schools. Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, had previously said the Senate’s education budget committee would address the fiscal impact of his plan (SB 468), but that panel on Wednesday discussed nothing about the dollars that might be needed to fund it. Ring said after the meeting that he felt there were no financial impacts, because Senate committee staff didn’t note any when reviewing the bill. The analysis acknowledges, however: ‘The bill may have a minimal fiscal impact on school districts as they shift resources to offer more computer coding courses.’ Some senators previously worried that the bill would place a burden on schools — especially those with already strapped technology resources — by requiring them to have sufficient computers, software and specialized teachers to meet the demand of students who opt to learn coding in lieu of a foreign language. Sen. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, said he voted against it again Wednesday because his concerns weren’t addressed. The rest of the Senate budget committee voted in favor of the bill. ‘All it takes is that one parent and it overburdens schools when they say, ‘I want my child to have computer coding,’ because now you have to figure out how to facilitate a teacher and space,’ Bullard said. ‘All of those have dollars attached, and none of those concerns were remedied.’”

When it comes to sustainable, customized coding education, you can’t go wrong with CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. We are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, but we also keep the focus on having fun. As a result, students stay engaged while learning to blend creativity with technology.

Sign up for one of our winter camps today!