Coding Education, Skills

Taking on the Coding Skills Gap

The United States has a major problem when it comes to the coding skills gap. We have a need for more people with coding capabilities but many college graduates are not leaving school with these skills. Consider a recent article for Bloomberg Business titled “Are You Wasting Your Money at Coding Boot Camp?”

Sarah Grant of Bloomberg Business writes, “Fixing the gap between the skills that students graduate college with and the ones they need for a good job has been O’Donnell’s battle since he was Colorado’s secretary of higher education, from 2004 to 2006. In that role, he privatized the state’s student loan servicing business. ‘I was constantly getting complaints that there weren’t enough STEM grads,’ he said. ‘There wasn’t a lack of college grads; it was that the graduates didn’t have the critical skills employers needed.’ The rise of boot camps has been one answer to that problem. The pitch: Learn tech-related skills such as mobile development, Web design, and coding for a fraction of the time and expense it would take to get a Master’s degree. Boot camps last from 10 to 12 weeks and charge about $11,000. Starting salaries for boot camp graduates, said O’Donnell, can range from $70,000 to $100,000. There are 67 full-time boot camps in around 51 U.S. and Canadian cities, according to boot camp review site Course Report, which estimates that by the end of this year, the market will have grown 138 percent from last year. Not all these programs live up to the promise of all-but-guaranteed jobs with great salaries, however. And with no formal accrediting system in place, prospective students have little data with which to compare them. What’s more, lenders can’t determine how much a program will help or hurt student creditworthiness. Some programs don’t even track graduates’ outcomes, said O’Donnell. ‘If a program doesn’t even have the processes in place to know what their numbers are, it’s an indication that the program isn’t as competitive,’ he said.”

For those who really want to get ahead of the curve and set themselves up for lucrative coding-related careers, it starts early. When it comes to youth coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids.

At CodeRev Kids, we offer a customized coding education that focuses on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming concepts and languages. Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. Even though we are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, 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 classes today!

Coding Education

Customizing and Engaging Young Coders

Jobs are a very enticing argument and/or motivation for coding education for adults, but young coders need more hands-on engagement. For example, consider the impact of robotics. News 6 takes a look at this in a recent article titled “Muskogee Students Learn Coding, Robotics After School.”

Tony Russell of News 6 writes, “It’s a first for Muskogee Public Schools. Starting next week, more than 80 students at Robertson Junior High School will get a chance to do more extra curricular activities after school. When the bell rings around three, students who don’t play sports at Alice Robertson Junior High School go home. That gives them about two and a half hours to do whatever they want while they wait for their parents to come home from work. So the school decided to ask for grant money from the Oklahoma Department of Education to keep the students learning after school. Austin Robinett, an eighth grader, is signing up for the program in hopes of getting hands-on learning after class.  He and his fellow students believe the program is needed in Muskogee. ‘You have a whole bunch of kids who have nothing to do after school, so they go out and do whatever they want to do with their friends and go get in trouble,’ he said. ‘I think it’s a great opportunity for kids to learn something that would actually benefit their future and their career.’ ‘It’s really important because it gives us something to do after school,’ said Phuong Ngyuen, a seventh-grade student.”

Or for another look at engagement, consider a recent article for CBS DC titled “Maryland Coding Contest Encourages Students to Pursue Computer Science.” According to the author of the article, “An hour of computer coding might be the first step toward a well-paying career in computer science. That’s the idea behind the Hour of Code challenge happening across the country and in Maryland Public Schools. According to Code.org, Maryland currently has nearly 20,000 open computing jobs, but only 2,000 computer science students graduating from the state’s colleges and universities. ‘We are not graduating enough students in computers science fields to fill those jobs,’ says Cindy Hasslebring, special assistant to the state superintendent of schools. The average salary for a computer science occupation in Maryland is $98,593. To encourage more students to learn this profitable skill, the Maryland Hour of Code contest will give a $10,000 technology award to a public school that provides an hour of coding to each of its students during Computer Science Education Week, Dec. 7-13.”

When it comes to youth coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, we offer a customized coding education that focuses on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide range of programming concepts and languages.

Our lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. Thus, the entire curriculum is customized. Even though we are known for saying we are the most educational tech camp out there, 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 classes today!

Coding Education, Education, Skills

How Coding Can Kill Two Birds With One Stone

There are more coding jobs than there are people to fill them. This provides opportunities for women and minorities who have been systematically denied chances in other industries. Consider a recent article for the Atlanta Black Star titled “Study: Coding Boot Camps Bring More Women, Minorities into Tech.”

According to the author of the article, “As technology increasingly becomes a vital part of our lives, diversity in tech will continue be a major issue.According to a study by New York startup Course Report, coding boot camps like Black Girls Code and Code for Progress are filling the diversity gap at a quicker rate than the diversity initiatives of tech giants. The report revealed that 36 percent of the attendees at coding camps are women. Course Report co-founder, Liz Eggleston, said that may be a result of the tech industry’s on-going diversity movement. ‘The market demand is there,’ Eggleston said. ‘Tech companies want to get closer to a 50-50 split, so they’re demanding more female applicants.’ The report findings suggests that companies like Twitter,who announced months prior that they intended to add more women to their work force, should consider attending the coding camps to begin their recruitment process.”

UALR Public Radio also explores the importance of coding, especially for young people, in a recent article titled “Governor’s Radio Address: Coding In The Classroom.” The author of the article writes, “Teachers like Gerri McCann are our schools’ secret weapons. As a high school French teacher from the Manila Public School District, Ms. McCann’s first impression of computer coding was that it was like ‘learning another foreign language.’ But she realized its importance and dived right in. By the end of her training, she was confident enough to add teaching Computer Science to her other subjects, including French, English and Literacy Ready classes. Now Ms. McCann can offer her students even more opportunities to succeed beyond high school. Learning the ‘foreign language’ of coding was challenging, even for someone who began her career teaching French. But Ms. McCann understood the value of coding and earned a master’s degree in Information Systems. Why would she do that? To better prepare her students for a technologically driven world — a world in which computers touch everything.”

When it comes to providing youth with a customized coding education, we’ve got you covered at CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide range 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 fall classes today!

Coding Education

Finding Good Coding Teachers

In some places, it is hard to find quality coding teachers. Consider a recent article for the Tennessean titled “Search for coding teachers encounters obstacles.”

Jaime McGee of the Tennessean writes, “If the point of building a computer science program is to prepare students for jobs that are in high demand, how do you find coding teachers who are already highly sought after in the private sector? It’s the conundrum that coding programs across the United States face as they seek to fill their teaching ranks. At RePublic Schools, which offers computer science at four Nashville schools, the strategy has been to find teachers who are interested in teaching coding, rather than finding coders interested in teaching. ‘Given the way the economy and the actual demand for jobs is right now, someone who is really proficient in computer science seems to have a lot of flexibility in the job and environment they work in,’ said Ryan York, RePublic’s chief information officer. Part of it comes down to salary. An average middle or secondary school teaching job pays about $49,000 in Tennessee, while Tennessee software developers make an average of $82,000 to $88,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. York was a math teacher at Apollo Middle School when he taught himself computer programming. He created software for teachers that would help them track students’ proficiency more efficiently and develop individualized learning plans. Having already developed a passion for education, he shifted his focus to technology, but still within schools.”

Some adults might need unconventional ways to pick up on coding so they can teach it to youth. Consider a recent article for Quartz titled “This new robot teaches kids about coding—but it’s awesome for grown-ups, too.” Mike Murphy of Quartz writes, “Dash and Dot are meant for young children (although the box says ‘Ages 5 to ∞’), so Gupta says for now at least, the actual code behind what kids are doing in the app won’t be available for them to check out. But Gupta says he wants to get kids thinking at an early age about how things in the digital age actually work. And although I’m not the target demographic, I liked building little programs to make Dash and Dot terrorize my coworkers, or annoy my roommates. I liked being able to take a broad view on my programs, seeing how every step would unfold—something that is often lost in laymen looking at a text-based programming language. While I’m not entirely convinced that a five-year-old would be able to appreciate the coding aspect of Dash and Dot yet, Gupta said it’s a toy that’s meant to grow with kids.”

When it comes to customized coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, students learn computational thinking, which encompasses a wide range of programming concepts and languages. 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 after school programs or fall classes today!

Coding Education

Making Up for Lost Time with Coding

Later in life, many people realize they missed out on an opportunity by not learning coding early on. Consider a recent article for Quartz titled “Coding bootcamp grads boost their salaries by 40% on average.”

According to the author of the article, “A comprehensive study examining the outcomes of coding-school alumni found they, on average, boosted their salaries by 38%, or $18,000, after completing their programs. In a report released today (Oct. 26), the Course Report, which tracks the learn-to-code industry, found participants on average paid $11,852 for tuition, with programs typically lasting three to four months. A third of them said their schools guaranteed jobs to students after completing their programs. But 21% of the 665 students who graduated between 2013 and 2015 reported being unemployed. When the employment rates are broken out by graduation date though, 89% of students who were 120 days out of school found full-time jobs, Course Report cofounder Liz Eggleston tells Quartz. While the makeup of students who attend coding schools still largely skews white and male, there are encouraging signs these so-called bootcamps are helping diversify the industry by encouraging people in their early- to mid-careers (on average, participants were 31 years old) to become programmers. The survey found 36% of bootcamp grads were women, compared with the 14% of women who were awarded bachelor’s degrees in computer science in 2013-14. They also saw a bigger increase in salary following the completion of their programs, a lift of $25,283 compared with men’s $14,839, and reported higher salaries overall.”

Readwrite also takes a look at this in a recent article titled “How Much English Majors Earn After Coding Bootcamps.” Gregory Ferenstein of Readwrite writes, “Silicon Valley is racing ahead with its own alternative to college and new research from bootcamp review site Course Report suggests that graduates are out-earning some of their diploma-wielding peers. Nicknamed ‘coding bootcamps,’ these offerings have become a cottage industry of fast-track private vocational schools for graduates looking to enter the competitive tech industry as software engineers, data scientists, and other in-demand jobs. Many graduates hold college majors notorious for slim earnings potential (like English Majors,) and are now fully-employed in the tech industry making a lot more money.”

When it comes to providing youth with a customized coding education, we’ve got you covered at CodeRev Kids. At CodeRev Kids, our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide range 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 fall classes today!

Coding Education

Customizing Coding Education to Reach Kids

It’s one thing to recognize that there is a major need for coders in the workforce. Developing an effective plan of action is another. Institutions throughout the country are making an effort to inspire young coders through a variety of methods. Consider a recent article for NPR titled “Federal Student Loans Expand To Cover Some Coding Boot Camps.”

Meg Anderson of NPR writes, “Starting soon, students will be able to use federal loans to pay for certain coding boot camps, the immersive web development courses that promise to make students into programming experts in just a few months. The experimental program will allow traditional accredited colleges to partner with coding boot camps and other short-term certification programs. Because they’re attached to colleges, the U.S. Department of Education will be able to evaluate their effectiveness. Colleges can begin applying today. The price tag for coding boot camps can be as much as $20,000, but the allure of high paying tech jobs has attracted an estimated 16,000 students this year alone. Enrollment in these programs is soaring, but the hefty cost means camps have been popular mostly among those privileged enough to afford the risk.”

Delaware Online also takes a look at ways to reach the youth in a recent article titled “Delaware native makes coding kid-friendly.” Scott Goss of Delaware Online writes, “Peter Kinney played a lot of video games while growing up near Townsend. Perhaps a little too much, if you ask his mother. But Kinney’s love of gaming – particularly strategy games – seems to have paid off. The 25-year-old Charter School of Wilmington graduate is now the lead programmer at Digital Dream Labs, a Pittsburgh-based educational technology company he co-founded in 2012. This month, the startup released the final version of Puzzlets, an innovative gaming platform that includes a downloadable app designed to teach basic computer programming skills to children ages 6 and older. The game, called Cork the Volcano, is similar to familiar titles, like Super Mario Bros., in that it involves a character avoiding obstacles to advance to the next level.”

When it comes to youth coding education, your best bet is CodeRev Kids. Our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming languages and concepts. These 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 fall classes today!

Coding Education, Education

Coding and a Well Rounded Education

We have long known that a well rounded education is the best education. However, people are trying to pit important subjects against one another and the residual effects could be detrimental to young people’s future careers. Consider a recent article for the Tampa Bay Times titled “Editorial: Don’t sacrifice foreign languages for computer coding.”

According to the author of the article, “Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, is the sponsor of SB 468, which would allow students pursuing a diploma on a college preparatory track to substitute two credits of rigorous computer coding classes for two credits of sequential foreign language instruction. To earn full credit, computer coding students would have to earn a related industry certification at the end of their coursework. The bill would allow students who earn the computer coding credits to be eligible for the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program. Each school district would develop a plan for a computer science curriculum and submit it to the Legislature by January 2017. In Florida, students seeking a 24-credit standard diploma are not required to take foreign language classes. But students on track to attend college who wish to receive a diploma with a scholar designation must earn two credits in a world language, which mimics entrance requirements for Florida’s public universities. Ring, a former Yahoo executive, sees coding as its own unique language. But such a switch deprives students of valuable spoken language training, and a coding curriculum fits best within the science and math disciplines. Providing students with the chance to receive two years of coding instruction is a terrific opportunity that goes beyond the state’s existing commitment to expose students to computer science training from kindergarten through 12th grade. But sacrificing traditional foreign language study would be a mistake. Florida, with its large population of Spanish speakers, should be on the vanguard of language instruction, pushing all of its graduates to learn new languages and appreciate different cultures, races and ethnicities.”

CodeRev Kids fills in the need for coding education for California youth. Our lessons focus on computational thinking, which encompasses a wide range of programming concepts and languages. These 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 afterschool programs and/or fall classes today!

Coding Education, Skills

Check Out the Mobile Browser Two Brothers Made!

Coding offers many solutions to problems throughout the globe. Consider a recent article for Pulse titled “Nigerian brothers build mobile Web Browser out of ‘boredom.’”

Folarin Okunola of Pulse writes, “Anesi and Osine Ikhianosime, 13 and 15 years old respectively, are students of Greensprings school, Anthony Campus, Lagos, and they developed an Android based web browser called Crocodile Browser Lite sometime last year. As a matter of fact, these teenagers’ creation is actually on the Google Play Store. Speaking to TechCabal.com, Osine, 13, said he writes the code together with his brother, for their creations and his brother also designs the UI. At a closer look, these genius brothers are just like every other teenage boy but not quite at the same time. Osine likes to play soccer, but also takes coding as a hobby – which is not something every 13 year old boy does. His interest in computers began at the tender age of 7, the same age which he and his brother –who was 9 at the time (born June1, 1999), decided to start a company of their own. Inspired byMicrosoft’s ‘Windows’ platform, they initially named their new company ‘Doors’, but later changed the name to ‘BluDoors’ when they found out that the initial name had been taken. The two brothers decided to learn to code at ages 12 and 14 respectively. ‘I learnt to code by myself. I started in 2013, I used sites sites like Code Academy, Code Avengers and books like ‘Android for Game Development’ and ‘Games for Dummies’,’ said Anesi. According to both brothers, they started developing an Android based web browser, which they named Crocodile Browser Lite, about a year ago, out of boredom. Their strong interest in technology, coupled with their desire to learn, informed the decision to create a functional, fast browser for low end feature phones because ‘We were fed up with Google Chrome’, according to them.”

There are few better ways to cultivate young coding minds than with customized coding education. This is what we specialize in at CodeRev Kids.

At CodeRev Kids, our lessons emphasize computational thinking, which encompasses a wide range of programming languages and concepts. These lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise. 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 fall classes today!

Coding Education, Education

Chicago Mayor Gives Big Endorsement to Coding

Coding is becoming a major priority for schools across the country. Chicago recently made a bold statement when the Mayor suggested that all high schoolers should code. Consider a recent article for Ubergizmo titled “Chicago Mayor Thinks All High School Grads Should Know How To Code.”

Tyler Lee of Ubergizmo writes, “Should everyone young person learn how to code? As technology becomes more integrated in our lives and with more jobs and industries relying on technology more than ever, the answer might be a ‘yes’ for some. Over in Chicago, the city’s mayor Rahm Emanuel seems to think so as well. According to a report from The Hill, Emanuel expressed his opinion that every high school graduate should know how to code, to the extent that he thinks such classes should be made a requirement in schools. Emanuel was quoted as saying, ‘Just make it a requirement. I am fine with Common Core. We adopted it in the city, one of the first cities to do it. I’m great. [But] you need this skill — national policy. Make it a high-school graduation requirement.’ Emanuel has been a huge proponent of making coding a requirement in schools. Ever since becoming mayor in 2011, he has made several steps towards that goal and by 2018, computer science is expected to become a requirement in high school graduations, at least as far as Chicago is concerned.”

Slash Gear also explores this in a recent article titled “Chicago mayor calls for national coding graduation requirement.” Brittany Hillen of Slash Gear writes, “The call was made by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who made the proposal this past Thursday. He pointed out that kids need to have this knowledge to thrive in the present and future world. Chicago itself already has plans in place to get its high schoolers on the coding path, moving to have computer science sources as a graduation requirement. According to The Hill, in a statement at a Washington Post-sponsored event, he said, ‘Just make [coding classes] a requirement. I am fine with Common Core. We adopted it in the city, one of the first cities to do it. I’m great. You need this skill — national policy. Make it a high-school graduation requirement.’ While a noble effort, there are some big barriers in place — namely, finding individuals with both the tech credentials and the teaching credentials to teach such classes. As it stands, and as many critics have pointed out, those qualified to teach the classes can earn much higher salaries taking their skills elsewhere, giving them little incentive to become a high school instructor.”

With coding education becoming increasingly sought after, taking advantage of customized coding curriculum is even more valuable. When it comes to custom coding education for youth, your best bet is CodeRev Kids.

Our lessons emphasize computational thinking, which encompasses a wide variety of programming concepts and languages. These lessons build upon one another and we adjust starting points to each student’s level of expertise.

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.

If you’re looking to take your child’s coding education to the next level, you can’t go wrong with CodeRev Kids!

Uncategorized

Hello Ruby Opens the Door to Coding for Children

It is no secret that young people in the United States are enthralled with their video games. This doesn’t mean video games necessarily have to be a distraction, however. These games can be used as educational tools. Consider a recent article for Geek Dad titled “Hello Ruby: Adventures in Coding – Thinking Like a Programmer.”

Randy Slavey of Geek Dad writes, “Hello Ruby blew past its initial $10,000 goal on Kickstarter nearly two years ago to become one of the most anticipated children’s books to be launched on the crowdfunding platform. While there are dozens of excellent programming books available that are targeted specifically to kids, what makes Hello Ruby different from other coding books is its surprising lack of code. Any code. Hello Ruby contains no “Hello World” examples, no “Build a Working Calculator” project. There is no mention of language or syntax. In fact, unless you’re reading the eBook version, you don’t even need a computer. Instead, Hello Ruby approaches programming, not as a skill to be taught, but as a way of thinking about a problem. Written and illustrated by programmer Linda Liukas, formerly of Codecademy and 2013 Ruby Hero, Hello Ruby tells the story of a precocious little girl named Ruby who goes on an adventure to find five gems her father has hidden for her. Along the way, she meets a number of interesting characters that will probably seem a little familiar to those with programming or general computer backgrounds. Ruby has to learn to communicate with the penguins, who can be difficult to understand at times with their utterances of ‘grep!’, ‘ awk!’, and ‘bash!’, and the Snow Leopard, who lives on the mountain and prefers simplicity and purity. Throughout the book, Ruby is faced with problems that must be solved using basic principles of programming such as conditions and loops.”

While video games can do wonders for young children, at a certain age, they need human mentorship. This doesn’t have to be less fun or engaging. In fact, with CodeRev Kids, we emphasise having fun just as much as we emphasise coding concepts and languages. As a result, our students stay engaged and learn at the same time.

Furthermore, all of our lessons are customized to fit each students’ level of expertise. All of these lessons emphasise computational thinking, which encompasses a wide range of programming concepts and languages. Thus, they are just as thorough as they are fun.

For more, check out our fall classes and afterschool programs!