Teaching Coding with Confidence
Everything you wish you knew about getting started with coding with students.
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Welcome!
We are excited about your interest in taking this online course from Educational World and Worlds of Making. Below you will find a brief course description, the instructor's biography, and course FAQ's. We estimate that this course will take 4 hours to complete. Once you have completed it, you may request the 4 hours of Professional Development towards your teacher licensure re-certification. We hope you will find this course valuable and enjoyable. If you have any questions, please email us at [email protected].
Enjoy!
PE Central and Human Kinetics Professional Development
Did you know that coding is part of the Maker Movement?
Coding has never been more accessible and applicable to all ages than it is now! Resources in this course are at low to no cost, and include a mix of online/offline activities. This multi-media platform with guide educators with NO CODING SKILLS AT ALL to be confident and comfortable helping students learn how to code!
Target Audience: Activities are designed for a variety of grade levels, but are best suited for the Pk-8 environment including classroom teachers, after school professionals, library media specialists and camp counselors.
Course Purpose: The purpose of this e-course is to equip educators with the information and skills they need in order to get started with coding with students. Through a series of lessons and tasks, participants will gain the skills necessary to facilitate coding clubs, integrate coding, or host your own Hour of Code!
Course Description: Coding has never been more accessible and applicable to all ages! Thanks to block based coding languages such as Scratch, students and teachers can learn to code in a safe and easy environment.
Connect with people from all over the world to code robotics, machines, games and a wide array of digital maker projects, build your knowledge base and confidence here! This course will guide educators with NO CODING SKILLS AT ALL to be confident and comfortable helping students learn computational thinking, problem solving, and computer code in a variety of languages and formats.
Course Goals: The information provided in this course will teach you the following.
You will learn:
• Gain a basic understanding of what is meant by ‘Coding’.
• To explore “unplugged” coding games, activities, and resources available to you and your students.
• Learn how to begin coding with young learners.
• Explore self-paced courses that are available for students to help them gain exposure to the fundamentals of computer science.
• Demystify the basic concepts surrounding robotics.
• Unpack the term gamification and how it related to coding.
Learning Materials: Through a series of lessons and tasks, participants will gain the skills necessary to facilitate coding clubs, integrate coding, or host your own Hour of Code! Resources in this course are low-cost/no-cost, and include a mix of online/offline activities. Additional reading materials will also be a part of the course. All materials will be housed in the online course module and available for download.
Technology Needed to Complete: You will need a computer with an updated browser to complete the course. In addition, you will need a working and valid email address.
Access to Children: You will need access to students to complete this course, or a small group, in order to receive your microcredential.
Your Instructor
Barbara Johnson is a Library Media Specialist at Jack Jackter Intermediate School, in Colchester, CT, teaching grades 3-5. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Computer Educators of CT Association and the CT Association of School Librarians, and is the Chairperson for the CT Digital Library Advisory Board. She has most recently joined EBSCO Information Services on their K-12 School Library Advisory Board and has been recognized as the 2016 CT Library Program of the Year.
Barbara has a 3 year old Makerspace, that includes self directed activities and collaborative projects.
Testimonials
Carol S.
June 2018
"I will be teaching coding as part of a new Makerspace area in the elementary school library this coming year, where I am the Library Media Specialist. It's an area I have been trying to get started for over a year now, and after waiting to get permission, and then ordering some of the components such as a new larger screen computer, and more tablets, and some small group area furniture, it will finally be used this coming year. We have been doing fund-raisers for a couple of years, to build up enough extra money to do this. Also, I had decided that I was going to have this as part of our library time, (after they are done checking out books), whether I knew anything about coding or not. I was thinking, "If you build it, they will come." Then this class, and the other one I'm taking, just came up as an opportunity at the end of the school year, and I am so pleased that I enrolled in both of them! The other class is called "Creating a Makerspace for Students." I feel like I will now be ready to teach coding, and this class has given so many resources, I'm really thankful! I'm going to practice, the rest of the Summer! Also the big take-away from this class is that we are all learning this new skill set, together, students and teachers alike! The kids don't care if you aren't an expert yet!"
Michele H.
May 2018
"I think the big takeaway is that everyone can code and the more you practice the better you get. I'm also amazed at how much fun students have with the unplugged activities. It was enlightening to watch them work together. To see them realize that debugging was just a part of programming and mistakes are a normal part of the learning process. My students were supportive of each other and stayed on task and persevered. I am excited to take on this new role and to encourage students to look at technology in different ways. I can't wait to watch them develop new ideas and use technology as a tool that they can continue to build on throughout their education and into their careers."
Therese
May 2018
"I am amazed to see what my daughter and friends have created and achieved so far in coding. I find it inspiring. I truly want to continue harnessing this environment creativity some more."
Worlds of Making
This course is part of the Worlds of Making Courses
Every child has the right to invent, tinker, create, innovate, make and do. Worlds of Making aims to provide professional learning experiences for educators who want to create makerspaces that are unique, meaningful and relevant to their school communities.
Check out Frequently Asked Questions Here!