What does the program entail?
CodeHS is a library of online content that introduces the fundamentals of computer science to students with zero previous experience.
CodeHS students watch short (<5 minute) videos that explain the concepts, write code in the browser, and when stuck, can send messages to get help. We introduce programming through a microworld called Karel, next introduce the basics of a language called JavaScript, and then teach simple graphics and animations.
Students will learn to program their own
game, or anything else they can come up with!
What equipment is required?
Students must have access to computers with internet access to use CodeHS. Right now the best experience is on the Google Chrome web browser, so you want to download that to get started. If you can visit a web page, you can start CodeHS! We want to make it easy to get started.
What is required of students?
This depends on how much time you have for the students to work on it. We recommend that the students work on the class on some sort of regular schedule.
Our library currently has content that will cover around 100-150 hours of student time, and it's growing. If you contact us, we'll help you
set up a plan for your students that makes sense for your school's schedule.
The only real requirement for students is putting in the effort to try to solve the problems.
How does it work for the adult coordinator?
If the adult coordinator has no programming experience, we provide all of the necessary support directly to each student. The adult coordinator would simply need to make sure that the students are on task, and working in class.
If the adult coordinator has programming experience, or is interested in learning to program, he or she can use CodeHS and stay a bit ahead of the students (with our help). We will still provide help to the adult coordinator. While of course it can be helpful if the adult coordinator is familiar with the material, this is not at all necessary.
The entire set of videos, exercises, challenges, and structure of the curriculum are already created, so an adult coordinator would mainly just oversee the class. We also give the teachers tracking tools and progress reports for their students.
The focus for us is on providing help--to both the students and the adults involved in making this happen. We try to make our materials as easy to go through as possible without help, but we realize that programming is challenging, and that is why we provide help to students along the way.