Category: Learn to Code Classes

Coding at Home: Week One Wrap-Up

Week one is in the books! Thanks to everyone who tuned in this past week to our live sessions on twitch.tv/thecodehub

You can catch up with any of the sessions you missed on the kids.code() playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc_MDphRrtdJhvBXZMn5lbddqW4F3kaPd

Recap of the Week

Day one, we covered getting set up with the Swift Playgrounds app on your iPad (and Mac) and the Everyone Can Code Puzzles book in the Books app on your iPad. We also started on the Learn to Code 1 Swift Playground and showed you how to download it.

Day two we continued with the Commands chapter of the Everyone Can Code book and reviewed some of the puzzles we’d solved the previous day.

On day three we jumped into Functions, the next chapter in the book, and talked through the coding concept of functions.

And today, Friday, day four, we started with some advice about how to follow along with the live sessions or the videos and code on your iPad. We then jumped back into the Functions chapter.

Homework

“What? Homework? We’re all stuck at home all the time already?” you might be saying.

Well, consider it weekend work, then. Programming requires practice, just like playing a musical instrument or a sport; you don’t get better if you don’t try out the skills you’ve learned.

At the end of today’s video, we set you a challenge: solve the Treasure Hunt puzzle in the Learn to Code 1 playground.

Use functions, do it all out longhand, see how you get on. You can capture a PDF of your code from the ...‘s menu in Swift Playgrounds or you can copy and paste it into a thread on our new forum.

I won’t say there are no wrong answers, but even if your answers don’t 100% solve the puzzle, at the very least you’ve made an effort. Even the best of us programmers have bugs in our code!

Coming Up Next Week

Next week we’ll have more content and walk throughs of the Learn to Code 1 playground. We’ll also review the homework and show off one potential solution, at least.

I’m hoping to re-record some of the intro videos, for those of you coming to the sessions late, or who just want a refresher.

So far, so good, though! And if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for us, don’t hesitate to drop us a line. Or start a new thread on the forums!

Coding at Home: Thursday, 26th March

We’re streaming live today at 1pm, Irish time at https://www.twitch.tv/thecodehub

Today’s Session @ 1pm Irish time

For today’s session we’re going to recap our lessons about commands and move on to functions: writing your own commands!

So pop in, grab your iPad, and spend a little time coding with me!

Coding at Home: Wednesday, 25th March

We’re streaming live today at 1pm, Irish time at https://www.twitch.tv/thecodehub

We launched our first Twitch stream yesterday, which you can watch there. I’ve also uploaded the video to YouTube.

The beginning of the video will help you get set up, so long as you have an iPad and an internet connection.

If you prefer to read your instructions, yesterday’s post will show you where to go to get Swift Playgrounds and Everyone Can Code Puzzles, the ebook we’re using.

Today’s Session @ 1pm Irish time

For today’s session we’re going to walk through some more lessons about commands: how to use them, how to figure out when they’re not doing what we expected, or debugging. We’ll look at strategies for solving puzzles, which is a lot of what programming is.

So tune in, grab your iPad, and spend a little time with me, coding!

Get Creative with Code @ Dalkey Creates!

It’s been a busy October already at The Code Hub with our October Learn to Code session in full swing and a visit to Harold Boys National School for EU Code Week on Wednesday. Now we have our eyes set on Saturday, the 13th of October, for our sessions at Dalkey Creates, at Harold Boys National School in Dalkey.

Dalkey Creates
Dalkey Creates

We’re running three hour-long sessions at Dalkey Creates from 2-5pm on Saturday.

I’m particularly excited about working during the festival because I think using technology to express ourselves creatively opens up wonderful possibilities. That the festival have allowed us to run coding workshops alongside some amazing writing folks is a real treat and shows a real open mind.

Our box of goodies
Our box of goodies

We’re going to cater our work to all levels of programmers, from novices who have never coded a line or even heard of coding before to experts who are coding their own games and apps. We’ll explore some of the sensors and functionality of our iPads to place 3D characters (like our beloved Max the Fox, from Apple’s sample code). We’ll play with Sphero’s SPRK+, a little ball of a robot that lights up a room and can make slow shutter art. For all of it we’ll use Swift, which is the same programming language you can use to make apps for your iPhone, iPad, Mac, AppleTV, or Apple Watch.

Coding doesn’t have to just be about STEM, and we’re going to show you its Artsy side on Saturday. Our hope is that we introduce a new generation or two to the creative possibilities where they might have previously just seen a device for consumption.

Max the Fox
Max the Fox

Come Visit!

If you’re in Dalkey this weekend, be sure to check out any of the events on around town and then stop on by the Harold Boys school hall, where we’ll be getting creative with code!

And if you aren’t, it’s well worth a trip out on the DART, Dalkey is a gorgeous little village in South Dublin County. You might get a little bit wet with the weather, but then you can always pop by and get dry with an iPad and Swift Playgrounds…

Up Next

Up next for The Code Hub is another EU Code Week event at Loreto National School in Dalkey on Wednesday, and then we’ll be presenting two sessions at the Berlin Swift Educator Summit, put on by Apple on the Friday and Saturday. So if we don’t see you in Dalkey, maybe we’ll run into you in Berlin!

Book your Kid’s Session Now: Autumn 2018 Learn to Code Classes Live

We’re live with the latest Learn to Code classes for Autumn 2018!

Book your session now!

The first session will run from September 4th to the 25th, and the second will run from the 2nd of October until the 23rd. The classes are at the Mounttown Community Centre in Dún Laoghaire and take place from 6-8pm.

I hope to see your young coders-in-training there!

Book now for September or book now for October.

 

A Wrap on the Inaugural Learn to Code Classes, Spring 2018

Today’s the final day for our second session of Learn to Code this spring.

Parting thoughts: Learn to code
Parting thoughts

We’ve had two sessions of 10 kids each, with a variety of programming backgrounds, and ages from 7-12.

I’ll have a longer write-up on the class and the future of The Code Hub, but the quick take is that it’s been a blast. The combo of Apple’s Everyone Can Code curriculum with some of my own and a healthy dose of offline activities has worked well. The Mounttown Community Facility has been an amazing venue to host the classes.

More to come…

What is Computer Science?

You might think computer science is all about algorithms, arcane commands, and learning to think like a computer.

Learn to Code @ The Code Hub
Learn to Code @ The Code Hub

Doug Winnie touches on a lot of these points with his article “Why You Need to Know More Than Coding to Master Computer Science”; computer science is far more than just coding.

I agree with him. Computer science and the way I teach it at The Code Hub is all about opening up new possibilities for the students. This includes Doug’s touchstones of creativity, abstraction, data, algorithms, programming, devices, and even global impact.

One of my favorite moments in the class is when a student inevitably asks the question, “Hang on a sec, can I write a game like <name the game of the moment> with code like this?” That’s usually the moment the kid applies the stuff they’ve learned thus far to their own creative endeavors.

Digital Summit Ireland

Along those lines, Learning Tech Labs is hosting the Digital Citizen Summit at the beautiful Science Gallery Dublin on April 28th. It’s designed to explore the human connections we can build online and what that means for how we behave online.

So if you’re interested in the world in which our kids are growing up, it’s worth your while checking out the summit (it’s free!). I think it’ll be an interesting discussion for kids and adults alike.

Learn to Code Starting April 3rd 2018 in Dun Laoghaire — SOLD OUT!

I was all ready to post an article about the class I’m running at the Mounttown Community Facility in Dún Laoghaire, but it SOLD OUT IN TWO HOURS. Drop us a note if you want to get notified when the next class is scheduled.

The Launch of Learn to Code in Ireland

The Code Hub

The inaugural Learn to Code class starts on April 3rd and runs for five Tuesdays (until the 1st of May). It’s from 6pm-8pm in the evening at the Mounttown Community Facility and is for kids ages 8-12.
We start with offline activities to teach the kids language and logic they need to use to talk to computers. We’ll dissect a few devices (a Raspberry Pi, an Apple Watch) to see what makes them tick, what makes them the same, in some ways, under the hood.
After that basic introduction, we jump into coding on iPads, which are provided. We program in Swift, which is the same language app developers can use to make iPhone and iPad apps. We’ll use a thing called turtle graphics. I’ve brought a version of this tool to the iPad. The ideas behind turtle graphics came out of some interesting work Seymour Papert and Cynthia Solomon did, which they wrote about in a book called Mindstorms: Children, Computers, And Powerful Ideas. It lets kids relate geometric concepts to real life movement and coding at the same time. It’s done in a way that lets them quickly build and explore on their own.

Turtle Graphics on the iPad
Turtle Graphics in action on the iPad

We progress onto more complex computer programming concepts and go into stuff like programming robots (I have two of these very cool robots from Sphero called SPRK+). We explore augmented reality, where they can drop a 3D fox into a real life environment. And then we check out some really cool programming with material from a colleague of mine that plots the voyage of the Titanic, famous battles in Ireland, and an augmented reality challenge that uses characters from Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach.

So if that sounds interesting to your son or daughter, you can go sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/learn-to-code-tickets-43405747760*
* Of course, the class is sold out, so you can’t sign up at the moment. Contact me and I’ll drop you a line when the next set of classes is scheduled.