Now that school is out, it’s the perfect time to start offering coding clubs and independent learning resources at your library. This blog post will dive into different methods and resources to get your library started supporting everyone (with a focus on tweens and teens) in learning to code at your library!
Coding + Community at your Library
There are many reasons to offer computer science education and learn to code resources at your library. Some are:
Increasing confidence and abilities of the members of your community
Generating positive exposure to computer science
Transforming perspective and identity
Supporting their futures - every company is becoming a tech company
Carving professional pathways for all students - learning to code can help students no matter what their career interests are, and can even help them start their own companies!
School districts often don’t have the time or teachers with the correct certifications to offer inclusive computer science and coding classes. Often students don’t have space in their schedule for a coding elective, or it won’t be offered until upper high school. Libraries are able to fill these gaps for the tweens and teens in their communities.
Library Coding Clubs
Coding clubs are ideal for tweens and teens who want a structured environment and time set aside to code each week. It has the benefit of creating a community of new coders. Students get inspired to create more advanced coding projects when they see or remix what their fellow club attendees create. If you can, connect coding to real life - bring in guests working in tech from the local community for mini-lessons and to talk with students about their roles.
Why are coding clubs great?
Students learn more by coming back over time - can build through the levels
External motivation for students to keep learning
Help and mentorship when they get stuck
More advanced students can support newer ones, or older students can mentor younger ones
Students build advanced portfolios and learn important skills
Watch a sample coding club for help planning out your first day. Vidcode has Coding Club Kits and free resources specifically for libraries starting their first club, create an educator account to access them.
Vidcode offers our own Virtual Coding Club that meets once a week, and is a completely free way for students ages 10 and up to learn how to code. Sessions occur every Tuesdays at 3 pm ET. Club sessions will allow students to dive deeper into programming concepts and connect with other programmers for future collaboration.
Many libraries link directly to the Coding Club signup page from their websites as an easy option to offer their patrons an entry point into coding. Librarians are welcome to come drop in and see a session for themselves, and get inspiration for their own clubs! The downside is that it doesn’t offer the small groups and collaboration that a smaller in-library club allows for.
Workshops
Not every library is ready to dedicate the time and resources to an ongoing coding club. Many offer one-off events first as a way to gauge interest and give their library’s members a low-stakes introduction to coding. Code the News is a great project to use in a one-day workshop, because it involves filmmaking and recreating something students are familiar with with code. The Snapchat Filter tutorial is also a great workshop project, since the idea of learning to code a Snapchat filter can be a great draw for the tweens and teens you want to reach. It’s important during the workshop to show attendees how code connects to their lives, and the things they use every day.
Code the News example project
Snapchat location filter example project
Snapchat face filter example project
Hackathons
Sample hackathon schedule
Another one-day event option to get your members engaged in coding is a hackathon. Hackathons are friendly, sometimes competitive, coding events offering programmers and creators a space for playful, exploratory programming. Participants in teams of 2-4 spend the day gaining a practical understanding of the engineering design process as they tackle a meaningful open-ended challenge (often community-related).
6th grade students at a hackathon using Vidcode to make apps for their local community
Independent Learning
Your library can offer resources for your patrons to start learning computer science & JavaScript independently as well. Independent learning is great because it’s flexible - your library members can work at their own pace from wherever they are, and come in with specific questions or for guidance with a coding pathway. Vidcode virtual learning options make it easy for tweens and teens to choose the pathway that works best for them. They can learn JavaScript and Python while creating interactive memes and building their own projects in a fun coding sandbox. Share a link with your library members to create their own student accounts or add them to a group for your library.
Get Started with Vidcode
Sign up for a free Vidcode educator account
Try a few tutorials yourself
Download the lesson plan PDFs from your Vidcode Educator Dashboard
Over 50% of librarians running coding clubs with Vidcode don’t have any previous experience coding.
Review the corresponding Vidcode lesson plan for the tutorial you want to demo for your club that week. In the lesson plans, you can see which coding concepts are covered (arrays, functions, loops, etc.). Vidcode tutorials circle back on the same concepts as student progress through the course, so even if you lead a discussion or show a presentation for a Level 1 project, students on Levels 2+ will benefit from it and be able to participate.
More Great Content for Your Club
CodeScty is another incredible resource that can be used in conjunction with Vidcode’s coding curriculum. They combine the excitement of Hip Hop music with the effectiveness of videos to teach programming. Librarians can play their videos during a virtual club meeting or even have members download their mobile app to watch videos and learn on their own time.
Some Places to Start
Watch a sample coding club
Watch a webinar Hands-on Coding Events for Libraries
Explore a project for your members called “Code the News”
Create an account and add students for free
Community Resources
Looking for additional resources, or want to connect with other librarians focused on their coding programs? The Vidcode Forum is an online platform where you can post projects that you’ve just published, ask questions about coding challenges you are facing, and gain inspiration from coders all over the world.
