Vidcode helps Highland Falls-Fort Montgomery Central School District engage students in STREAM curriculum and meet New York State Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards
Highland Falls is leading the way in New York State STEAM education. Highland Falls-Fort Montgomery Central School District is located in the heart of scenic Hudson River Valley and draws students from Highland Falls, Fort Montgomery, West Point, and Garrison. One of the ways Highland Falls is leading the way in New York State education is by connecting real-world impact and computer science. Students at Highland Falls are learning how computer science intersects with their hobbies, community, and the world.
New York released their latest standards in December 2020, propelling schools across the state like Highland Falls to find a solution to meet the requirements while prioritizing student interests and flexibility for remote learning. Highland Falls landed on Vidcode to meet the challenges at hand for their core coding unit for STREAM (Science, Technology, Research, Engineering, Art and Media) Class. The course teaches students about coding and robotics while making creative projects.
Highland Falls CSD chose Vidcode because they know how important a research-backed platform is; they wanted to be sure that students were learning proven computer science learning outcomes. They also wanted students to be able to express themselves, and Vidcode’s multimedia based activities were perfect for the creative nature of their class.
Kristen Magyar, NYSCATE’s 2020 Outstanding Teacher of the Year, is teaching with Vidcode across her STREAM classes. Today, students across all grade levels learn how to code, conduct research, and create multi-media presentations to showcase their work. Mrs. Magyar, shared “Vidcode this year allowed our students to express their creativity, continue our coding studies and create amazing projects. The connection from Block based coding to Javascript was seamless for the students as we tackled the JavaScript Pathway.”
Real-life learning outcomes
Highland Falls doesn’t just use Vidcode for in-class instruction. In 2019, they upped their game and ran a hackathon for all of their 6th grade students. During the event, students used Vidcode to create mockups of proposals that local businesses could use to increase traffic to their stores. The winning proposal was implemented that year!
The hackathon was broken into 3 days, where students got familiar with the Vidcode coding platform, did live in-person research, and used the data they collected to make informed decisions about what to build.
Day 1: Students got up and running with Vidcode and completed introductory JavaScript tutorials, like stop motion videos and animations.
Day 2: Students organized into teams and took a trip to town. They talked to local businesses about their problems and goals.
Final day: Students brainstormed solutions from their data. They spent the day finding solutions, coding projects, and at the end presented their recommendations and prototypes to judges.
Students worked collaboratively, they had to work together to find solutions based on evidence and build them on Vidcode. They saw firsthand through the experience how coding can make an impact in their local communities.
“Vidcode was a great resource for our 6th graders. The hack-a-thon allowed our 6th grade students to apply design-thinking protocols to an authentic problem in our community. Teams of students gathered information, analyzed data, and identified a solution.
The students used Vidcode to create and showcase the solution as a part of the final presentation to the judges. This was an important element of the overall process that allowed students to creatively display what they learned and how they envisioned the solution and its impact on the local businesses. ”
Vidcode for administrators
The Vidcode educator dashboard is an essential and intuitive tool to track and measure student progress. The dashboard is optimized to showcase student learning outcomes at a high level for school administrators and curriculum and instruction faculty members. At a glance, Highland Falls administrators can confidently see that their students are successfully learning skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives.
Leading the way in New York STate Education
When New York State announced the new Computer Science and Digital Fluency Standards in December, Vidcode was ready and in compliance. They knew they could confidently adopt Vidcode because of we were vetted for Ed-law 2D Compliant as part of our availability on the BOCES Erie-1 Contract. Highland Falls is already exceeding the new standards while engaging students in life-changing opportunities. Schools across the state, like Highland Falls, can count on Vidcode to be ahead of the curve in curriculum standards and student safety.
