Educator Reviews on Common Sense Media
HOW I USE IT
I have been working with this program for three years. I have used it as a unit with grades 7 and 8 in a STEM class setting. I was trained through VidCode but had previously had no other training or exposure to coding. The best part is the versatility of learning. It not only has a block-based component, with which most "self-taught" student coders are familiar, but it also has a text based component. There is enough repetition that I and my students are coding on their own in a very short amount of time. Since becoming trained in VidCode, I have tried other coding programs and I do not find them as easy to use or as informative as VidCode. I am grateful to work with such a wonderful group of people as those who are the creators of VidCode. They are generous and rapidly responsive to my questions and with providing support!
MY TAKE
VidCode has provided an excellent program that can be used as a very effective teaching tool. The time it takes to get the students up and running is not excessive. It is mostly due to getting them to log on correctly. Once this is done, it is less than 5 minutes at the beginning of each class to get into the lesson. It can be used as a teacher-led program or an independent student program. The teacher-led aspect is very important for students who are English Language Learners (ELL), students who have low literacy, as well as students with special needs. There is also a helpful feature which allows the text of the lesson to be read to the student. This is also important for ELLs and those who have low literacy. The problem with this feature is that the accent of the digital voice is extremely difficult to understand. I am not aware of a way to make it so that it can sound more like native speaker English. At this time, neither I nor my students have discovered any other difficulties with the program. I have used JavaScript 101 and Digital Citizenship. It is important to use the JavaScript 101 first as Digital Citizenship employs many of the techniques of JavaScript 101. To use it as a stand-alone during "Digital Citizenship" week is difficult without first having completed the JavaScript 101. Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of the VidCode team in this way.
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