Show HN: CodeAvengers, the future of K12 CompSci education is here

http://www.codeavengers.com/web

by nkeung • 14 years ago

2 3 14 years ago

nkeung2• 14 years ago

I have created interactive online courses that aim to teach web development to High School students in the most fun and effective way possible. My site also offers great support for teachers by providing live feedback of student progress.

Many people say... looks like a CodeCademy copy. Here is what makes my site different: * Designed from the ground up for someone who has never done any programming. Teachers have commented that the level of difficulty in my courses is perfect for beginners. * Examples that are more interesting for School students * Teachers support - I have had dozens of high schools try my courses in the UK and they love the lessons, and the live feedback!

Last of all... It was created by ONE person in NZ as a side project. No funding, no backing, just 1 guy, staying up all night writing code... then testing the lessons on his siblings and wife.

yjsoon• 14 years ago

Conceptually: I like the idea of giving some personality to the "type here and see something happen" code-learning toolkit, at least for the HTML/CSS course. Not sure how well this specific concept will go down with the entire range of K-12--I see this working well for grades 4-8 boys. (I teach programming to grades 8-11.)

Some specific issues:

- I'm a little worried about how the site throws a lot of (presumably unlicensed, at the moment) brands at the user. The Avengers logo, Samsung-branded phone in the HTML/CSS course, the DC Flash icon...

- Some essential lesson navigation elements ("results" in the JS course, "next" in both courses) are quite far down the page, which isn't great for users with small screens. A browser maximised for a 900px-height screen seems to work ok, but any smaller and the learner will have trouble finding the "next lesson" button, which can't be much fun.

- HTML/CSS course: Getting the learner to hit "check" immediately sometimes hides the result that would have shown up in the "browser". This could be confusing.

All the best!

nkeung2• 14 years ago

Thanks for the great feedback!

As far as screen size goes, it adjusts in lesson 2 or 3 to a different layout that is better for small screens. But I should probably just do that right from the beginning if the screen is less than 800px high.

As for CHECK, maybe I should force them to VIEW their page 1st... Also, I am thinking about showing the USERS page by default. They will have to click the EXAMPLE page to see what the page should look like. I will have to test this approach out on a few users first.

That course is targeted at 12-18 year olds. The programming course is aimed at 15yo+. But we have had people use the course in yrs 6-12. I plan on creating stuff for younger kids in the future.

As far as boys vs girls, the lessons do have a bit to try and entice girls as you go a long. And we have a bunch of stuff my younger sister is helping me out with that will hopefully make it more enjoyable for females.

Regarding copyright, I am in communication with Marvel lawyers, they didn't like our original logo, but seem OK with the current logo... at the moment. But havn't got the 100% green light on the new logo yet.

Also, in negotiations for sponsorship from Samsung. If that falls through, will be looking at other phone companies.

As far as the Flash goes, I have a friend drawing original images and he was promising them last week, but has been held up, so hopefully we will have those up by next week.

Show HN: CodeAvengers, the future of K12 CompSci education is here

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