Community reviews for Code.org

I love everything about what code.org has put out. It has inspired my students and have given them a sense of control. My students come from a high poverty area and giving them the tools to learn how to code gives them hope for the future.

This is a wonderful tool that is captivating and engaging and is very useful in the classroom to teach the foundations of computer science programming. The ability to track and manage is a wonderful addition and code.org has brought programming into the education forefront. Sometimes the hints can be misleading and further confuse students who are looking for help in progressing. Added hints and more relevant ones would make this even better than it already is.

I would definitely recommend this product to other teachers, especially if they are new to teaching coding/programming. Even my youngest students are able to grasp programming concepts and skills through the courses which include videos that explain them well. Many of my low readers and English Language Learners were not independently able to work on puzzles because they couldn't read the directions or the commands on the blocks of code. It would great if this product included a hover, read aloud feature to scaffold for these students like in Brainpop Jr. online quizzes. It would be even better if this read aloud feature would also work in other languages. The site has an option to translate text into many different languages. This feature is great for English Language Learners who can read in their native language. This unfortunately doesn't help many of my learners at the elementary level that cannot read in their native language. I think the assessment features of the site could really be improved. The data is not at the level of detail needed to meet administrators' requirements for teachers. Also, the site disabled log-in and as a result data tracking as well due to very high levels of traffic. This unfortunately made assessment data unreliable and unusable. As teachers are required to gather assessment data for every lesson, I am strongly now considering alternative products to teach coding/programming next school year. Another issue is that data is only tracked for the one course that the teacher chooses for the entire class. Many students wanted the ability to choose their own course, which they could do, but then I would not get any assessment data for that course. It would be really great if students could choose which ever course they prefer to work on and if I could get assessment data for each course a student works on. It is so important that student data accurately reflect student knowledge and skill level as well as their level of completion. It is also currently very cumbersome to transfer student accounts from their class this year to their new class next year. This meant that I had to delete all my student accounts (in the hundreds) and recreate them. Students were disappointed that all the programming that had completed last year had been erased. I then had to recreate all new accounts for students to use this year (again, in the hundreds, since I teach almost all students in the school). It would be nice if there was some kind of admin console where accounts could be created and managed easily from one school year to the next. There is a great feature that students can use to rate puzzles, which I showed them how to use. I then asked them to share which puzzles they rated and why. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no way for students or me to see which puzzles they rated. It would also be nice if students could share why they rated a puzzle the way they did (e.g., too hard, confusing, easy, fun, etc.)

This is a good tool for exposing younger age groups to coding and creating an interest around programming and computing as a whole. However, for teaching real coding and commands this is not suitable. But for younger ages groups, it is an excellent first exposure to the world of coding.

I think that Code.org offers more tools than any one teacher can use in a regular classroom, however, it is a wonderful way to introduce kids to the art and science of coding as well as logic-based thinking. In a computer lab, a teacher could base a 20-week (or more) curriculum off of the permanent collections housed at Code.org. Students can also take what they've learned at school and work on the skills and build on them at home.

Overall, Code.org is a great resource and starting point for teaching coding to elementary students. The website is easy to access and assign courses to students. However, confidentiality may be a concern in that students names are used to set up classes in order to assign courses. Also, the latest Beta versions of Star Wars and Minecraft have several bugs and seem to promote Disney products and suggest coding is all about building games.

Overall, I think this is a great teaching tool. What I liked was the combination of unplugged activities with online activities. The videos were also very helpful for the students. I like that there is a way for students to see the real code behind what they are doing. A bit more explanation about the real code would be a great addition.

I love code.org and will continue to utilize its resources as well as training. For those stages where kids got stuck when being challenged to create unprompted, I do recommend having some "story starters" handy for when kids need it. Perhaps this is something that code.org can build within its service. On the whole, it is hands down the best gateway into learning CS for younger kids and honestly prepares them in a way for scratch where creativity is entirely unscripted.

My overall opinion about code.org is that it's a great way to learn how computer programmers build games. It is a nice way to introduce computer science to students. I like that it gives you different games to build and also gives you the option to build your own game. It could serve kids better by learning about computer science and getting the students engaged and interested in computer science.

This is an extraordinary tool for teaching basic coding to elementary school students. It's fun, engaging, and FREE.