How Can Teachers Use It?
Codemoji is an engaging tool that helps teachers guide students through the main coding technologies that drive websites: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It's ideal to supplement direct instruction as an option for flipped or blended classrooms or for an after-school enrichment program or summer camp offering. Content-wise, Codemoji easily fits into a computer science, STEM, or media arts course.
Students can work individually or collaboratively, either by exploring in the Playground (HTML and CSS) or tinkering around in the Beta-mode Workshop (JavaScript). The teacher dashboard manages classes, tracks student progress, and presents data/assessments in a variety of ways, but it can be temperamental in unsupported browsers, so stick to Chrome and Safari for now.
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What's It Like?
With Codemoji, the inner workings of websites are demystified as students get hands-on experience building webpages and animations. The "emoji" part of Codemoji is exactly that: a library of relatable emoticons that represent specific, text-based commands in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (for example, an HTML Head Tag is represented by a panda head emoticon). Emoji are strung together to create lines of code that follow standard coding logic and syntax. Run the Codemoji in the Live Display box to instantly see the webpage or animation in action. The Show Tags tab displays the text version of the code.
Each lesson starts with step-by-step, multimodal instructions: text and a computerized text-to-speech option, followed by drag-and-drop animated instructions showing Codemoji moving from the Emoji Box into the Text Editor (in HTML lessons only). Students can run and get instant feedback on their code and progress at their own speed. There's a live-chatting feature, several how-to videos on YouTube, and a Codemoji Facebook page for additional resources.
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Is It Good For Learning?
Codemoji is a solid intro to web coding that's icon-based. Cumbersome coding text is transformed into a relatable emoji, and each emoji function is taught conceptually. There's no need to memorize strings of code, be a proficient typist, or have a deep understanding of coding syntax. This is especially helpful for emerging typists, ELL students, and visually based learners. Students can work at their own pace, have access to clear, multimodal instructions, and instantly see webpages and animations their code creates.
Codemoji is mostly drag-and-drop, and students can opt to add text into HTML code (to customize titles, for instance). That said, they'll be required to enter text and numbers in CSS and JavaScript lessons to specify certain commands, such as assigning color and animation coordinates. It's easy to run code, see it in action, get feedback, and showcase creations.
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Log in either to play with or learn about building webpages.
Drag and drop emoji to create a syntax of code.
Students can see how their code creates webpages in real time.
Teachers can assign specific HTML, CSS, and JavaScript lessons for individual students.
Full-featured teacher dashboard manages and tracks student progress.
