Who is this course for?
This course is specifically designed for people who are wanting to learn to program, especially children, teenagers, university students…oh yes, and those more mature and looking for a change of direction or career!
What's the course about?
“Everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer…because it teaches you to think" (Steve Jobs). Steve Jobs is not alone in this thinking. Many of the people who are shaping our modern world are saying the same thing – programming is the language of the future. This course will introduce you to programming in the most fun, easiest, and most unique way possible.
You will learn all the basics of programming, and by the end of this course you will be able to push the limits of what can be done in Scratch. You will learn about sprites, about code blocks that control them, about useful elements like sounds, randomization, sensing, and lots more. While the environment is easy to learn in, what you will learn will be amazing.
Why this course?
There are lots of courses that teach you programming…and of course I suggest you do as many as you can. However, if this is your first time, or if you are wanting to see if programming is for you, or your children, then this is the best course for you. Why?
Firstly it will be fun! Learning that is not fun is not fun…OK, I suppose that makes sense ;-) Every step of the process is fun, plus what can be more fun than making your very first program a game…and a fun game too!
Secondly we will be using Scratch to teach you. Sure you will eventually want to learn programming languages like C++ or Swift or Java…as these will allow you to write mobile apps. However, I have seen countless people give up because these environments are so complex. You need to grasp the basics first…and that is exactly why MIT University developed Scratch. This is the best platform, used at schools and universities around the world, to learn to program. From here your options are limitless!
Thirdly when you learn to program you need to learn it in a special way…and that is exactly what we are going to do for you. You will be learning from two people – myself (Craig) and my son, Joshua. I have a PhD in educational technology and have been involved in technology and teaching it for over 30 years. I will share with you the benefit of my knowledge of teaching. Joshua, who began programming at 12, has a passion for programming and sharing it with others. He has written many successful apps and shares his unique skills in this unique course. Together we are going to share with you how you can learn to program and set yourself up for the most needed career of the future. Everything is going to need software to work, whether it's your fridge, watch, phone, car…all of these are programmed. Software is the language of our world, and those who know it hold the key to the future.
What kind of materials are included?
The course includes everything you need. The lectures are professionally created, as people have come to expect from my courses. We will explain everything to you and give you access to the source code files in Scratch. Plus in addition to this we have attached additional exercises with solutions to the end of most lessons. This means you can try other things to see if you have grasped the concepts.
How long will the course take to complete?
There are 3 sections to this course, with each section providing short powerful videos on individual concepts. Learning to become proficient in programming takes time…but this course will give you a jump start into what is one of the most needed and lucrative careers around…ask Mark Zuckerberg if your don't believe us!
How is this course structured?
This is an action course. So the course starts with getting to the doing straight away. The course starts with setting up your Scratch account and then in no time you have written your first program. The course is structured in the following way:
1.Section 1 – Introduction to Programming in Scratch - The purpose of this first section is to introduce you to the importance of programming, and the Scratch programming environment.
2.Section 2 – Making the Flappy Bird game - In this section we will guide you in a step-by-step way through the building of the Flappy Bird game. Here you will learn key programming constructs such as controls, sensing, data, and more.
3.Section 3 – Advanced Programming Features - This section now introduces some more advanced elements to our game including more on data and variables, sounds, etc.
Why take this course?
It is quite simply the best course, in the best starter programming environment, by the most qualified and unique teaching team!
I have a PhD in educational technology and am the developer of the Activated Classroom Teaching approach - a ground-breaking set of digital age pedagogies to support modern teaching and learning. I am the author of multiple books, and am the founder of the Activated Classroom Teaching program. I have over 20 years’ experience in education and am an internationally acclaimed speaker and writer. I have been widely published in the media (Huffington Post, Life Hacker, USNews, World Economic Forum, etc.) as well as appeared multiple times on TV and radio. For more on my publications etc.