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CODE.ORG Launches New Online Learning Platform for Students

  • 09/11/14

Announces nationwide workshops to train 10,000 elementary school teachers throughout the year.

Seattle, Wa. — Code.org announced the launch today of Code Studio, its open-source learning platform designed to teach students the basics of computer science, starting as early as kindergarten. Code Studio combines a web-based learning environment for classrooms with a nationwide network of free professional development workshops to help teachers integrate the system into their curriculum.

This announcement marks the latest step in Code.org’s broader vision of bringing computer science to every student in every school as it continues to mobilize a nationwide teacher-development initiative across the country with 10,000 elementary school teachers.

“We believe passionately that every child who has an opportunity to discover the world around them through the use of a smartphone should also be given the learning capabilities and tools to build their own app,” said Hadi Partovi, founder of Code.org. “Code Studio enables even our youngest students to learn to build a basic animation or app in elementary school, and then share it to a friend’s phone within minutes.”

“In creating an open-source, online platform,” Partovi continued, “our hope is that all students will now have access to learn about the inner workings of the software technology that increasingly runs the world around us.”

Code Studio provides a mix of self-guided, online tutorials, video lectures by tech role models such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, game-based activities featuring Angry Birds, Plants vs Zombies, and Flappy Bird, “unplugged” group activities for students in classrooms, as well as creative outlets for students to create a personal portfolio of apps, animations, and art using code.

The Code Studio tutorials enable students to learn the basic concepts of computer science as early as kindergarten, and cover programming topics such as repeat loops, conditionals, and functions, as well as broader concepts such as how the internet works, or the role of digital citizenship in modern society. Code Studio expands on Code.org’s previous online tutorials which have already been used by over 30,000 classroom teachers and tens of millions of students. Any student can sign up for the beginner courses at http://studio.code.org.

Within Code Studio, a new Play Lab has been developed where elementary students can create and send apps or animations directly to a cell phone, just by typing in the phone number. This first in app-making and education for kids is possible through a collaboration with Twilio.

To help new teachers integrate the system into their classrooms, Code.org is simultaneously launching free, 1-day professional development workshops in more than 60 cities throughout the U.S., aiming to prepare 10,000 teachers to integrate Code Studio into their classrooms. Any elementary school teacher in the US can sign up for a local workshop at http://code.org/k5.

About Code.org
Code.org® is a 501c3 public non-profit dedicated to expanding participation in computer science and increasing participation by women and underrepresented students of color. Its vision is that every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer programming. After launching in 2013, Code.org organized the Hour of Code campaign – which has introduced 41 million students to computer science to date – and partnered with more than 30 public school districts nationwide to expand computer science programs. Code.org is supported by philanthropic donations from corporations, foundations, and generous individuals, including Microsoft, Omidyar Network and others.

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