Exploring IT

Stay Curious!

My two passions are teaching and technology. I've always enjoyed tinkering with computers and pushing boundaries.

Recently I've started exploring options to add a Masters in Information Technology or Information Systems to my M.Ed. I have come up short time and time again for one reason or another. This program is too expensive, that school doesn't offer the right courses, and so on and so forth. After pulling my hair out, I finally decided to do what I knew I should have done all along: design my own path.

The knowledge is out there, free for the taking. Yes, it would be nice to have another formal degree, but it isn't necessary to prove my competency. So what did I do? I navigated back to Coursera, where I've dabbled in a few MOOCs, and signed up for every IT & Computer Science course I could. I'm dabbling in programming, systems analysis, security issues... you name it, I'm curious. I'm jumping back into Codecademy and Code Avengers. I want to learn! I want to expand my potential! I want to know instead of pretending I know.

Does this mean I'm thinking of leaving the teaching profession? Absolutely NOT. I love my job and my students. My heart is in the classroom. But, I would like to leave the door open to explore new opportunities. What would it look like for an English teacher to also be involved in IT? Maybe it's something I can do on the side or during my summers. Maybe it's something I can integrate into the classroom. Who knows! The possibilities are endless, and I'm ready to learn. Wish me luck.

Code Avengers

Over the past few months, I've been teaching myself coding using Codecademy. While I easily pushed right through HTML/CSS, I stalled on Javascript. In small bursts of mental gymnastics, I've made it halfway through the course.

The problem? The instructions are not written for non-programmers. Nine times out of ten, I'm finally able to understand what they are asking for by working backwards after looking for the answer in the forums. I do like the format, though - and I enjoy the projects. I've encouraged coworkers and students to check it out.

Yesterday, I stumbled across a comment on a blog post (unfortunately now I can't find it) where Code Avengers was offered as an alternative to Codecademy. Code Avengers breaks down coding into much simpler bites (haha) so that the average lay coder can tackle Javascript (and in the future, other languages). The format is a bit juvenile, but that may be the intention.

Simple layout

Whatever it is, CodeAvengers is FUN. I'm a visual learner - so the robot programming tutorials appeal to me. I also like the badges, although they aren't as creative as Codecademy's.

I feel like I'm playing with LOGO again!

Codecademy's strength lies in its user-base. By attracting a large number of users and creators, Codecademy is set up to continuously recreate itself into a better system. As it is now, it's still in the baby phase. However, just because you know how to code, does not mean you know how to teach coding. The guys at CodeAvengers, on the other hand, apply a sound teaching method. First, an overview of each topic is presented (topics are arranged in 10 lesson sequences). Then, over the course of the next eight or so lessons, the topic is taught and practiced. In the final lesson of that sequence, the user is quizzed. The quiz games are a bit hokey and annoying, but thankfully the animations can be turned off. I found the intro>teach>review method to help me retain far more information than I learned at Codecademy.

Small bug: not sure why I have the 2K badge when I only have 762 points.

CodeAvengers, like Codecademy, is still in the beginning stages. I see great potential, and I'm looking forward to new courses being unlocked.

Spread the word! It's an excellent teaching tool.