To code or not to code…

Hello World!

In our ECMP 355 class we were given two options to choose from for our blog prompt that week. It was either 1. Go on Code Academy and create a scratch project or 2. Go to Code.org and do a screencast to show your how you progressed.

I chose to go on Code.org and create my very own Flappy game!

Now, before I share my screencast and talk about more about coding, and why it is important, I think I should first talk about what exactly coding is. Because if you are like me and you’ve never heard of it before then you are probably scratching your head wondering what the heck I am talking about. Ha-ha!

There are other names for coding… like… scripting, programming etc. etc.

So what exactly is coding?

well…

The definition of Coding according to Merriam Webster is “a system of symbols (as letters or numbers) used to represent assigned and often secret meanings”

Nonetheless, to code, is having the ability to read and write a “Machine language”; Just like other human languages that are harder to learn than others, machine languages can be the same. Some machine languages involve more trickier grammar and can seem very complex.

  Photo Credit: Christiaan Colen Flickr via Compfight cc

After I understood what coding meant I then pondered the question…

                                                                                                                             “Well, okay why would kids need to learn this?”…

I didn’t quiet understand why kids would need to learn coding, I mean Its cool but just didn’t seem necessary.

It wasn’t until we had to do a coding assignment on our own that it began to dawn on me…

When we got the assignment I wasn’t to happy to do it, haha mostly because I probably didn’t understand it all too well. We were given sites to go on and try coding and it seem too difficult for me…

 

Photo Credit: joshtasman Flickr via Compfight cc

So I sucked it up and thought I’d give it the benefit of a doubt…

I went to code.org, on Hour of Code and chose to create a Flappy Game.

Photo Credit: vapour trail Flickr via Compfight cc

 Before you create your flappy bird game you must complete a series of puzzles by following the instructions given. In order to move on you must follow the code instructions, it’s actually cool once you get into the swing of things. 

At first, it seemed to overly difficult for me, but after a few days of going back and trying again I started to understand more. I didn’t do a screencast while I went through the puzzles but I did one after and just explained where I had difficulty and how I succeeded in the end…

Here is my screencast shared from Youtube!

Psssssttt… This was my very first screencast, so I hope it’s okay haha!

Here is my Certificate of Completion

 

Overall, I liked the coding exercise it really challenged me, but I did not give up! After all of that I can finally see the bigger picture. I can see why students should be learning to code;

• it helps to develop important logic and problem-solving skills
• helps them to better understand the world around them
• challenge them to think analytically
• it can also help them with their creativity and creativity expression

For me, I feel that it definitely boosted my digital confidence, and definitely challenged my analytical thinking skills! I would definitely utilize that website in the future, I think my students would benefit from it greatly.

Thats all for now,

Skylar