Welcome to 30 days of Code Club. The objective is to get students coding, in any format they choose, for 30 consecutive days. I believe it could be the start to a genuine interest in coding thereon.
How it works:
- Start date: Start anytime you want
- End date: 30 Days from starting
- Use resources if you need, provided here or any place else (books/web)
- Design- Code- Display, your work via screenshots everyday (if possible)
- Use – Create – Modify Code (Incase you find existing code, you need to create and modify it enough and not just republish it as is)
- Can be Block based or Text based languages
- Do a little bit everyday (if possible)
- Use the hashtag #30DaysOfCodeClub when posting your daily work OR keep a blog on Google docs, Microsoft Word or similar
- Make a 30 second video at the end of 30 days to present what you have been doing and post with the hashtag above. Post it to your social media with #30daysofCodeClub
Resources:
- CodeClub – https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/codeclub
This website has a wide range of options for the starting coder. They include a whole bunch of examples in each of the following: HTML/CSS, Scratch, Python. They also include physical computing projects using the Raspberry Pi-a credit card sized computer should you be interested.
This is where you get started in Scratch with tutorials. Make sure you create an account first as you want to be saving your progress.
- W3Schools – https://www.w3schools.com/python/
This website is a very good resource for Python as well as HTML/CSS and most of the commonly used languages. It has an online editor for you to try out code. Follow a video tutorial should you struggle to install python on your computer. Installing python is easy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-MuSAwgwCU
- App Inventor – https://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/get-started
This is a very good block based software to create Android apps online. You do not need any complex software, just an Android phone should you choose not to use the on board emulator (replicates a phone layout on your computer). Highly recommended.
- Gamefroot – https://make.gamefroot.com/
A very cool web based game development platform which uses block based coding to make events. If you are interested in making games, head over here and get started. You might be making games within 5 minutes!
Microbit is a pocket sized computer armed with a whole bunch of sensors. You can program the microbit using just the emulator or get one yourself for under $30(NZD). Provided with a large list of projects, this should keep you busy for over 30 days.
There are plenty of other options including the ever popular Arduino, VEX and LEGO kits should you choose physical computing to learn coding. If you have any clarifications please feel free to email me at pravin.vaz@vuw.ac.nz