We created this course because we realized that many high school students wanted to, and were ready to, learn to code but many didn’t know where to start. At our University, we’ve heard too many stories of students who tried learning coding by Googling around for lessons and watching YouTube videos and walked away from poorly designed curricula thinking that coding was too difficult and/or “wasn’t for them”. We want to introduce coding to students in a way that gets them excited about all that coding allows folks to do.
For each course, $149 plus tax per student. This tuition covers all costs.
The student is expected to have access to a computer or laptop with a reasonably sized display and a functioning full-sized keyboard, to access and work through the online instructional materials and to email and schedule meetings via Zoom, with the instructional staff.
Students with little or no knowledge of coding will need to complete our application form for the Intro to Coding and Computational Thinking course. After the application form is submitted, an online screening module will be emailed for the student to complete, which we anticipate taking between 60-90 minutes (work at your own pace). After successful completion, you will be provided with a link to the payment page, and after paying for the course, the student is registered!
If a student does not successfully complete the module because they don’t have the algebra background yet, that’s ok! Please consider the program next summer!
Students who have completed Intro to Coding and Computational Thinking course (a prerequisite), can directly apply for the advanced Intro to Data Visualization & AI course, pay for the course, and get registered!
Students who have completed Intro to Data Visualization & AI course (a prerequisite), can apply for the next advanced course, Intro to Training, Evaluating and Fine-tuning an AI course, pay for the course, and get registered!
Students who are younger than 18 years old when applying should plan to have their parent/guardian available to complete the forms.
Students must be 13 or over at the time of completing the registration form.
Being 13+ years old is required by federal regulations (COPPA) governing online platforms (such as the ones we use). This is to protect children’s privacy online. And this makes sense, because courses like this need a basic foundation in learning, which young children will not have.
Yes! Once you apply for the Intro to Coding and Computational Thinking course, you will receive a link to a screening module. To enroll in the course you have to complete the screening module and pay the course fee. Instructions for how to pay or apply for need-based financial aid are located at the end of the module.
You can apply for the advanced Intro to Data Visualization & AI course (after completing the prerequisite Intro to Coding and Computational Thinking course). Instructions for how to pay or apply for need-based financial aid are located in the application form itself.
You can apply for the advanced Intro to Training, Evaluating and Fine-tuning an AI course (after completing the prerequisite Intro to Data Visualization & AI course). Instructions for how to pay or apply for need-based financial aid are located in the application form itself.
Our goal is to provide need-based aid to all who desire it.
Yes, it’s completely online.
Students just need a modern Internet browser (Chrome or Edge, with the latest updates), Internet connection, and laptop or desktop computer. Everything (including the coding and lectures/interactive textbook) will be online.
Whatever a student used to complete their online screen module will be sufficient for the course.
Note: We do not recommend Apple Safari, Mozilla Firefox, Brave, etc. They will work most times, but sometimes give unspecified problems.
The course is self-driven and asynchronous so having a drive to want to learn is important. The student is expected to finish one integrated lecture + reading + coding module each week, and that work will take 4-6 hours. How students schedule their time is up to them. Of course, keeping to the weekly schedule recommended in the agenda (will be provided once the course starts) is strongly encouraged and better than waiting for the homework deadline because the staff can help the student get unstuck if/when they do get stuck (which will most likely happen as the material gets more difficult).
For more information about our courses, visit the Courses overview page.
The course uses an interactive learning environment called a codex as the primary vehicle for student learning.
The student works at their own pace through the codex and is led step-by-step from concepts to applications via a mix of written descriptions of concepts, short video explanations, and grading challenges. We expect that the student will reach out to us via email or by scheduling a Zoom call with the coaches, whenever they are stuck or want to learn more – these as-needed conversations facilitate personalized learning in ways a video lecture just cannot.
Coding is best learned by doing, rather than watching someone else code! And asking questions as one is working on it. This course is designed to facilitate experiential learning and experimentation with the assurance that the teaching team is there for the student and available to help along every step of their learning journey.
Yes, a computer with a reasonably sized display and a functioning full-sized keyboard are necessary for the assignments. Mobile phone and tablet screens will be too small to read the content and code on Pathbird.
Students with little or no knowledge of coding must first apply for the Intro to Coding and Computational Thinking course. They must then complete an online screening module that will determine if we believe a student is ready for the course. In general, we expect students to have completed high school algebra and have knowledge of function notation (for example, what do y = f(x) = cos(x), or, z = g(x,y) = cos(x) + sin(y), mean?). Students who successfully complete the screening module, can apply for the Intro to Coding and Computational Thinking course and pay the fee.
Students with AP CS or priory coding background, including students who successfully complete the Intro to Coding and Computational Thinking course, can apply for the advanced Intro to Data Visualization & AI course, and pay the fee.
Students who successfully complete the Intro to Data Visualization & AI course can apply for the Intro to Training, Evaluating and Finetuning an AI course, and pay the fee.
It’s also important that participants also have a desire to learn and willingness to reach out for help when stuck (because most everyone gets stuck somewhere!), and 4-6 hours per week to commit to the course.
While the course can be for anyone who has the necessary fundamental math knowledge (therefore, no coding experience is necessary), if you have some coding experience, there is still much to gain from the course! While covered concepts may be familiar to some participants, students will also apply computational thinking (for things such as snapchat apps) while also gaining a better understanding of machine learning as a result of each lesson (for functions/recursions/conditionals). In general, this is an opportunity to have a chance to see the application of math concepts through the exciting world of coding!
We hope all students can leave with a “wow!” and also a “that’s all it takes to do that?” sense that makes them feel like they too can be part of the coding enabled apps we use and play with every day. Our program’s main goal is to “jumpstart” and energize students to want to take the next step by learning even more!
While the course is self-paced, not being able to participate in the course for a significant amount (consecutive days to a week) of time will create the need to catch up and consolidate the work in a limited time, which we are hoping to avoid for the students’ experiences. Our instructors are available to help students during regularly scheduled hours; however we are only able to help students complete the content of the course within the program’s date range, and want to ensure students are feeling supported and not behind to complete all the course’s content. While students are welcome to proceed with the application and course knowing they may not be available at certain times, students and families will need to assess for themselves if now is the best time to proceed given their plans or wait to possibly consider the course in the future.
The point of the module is just to check if applicants’ present background matches how we have designed the course. It is NOT a test to see if applicants can learn coding or not — EVERYONE can learn to code. It’s just that one needs to know some fundamental math knowledge before one can start, especially since we are doing this fully online.
So if applicants don’t have the algebra background yet, don’t worry — come back next year. We will be delighted to have you apply again!
Online screening module is only to be done before taking the Intro to Coding and Computational Thinking course.
Prerequisite for the Intro to Coding and Computational Thinking course is the screening module.
Prerequisite for the Intro to Data Visualization & AI course is the Intro to Coding and Computational Thinking course.
Prerequisite for the Intro to Training, Evaluating and Fine-tuning an AI course is the Intro to Data Visualization & AI course.
After applying for the Intro to Coding and Computational Thinking course, we will email instructions and a link to an online screen module for applicants to complete. In order to be further considered for the program, applicants must complete the module.
The point of the module is just to check if applicants’ present background matches how we have designed the course. It is NOT a test to see if applicants can learn coding or not — EVERYONE can learn to code. It’s just that one needs to know some fundamental math knowledge before one can start, especially since we are doing this fully online.
So if applicants don’t have the algebra background yet, don’t worry — come back next year. We will be delighted to have you apply again!
Once applicants have successfully completed this module, they will then be sent the registration/payment form. Once payment has been received as well as all necessary paperwork, students are officially in the Intro to Coding and Computational Thinking course and we can discuss study plans further.
For the Intro to Data Visualization & AI course, students must first successfully complete the Intro to Coding and Computational Thinking course or have prior coding background such as AP CS. Then just fill out the Intro to Data Visualization & AI course application form and pay the fee!
For the Intro to Training, Evaluating and Fine-tuning an AI course, students must first successfully complete the Intro to Data Visualization & AI course. Then just fill out the Intro to Training, Evaluating and Fine-tuning an AI course application form and pay the fee!
We strongly recommend students use a personal email address not given to you by your high school (e.g. k12.us etc).
Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, and so on non-school email addresses are best.
The reason for this is that because of privacy concerns, high school emails sometimes block emails from other addresses.
Thus, using a high school email address might mean that you don’t receive the emails we send to you before and during the course.
Moreover, using a non-school email address will allow you to access our instructional emails even after you have graduated from high school.
Unfortunately, no :(
We will award you with a certificate of accomplishment on your completing the course.
Students who have taken the course and gone on to take equivalent college coding courses find that they are able to dive deeper into the material, faster and are able to use the extra time freed up from their work in the Joy of Coding course to engage the college course instructor at a higher level.
There is a lot to learn and most college instructors would be delighted to have a student come and say “I got this — what more can I learn?”…We’d love for our Joy of Coding pre-college students to be that student in college (and beyond).
All modules (entire course content) is available at the start of the course!
But please give your best effort, rather than your hurried work – strive for deep and slow learning.
Remember that you can login whenever you like, and work for as long as you desire – even after the course ends! We recommend no more than two hours a day, to give your brain enough time to absorb the content and understand it. Trying to absorb too much new content in too short a time defeats the purpose of true deep learning.
All deadlines are flexible, late submissions are allowed with no penalty. But coaches are only available to help students during regularly scheduled hours, within the program’s date range.
There is no “project” at the end of the course. After you complete learning a module, you have to submit its corresponding assignment. You are considered to have completed the course if you submit all its assignments.
Since the entire course (and help via email and scheduled Zoom video) is online, you can take the course online from any country (except embargoed countries: Russia, Cuba, Iran, Crimea, North Korean, Syria or Sudan).
Since all Joy of Coding material is online, you can access from anywhere – provided there are no restrictions at your end that would block our websites. For example sometimes Internet providers or personal/corporate firewalls, or personal/corporate antivirus/security software blocks access.
We have had students take the course from other continents/countries – Europe, China, Kenya, Ethiopia, India… with no issues.
$99 plus tax per student. This covers all costs beyond hardware students need (see above) to participate.
