Code.org
FormationJanuary 2013 (January 2013)
FoundersHadi Partovi and Ali Partovi
PurposeComputer science education
HeadquartersSeattle, Washington
Hadi Partovi
Websitecode.org

Code.org is a non-profit organization and educational website founded by Hadi and Ali Partovi[1] aimed at K-12 students that specializes in computer science.[2] The website includes free coding lessons and other resources. The initiative also targets schools in an attempt to encourage them to include more computer science classes in the curriculum.[3] On December 9, 2013, they launched the Hour of Code nationwide to promote computer science during Computer Science Education Week through December 15, 2013.[4][5][6]

History

Code.org was launched in January 2013 by Iranian-American brothers Hadi Partovi and Ali Partovi, as a non-profit focused on making computer programming more accessible. The initial focus was on creating a database of all computer science classrooms in the United States.[7] At the time, Hadi Partovi stated that about ninety percent of US schools do not teach programming, despite it now being a "foundational field".[8] The idea for the organization came from Hadi, who states that he thought of it on the day of Steve Jobs's death in 2011 while mulling over his own potential legacy.[9] After this, Hadi began working full-time in attempt to further grow the platform and organization.[10]

In late February 2013, a month after launch, they released a video featuring Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey, and other programmers and entrepreneurs on the importance of learning how to code.[11][12][13] Two weeks after the launch, TechCrunch reported that the video had gone viral and received a lot of positive attention.[14] Partovi raised about $10 million for Code.org from various tech companies and tech company founders.[15] In 2014, Code.org posted a one-hour tutorial to build and customize a Flappy Bird video game using the site's block visual programming language.[16][17] Code.org has also created coding programs revolving around characters from the Disney film Frozen,[18] in addition to Angry Birds, and Plants vs. Zombies.[19] In December 2014, Code.org held a successful Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign that raised over $5 million to help educate school children.[20] Overall, about 100 million students have been reached by Code.org efforts.[21][22] On November 16, 2015, Microsoft announced a partnership with Code.org to launch Minecraft as a tutorial to teach kids how to code.[23]

In February 2016, Code.org won the award for "Biggest Social Impact" at the Annual Crunchies Awards.[24] In December 2016, Code.org rang the opening bell of the NASDAQ.[25] In March 2017, Code.org began extending its work to the region of Rajasthan, India.

Hour of Code

During Computer Science Education Week[26] from December 9 to December 15, 2013, Code.org launched the "Hour of Code Challenge" on its website to teach computer science to school students, enticing them to complete short programming tutorials.[27][28][29][30] The Hour of Code involved getting people to write short snippets of code to achieve pre-specified goals using Blockly, a visual programming language. The initiative had been announced about two months in advance[31] and at the time of launch, the initiative was supported by then United States President Barack Obama as well as executives from technology companies such as Microsoft and Apple Inc. It was also supported by educational online learning platforms such as Khan Academy.[32][33][34] About 20 million people participated.[35][36][37] The Hour of Code also offered participation gifts to some of the schools involved, such as a set of fifty laptops or a conference call with one tech "luminary" like Gates or Dorsey.[38] The crowdfunding effort for Hour of Code received the highest amount of funding ever raised on Indiegogo.[39] By October 2014, about forty million students had taken the Hour of Code class,[40] and a second Hour of Code was held in December 2014.[41] That year, locations for Hour of Code lessons included Apple retail stores.[42] In December 2016, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau helped launch the international Hour of Code campaign for 2016.[43] In December 2017, Code.org announced that Hour of Code had reached over 500 million hours served.[44]

Curriculum efforts

The first step in the organization's efforts as regards the curriculum of schools was to work with US school districts to add computer programming as a class. Most US schools did not have a course code for computer sciences, in order for schools to be able to offer coding as a class. After this, the next step was to create free online teaching and learning materials for schools to use if instituting computer science classes.[45] By 2014, Code.org had launched computer courses in thirty US school districts to reach about 5% of all the students in US public schools (about two million students),[46] and by 2015, Code.org had trained about 15,000 teachers to teach computer sciences, able to reach about 600,000 new students previously unable to learn computer coding, with large percentages of those being either female or minorities.[47] To date, Code.org has prepared over 72,000 educators to teach computer science.

That year Code.org was partnered with about seventy of the largest US school districts (including each of the seven largest), representing several million students. The company also partnered with other computer class businesses and private entities to provide additional computer learning materials and opportunities.[48][49] As of 2015, six million students had been enrolled in Code.org curriculum classes.[50] That year, Code.org partnered with College Board, in order to develop a slate of advanced placement computer classes.[51] The main platform used in Code.org instruction is Code Studio[52] which according to TechCrunch, "teaches the underlying concepts in programming through the manipulation of blocks of logic that when stacked together in a particular order, move a character around a scene or draw a shape."[53]

In 2018, Code.org celebrated record participation by girls and underrepresented minorities in AP computer science classrooms, driven in large part by students in the Code.org CS Principles classrooms.[54]

Legislative efforts

One of the main lobbying efforts of Code.org in state legislatures is to ensure that computer classes are not registered as foreign language classes, but as science classes, in order to ensure that more than coding is taught in computer courses.[55] Code.org also focuses specifically on female and minority students, as the organization believes these are the students most at risk of not receiving computer science education before high school or college.[56]

Goals

According to its website, Code.org has the following goals:[3]

  • Bringing Computer Science classes to every K–12 school in the United States, especially in urban and rural neighborhoods.
  • Demonstrating the successful use of online curriculum in public school classrooms
  • Changing policies in all 50 states to categorize C.S. as part of the math/science "core" curriculum
  • Harnessing the collective power of the tech community to celebrate and grow C.S. education worldwide
  • Increasing the representation of women and students of color in the field of Computer Science.
  • Increasing their global outreach by making their courses available in more than 45 languages that are used in over 180 countries.

Reception

Writing for San Jose Mercury News, Mike Cassidy praised Code.org and the Hour of Code, writing: "A publicity stunt is what we need."[57] John Dvorak was critical of the Hour of Code in an article for PC Magazine. Dvorak wrote: "I see it as a ploy to sell more computers in schools."[58]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Guynn, Jessica (2013-02-26). "Silicon Valley launches campaign to get kids to code". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2015-12-24. Retrieved 2014-11-19.
  2. ↑ https://articles.latimes.com/2014/apr/07/news/la-ol-teach-students-code-computer-science-20140406 Archived 2014-05-15 at the Wayback Machine latimes.com Want to prepare kids for the future? Teach them to code.
  3. 1 2 "About Us". Code.org. Archived from the original on 2013-12-20. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  4. ↑ "69,710,062". CSEd Week. Archived from the original on 2014-01-14. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
  5. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/us/reading-writing-arithmetic-and-lately-coding.html?hpw&rref=us&_r=0 Archived 2017-11-11 at the Wayback Machine nytimes.com Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding
  6. ↑ "An Hour of Code's Hadi Partovi on Changing Education and Making History". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-03-20.
  7. ↑ Olanoff, Drew (January 22, 2013). "Code.org Launches To Help Make Computer Programming Accessible To Everyone". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2014-01-08. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  8. ↑ NORAH O`DONNELL, MICHELLE MILLER, GAYLE KING (May 7, 2014). "Several leading names in tech are urging California Governor Jerry Brown to make a meaningful investment in computer science and education". CBS This Morning. Archived from the original on December 24, 2015.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ "Steve Jobs' Death Inspired Goal To Get Kids Coding". NPR Tell Me More. Archived from the original on 2015-12-24.
  10. ↑ Jahandad Memarian (August 21, 2015). "Hadi Partovi's American Dream: Making Coding Available to All". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 2015-11-19. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  11. ↑ Taylor, Colleen (February 26, 2013). "Watch Zuck, Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey, & Others In Short Film To Inspire Kids To Learn How To Code". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2014-01-07. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  12. ↑ Nieva, Richard (February 26, 2013). "Code.org has launched a meaningful attempt at education reform. Let's hope the star-power helps". PandoDaily. Archived from the original on 2014-01-08. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  13. ↑ Winer, Dave (February 27, 2013). "Why you should learn to code". Archived from the original on 2014-01-08. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  14. ↑ Taylor, Colleen (March 13, 2013). "How Code.org's 'Learn To Code' Video Starring Zuck And Gates Surpassed 12M Views In 2 Weeks". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2014-01-11. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  15. ↑ Lyndsey Layton (January 15, 2014). "Successful 'Hour of Code' Computer Tutorials Prompts Effort to Change School Policies (Posted 2014-01-15 03:36:34) ; Digital Advocates Translate 'Hour of Code' into Educational Movement". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 24, 2015.
  16. ↑ Suba, Randell (2014-03-02). "Code.org cashes in on Flappy Bird craze: Code your own Flappy game". Tech Times. Archived from the original on 2014-04-29. Retrieved 2014-04-28.
  17. ↑ Layton, Lyndsey (2014-02-27). "'Flappy birthday' to Code.org". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2017-10-27. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  18. ↑ "How to get more girls to code: Use Frozen's Elsa". USA TODAY. 19 November 2014. Archived from the original on 2017-07-28. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  19. ↑ Allain, Rhett (6 May 2015). "Quit Saying 'I'm Just Not a Math Person'". WIRED. Archived from the original on 2016-12-22. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
  20. ↑ "An Hour of Code for Every Student". Indiegogo. Archived from the original on 2015-02-13. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  21. ↑ "Hour of Code - Program Supported by Government and Industry Leaders". techedmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 2015-11-20. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  22. ↑ "Hour of Code to feature Star Wars: The Force Awakens". USA TODAY. 9 November 2015. Archived from the original on 2017-10-27. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  23. ↑ "Microsoft and Code.org launch Minecraft tutorial to teach kids how to code". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 2015-11-17. Retrieved 2015-11-16.
  24. ↑ Williams, Felicia. "Code.Org Wins Biggest Social Impact at the 9th Annual Crunchies". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2017-03-09. Retrieved 2017-03-08.
  25. ↑ GlobeNewswire (2016-12-06). "Code.org To Ring The Nasdaq Stock Market Opening Bell". TheStreet. Archived from the original on 2017-03-09. Retrieved 2017-03-08.
  26. ↑ "69,710,062". CSEd Week. Archived from the original on 2014-01-14. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
  27. ↑ "15 Million Students Participate in Hour of Code - Liz Gannes - News - AllThingsD". AllThingsD. Archived from the original on 2014-01-24. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
  28. ↑ "Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates Teach Code.org Online Coding Class - Liz Gannes - News - AllThingsD". AllThingsD. Archived from the original on 2014-01-27. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
  29. ↑ Glaser, Edward L. "An 'Hour of Code' isn't enough - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Archived from the original on 2017-06-29. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  30. ↑ "Hour of Code Reaches Over 16 Million - What Next?". i-programmer.info. Archived from the original on 2013-12-26. Retrieved 2014-01-24.
  31. ↑ Yeung, Ken (October 14, 2013). "Code.org unveils 'Hour of Code' campaign encouraging K-12 students to pick up computer programming". The Next Web. Archived from the original on 2014-01-08. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  32. ↑ "Code.org | Computing". Khan Academy. Archived from the original on 2023-01-08. Retrieved 2023-01-08.
  33. ↑ Empson, Rip (December 8, 2013). "Obama, Celebrities, Politicians And Tech Co's Come Together To Launch Coding Education Push". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2014-01-08. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  34. ↑ Beres, Damon (9 December 2014). "Obama Writes His First Line Of Code". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 2014-12-31. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  35. ↑ Empson, Rip (December 26, 2013). "Code.org: 2 Weeks And 600M+ Lines Of Code Later, 20M Students Have Learned An "Hour Of Code"". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2014-01-08. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  36. ↑ Jennifer Fenn Lefferts (December 29, 2013). "Preview of writing code for future". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 2014-01-08. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  37. ↑ Morrison, Nick (December 27, 2013). "Teach Kids How To Code And You Give Them A Skill For Life". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2014-01-08. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  38. ↑ Mike Cassidy (October 14, 2013). "Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey, Susan Wojcicki, Reid Hoffman and John Doerr Back Code.org Effort to Teach Computer Science in Every School in the Country". Oakland Tribune. Archived from the original on December 24, 2015.
  39. ↑ Samantha Hurst (November 6, 2014). "Hour of Code Breaks Indiegogo Most Funded Record Thanks to Facebook's Zuckerberg & Gates & Co". Crowdfundraiser. Archived from the original on 2015-10-04. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  40. ↑ Jeff Elder (8 October 2014). "Tech Companies Hope to Introduce Coding to 100 Million Students". WSJ. Archived from the original on 2017-03-25. Retrieved 2017-08-04.
  41. ↑ "Class Action". NBC Bay Area. Archived from the original on 2015-11-20. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  42. ↑ "Learn to code at Apple stores across the world". Telegraph.co.uk. 5 December 2014. Archived from the original on 2017-11-23. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  43. ↑ "Trudeau joins campaign encouraging youth to study computer science | Toronto Star". The Toronto Star. 5 December 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-03-09. Retrieved 2017-03-08.
  44. ↑ "Code.org 2017 Annual Report". Code.org. Archived from the original on 2019-08-29. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  45. ↑ Carrie Morgridge (2015). Every Gift Matters: How Your Passion Can Change the World. Greenleaf Book Group. p. 90. ISBN 9781626341838.
  46. ↑ KIA KOKALITCHEVA (April 24, 2014). "Code.org gets serious, launches computer science programs in 30 public school districts". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 2018-02-22. Retrieved 2017-08-30.
  47. ↑ Jessice Guynn (September 10, 2015). "Code.org trains 15,000 teachers in computer science". USA Today. Archived from the original on 2017-12-28. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  48. ↑ TAYLOR SOPER (June 3, 2015). "Code.org inks 11 new partnerships to help expand computer science education". Geek Wire. Archived from the original on 2015-11-19. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  49. ↑ Sarah Buhr. "Code.org Launches U.S. Teacher Training Program In Districts With Highest Diversity". TechCrunch. AOL. Archived from the original on 2017-07-06. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  50. ↑ "Want your kids to learn another language? Teach them code". phys.org. Archived from the original on 2015-11-19. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  51. ↑ "Code.org targets high school computer science". USA TODAY. 14 May 2015. Archived from the original on 2018-01-01. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  52. ↑ "Code Studio reaches a milestone, CodeNow in a Box, and Google Cloud Trace—SD Times news digest: Jan. 9, 2015". SD Times. 9 January 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-11-20. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  53. ↑ Kyle Russell. "Code.org Launches Code Studio, A Toolset And Curriculum For Teaching Kids Programming". TechCrunch. AOL. Archived from the original on 2018-02-22. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  54. ↑ RYAN SUPPE (August 27, 2018). "Female, minority students took AP computer science in record numbers". USA Today. Archived from the original on 2018-08-27. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
  55. ↑ Frank Catalano (February 5, 2015). "Code.org takes sides on dueling bills promoting computer science in Washington State". Geek Wire. Archived from the original on 2015-12-15. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  56. ↑ Eliana Dockterman (November 20, 2014). "Frozen's Anna and Elsa 'Let It Code' to Close the Tech Gender Gap". Time. Archived from the original on 2015-11-20. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  57. ↑ Cassidy, Mike (December 12, 2013). "Hour of Code builds a deeper understanding of the power of computing". Archived from the original on 2014-01-22. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
  58. ↑ Dvorak, John C. (December 18, 2013). "The Hidden Agenda of Code.org". Archived from the original on 2014-01-08. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
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