Over the past 2 years, you may have noticed that coding has become a hot topic with school STEM initiatives. Unfortunately, many educators who have never done coding before don’t know how to approach this important skill with their students. Luckily, that is starting to becoming a problem of the past with numerous educational coding resources popping up across the Internet (including our upcoming Teq Online PD “Hour of Code” course,  going live November 14th. To register, click here).

To get a head start before our course, take a look at our top 5 favorite websites for learning to code.

Codecademy

• Courses include: Html, Css, Javascript, Jquery, Php, Ruby, Python, and Api
• Pricing: Free
• Experience: As one of the most famous websites on the Internet for coding, Codecademy has committed to building the absolute best learning experience for users who have little to no experience with code. Codecademy is focused on rethinking the way we educate. Each course has outcomes aligned, projects, and quizzes so that the user can feel like he or she really accomplished something they can show off. There are units available with time stamps of suggested hours, levels of requirement, and authentic websites, programs, and PLP for all types of learners.
• Difficult level: Easy – Intermediate

Code Avengers

• Courses include: Html5, Css3, Javascript
• Pricing: Free
• Experience: This platform is designed to influence learners to develop a passion and love for programming. Code Avengers have carefully designed their website to entertain users as they level up in their programming skills. Take the frustrating, confusing, too-much-technical-talk out of it, and introduce playful instruction that makes coding much easier to digest. Great for any beginner! He or she chooses a path, a programming language, and goals to accomplish throughout each task. By the end, the user will have built a portfolio with apps, website, and real- word applications to show off to friends, family, and future employers.
• Difficult level: Easy

Code School

• Courses include: Html5, Css, Css3, Jquery, Ruby, Ruby On Rails, Ios
• Pricing: Basic – Free | Premium: $25/month
• Experience: There are pathways a user takes when navigating through Code School. First, they learn in a step-by-step process with engaging instructors, practice code directly within the browser of the course (with many challenges and helpful feedback as they navigate along), win challenges and receive points and badges as they level up to the next course, and track all activity with a report card. Code School opens their doors to all users who want to experience a new way of learning by combining high-quality videos, gamification activities, and in-browser coding which allows students to learn by doing.
• Difficult level: Intermediate – Hard

TreeHouse

• Courses include: Html, Css, Css3, Javascript, Jquery, Ruby, Ruby On Rails, Ios, Android, Ux, Database
• Pricing: Basic – Free | Intermediate: $25/month | Premium $49/month
• Experience: Students learn from over 1,000 videos created by teachers on coding, web design, and much more. The library is always up to date with the newest and latest technology on the web. There is no way for you to fall behind the trends with TreeHouse! Practicing through quizzes and interactive coding challenges, students earn badges for each particular skills you reach. Recruiters from large companies can see your badges and your skill level once you pass each course. Learn to build a website, an app, or even start a business!
• Difficult level: Easy – Hard

Scratch

1. Courses include: Visual Programming
2. Pricing: Free
3. Experience: If some of the above websites seem too difficult for your elementary students or English Language Learner students, log right into Scratch. Scratch is great for any aspiring next generation programmer. Students combine a series of visual blocks that represent specific commands that assign objects different behaviors. This acts within a “if this, then that” type of atmosphere where students break a problem into small blocks and solve them one at a time in a logical order. Students can create their own interactive stories, virtual cards, video games and animations
4. Difficult level: Easy

Register for our Hour of Code course (November 14^th  ). Don’t have a subscription to Online PD? No worries. Click the link below for a free 7-day trial.