Studioweb
November 29, 2016
In 2010, I decided to build an app that would make teaching and learning code easy, for middle school students and up. The first version hit schools a year later – that’s when the app started to really take shape.
Since that time, StudioWeb has gone through many changes reflecting our experience, as more and more schools used StudioWeb in classrooms. This summarizes what we’ve learned:
- Gamification of the learning process is important. StudioWeb was gamified from the start, but we expanded the features over time, making StudioWeb even more engaging.
- You need to let teachers and students tell you what works, and what doesn’t work with your app and courses. Bugs were crushed, features added AND some removed.
- Visit schools, talk to students and teachers. Refined accordingly.
- Continually update incrementally to gauge each change properly.
- Develop courses that integrate with your app based on years of input from users, and from raw data derived from people using your system.
Result:
StudioWeb is now a powerful turnkey system that makes teaching and learning code amazingly easy and fun. Students are super engaged, and teachers are relaxed as they facilitate StudioWeb based classrooms.
Stefan Mischook
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October 13, 2016
We’ve been refining StudioWeb over the last 6yrs, working with many schools and teachers. In fact, StudioWeb has been developed hand-in-hand with teachers, as tens of thousands of students have used it to learn to code.
… That’s a big reason why it is so effective.
You can teach the following popular coding languages with StudioWeb:
• HTML5
• CSS3
• JavaScript
• PHP
• SQL
• Python (coming January 2017)
StudioWeb’s unique features are:
1. Fun engaging lessons for students.
2. Practically no PD required for teachers who’ve never coded before.
3. Practically no prep – you can get up and running with as little as 30 minutes.
4. Powerful auto generated grades by course, chapter and even down to the lesson.
5. Over 50 projects to assign students and classroom activities.
6. Personal support: if you have any questions, you will be able to speak to me personally throughout the year.
Teachers and students love StudioWeb and so we have a 100% renewal rate. If you want to teach code, it can’t get any easier.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly: stefan (at) Studioweb.com
Stefan Mischook
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September 6, 2016
I was invited by a local morning Tv show to talk about teaching code to kids in the classroom.
Check it out:
Stefan Mischook
StudioWeb
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September 5, 2016
When it comes to teaching web design and development, the common hurdle we have seen, is that many middle school and high school teachers are beginners themselves. We have solved this problem with StudioWeb.
StudioWeb is loved by teachers and students, because it makes teaching and learning code amazingly easy. It comes with everything a teacher could want:
- assignments and classrooms activities
- auto grading by course, chapters and lessons.
- video based interactive quizzing and code challenges
- easy to use grading rubric for the projects
- open ended lesson plans
- video walk-throughs of the app
… And much more.
Final comments for teachers:
You could be up and running in about 1hr! No prior coding experience required. We’ve been working with schools for 5 years to get StudioWeb to where it is today. StudioWeb is proven.
Check out this video where I interview students and their teacher (totally new to code) about StudioWeb.
Please feel free to contact us if you would like to take a closer look.
Thanks!
Stef Mischook
Killersites.com
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April 14, 2016
To get the best outcomes with students (and yourself!), here are my top 3 code teaching tips:
1- Write real code, not ‘lego’ code.
2- Use real coding tools, not code simulators.
3- Build real projects from start to finish.
1. Write real code, not ‘lego’ code
A funny thing happens when students write real code: they start to learn not only how to code, but they learn the concepts behind the code. What I’ve seen over the years is that trying to hide the code from students with block based code teaching tools slows the learning process.
You have to write code to learn to code.
Read more
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February 16, 2016
I was reading an article on the debate in Florida, whether to allow kids to learn code instead of a foreign language. I can offer some perspective here, since I am a coder who speaks English and French.
What has been more valuable in my life: knowing French, or knowing how to code?
Coding has easily been the most valuable skill for me.
But if my second language was English (rather than French,) maybe the tables would be turned. I say this because though French is a great language, and I think the more spoken languages you know the better, French has limited use on the world’s stage. English though, is the language of business … it is a must learn.
Coding is much more like English, it too is an international language of sorts. Knowing how to code has many positive impacts on your life, even if you don’t become a coder!
– See more at: Studioweb.com
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
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February 4, 2016
Schools want to teach code, but they are having a hard time finding the teachers who know how to code. Studioweb solves that problem.
Studioweb allows teachers to take on the role of a classroom facilitator, as students learn to code with the tools that coders use, while building real websites and web apps that work on both smartphones and traditional computers.
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January 6, 2016
Hi,
So I just read that the brain game Luminosity is facing a fine for false advertising. In a nutshell, the science does not support their claims that playing memory games can prevent mental decline.
… I don’t know about playing games, but I do remember from university (I majored in psychology,) … that learning a new skill, is a great way to help the brain. When you introduce the brain to new concepts, or expose your body to new motor skills, you are basically telling the brain, we need more brain power to survive! So the body adapts accordingly.
So if you want to stay mentally sharp, exercise the brain by learning new skills. I would suggest both physical and mental skills. Don’t do the same old same.
Playing a game, or learning a skill?
Since I’ve never used them, I really can’t say what impact Luminosity (or any other brain-games,) has on the brain. But what I would say, instead of playing a game, why not help the brain by learning a valuable skill!
Coding for baby boomers
Learning to code and build websites, is a great skill to learn. Coding is both a creative and logical endeavour. There are coding languages to learn (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, SQL) and the web design process to learn.
Instead of playing games (that might not help the brain much it seems,) you’d be better off learning to code to stimulate the brain. At the same time, you will be learning a valuable skill that is in huge demand!
… Now imagine if someone could make learning code, a game in of itself! Hold on, I already did!
Full disclosure: I own Studioweb, and I’ve been teaching web design and coding since 2003.
Thanks!
Stefan Mischook
Killersites.com
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July 26, 2015
Hi,
I just released my new Beginners HTML 2015 course on Studioweb.com.
Here is first of 57 video lessons – what exactly is HTML:
The video lessons are only one part of the training package. My courses include:
- Interactive gaming environment – track your progress, unlock chapters and badges.
- To reinforce the lessons, we provide hundreds of quiz and code challenge questions.
- Support material for teachers and parents.
… And more.
Studioweb has subscription options for schools and individuals. Please feel free to contact me if you any questions.
Stef
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February 15, 2015
These days, Python and Ruby are popular programming languages with the tech startup crowd, and so, many of the venture capital backed ‘teach code’ startups have ruby or python courses targeted at kids. The problem is, that these are not the best languages to teach programming with – especially in K12.
Why is PHP better?
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