Coding and Online Learning Amid the World’s Unexpected Outbreaks

There’s no single day that we guarantee its total smoothness, there will always be some news outbreak that would stop any journey midway. Lately, Coronavirus have been spreading around the world, bringing parents to the fear of sending their kids to schools in some countries, this proved why online learning has always been a good choice one could go to and how within the unexpected outbreaks, kids could be actually preparing themselves for the future and its technical needs.

Online learning has been widely considered through the previous years, some people approved its importance while others still didn’t, but there have been different outbreaks which made it a good option for parents to consider in order to prevent their kids from the regular face-to-face interaction with other people.

Coding and Online Learning

Taking the lead from China, Coronavirus started in December, 2019, and started to spread across different other countries around the world. The problem with this virus is that it is fatal, in addition to the health condition that patients will pass by, it could unfortunately lead to death. In an effort to protect kids in China, parents started to consider online learning to reduce the regular interaction that might happen between their kids and other people.

Could People Learn Coding Online?

The good thing about such unexpected outbreaks is the fact that they could bring good and positive sides to the story, people — especially kids — could actually learn something that would benefit them in the future, such as coding. Coding is believed to be the language of the future, one that employers would definitely search for and consider in the same way they would analyze the person’s reading and writing skills.

The first time parents hear the term “coding” and that they could teach it to their kids, they immediately think that it’s hard and kids would never be able to grasp it until they reach at least 10 years old, which is not true, actually kids could learn coding as early as 5 years old, which is their kindergarten educational level. Almost all the jobs require coding skills and a lot of schools even started to educate their kids technically to make them skilled enough to land for any job they want in the future, because almost any job that uses a computer will need the child to have those coding skills.

Being the most important skill in the 21st century, we have to say that there are different ways that one could learn coding through. For kids, in addition to making it part of their education curriculum at school, they could also learn to code online, attend summer camps, do some educational activities, etc.

Choosing the online method, one could learn coding through:

• Going to One of the Platforms that Teach Coding Online

Now, with the great importance given to coding education, especially for the coming generations, there have been several different coding platforms that aim to educate kids about programming and how using it would add up a skill to them. There are different coding websites that one could learn to code through, such as RoboGarden, Tynker, CodeMonkey, Code.org, and lots of other things that you might come across while searching for what you need and what you want your kids to learn.

• Choose the Online Coding Classes

We have always considered the internet for the online courses, whatever we wanted to learn, so when it comes to coding, learning the basics and getting introduced to coding could happen through online courses. There are actual online courses with tutors who discuss every single thing and go step-by-step through the programs with the kids online, and there are online videos and tutorials that kids could watch and repeat the steps on their own. Online courses are one of the different options that one could consider when it comes to learning coding online, especially if you are planning to homeschool your child for the time being.

• Start with Hands-on STEAM Activities

What a lot of people don’t know is the fact that STEAM education is related to coding and most of the places that teach coding start with these hands-on STEAM activities to let the kids learn more about science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics which could all lead to coding at the end. These different subjects help the kids enhance their problem solving, critical thinking, decision making, and more, which could all be skills that coding will still help in enhancing, in addition to computational thinking which is not only applied to tech relation problems, but also to the real-life everyday situations.

Is Online Learning Beneficial for kids?

As much as going to schools will help kids when it comes to building new friendships, knowing how to communicate with others, and getting out of their comfort zones, there are still some important benefits for online learning for kids that should be considered. Online learning is beneficial for several reasons, such as:

• Kids Will Be Learning at Their Own Pace

Schools are usually following specific curriculums that should be fulfilled in a specific time period. Even if the child will have flexibility while learning online, it is still important for the parents to make a comfortable schedule that would still keep the kids aligned with other ones their age but who go to ordinary schools.

• Introverts Will Feel More Comfortable

Introverts love to spend more time alone; they don’t like the idea of being around other people for long periods of time. Online learning at this point will serve those kids who are considered introverts, they will enjoy the process of learning in their own homes and comfort zones, they might even do it better just because they have been placed in their right places.

• Kids Will Make Their Own Choices

One another benefit for online learning is that kids will make their own choices when it comes to the things they want to learn. This is applicable when it comes to coding, kids could choose the level of the game they want to learn through and this will make it look like its created just for them, which will make the kids more actively engaged, especially since they are taking their time to explore and learn.

• Providing Real-Time Assessment

Another important thing that makes online learning good for kids is the fact that it provides them with real-time assessment for their progress. This is also important with coding education because kids will know their mistakes, the things they have done wrongly, and they will be able to enhance their skills immediately without waiting. This kind of regular assessment is important for the kids because it will keep them challenged at just the right level.

Don’t always mistake the outbreaks that happen in the world for being always negative, they might appear to be so at the first glance, but in fact they might be leading to a better and brighter future if you dealt correctly with the situation to protect your kids and at the same time managed to make their times at home more effective. Coronavirus is threatening the world, but let’s look at the cheerful side and consider online learning to educate our kids about the language of the future, the one that the in-demand jobs of the future will require as a primary skill; let’s teach kids more about coding

Subscribe for our platform and let the time your child will spend at home more useful, help him/her enhance his/her skills to suit the future needs and desires.

Originally published at https://robogarden.ca.