The Nuclear Innovation Institute’s newly created Coding Academy offers free online classes. The institute partnered with Kincardine start-up NPX to deliver a fun, interactive program to students in the Grey Bruce Huron region.
The Coding Academy was launched on March 30 in response to the closure of schools. Over 100 students from grades 2 to 7 participating from home via Zoom.
NII and NPX are planning to run another session of the two-week intro to coding program for local students and expand it to include intermediate-level coding courses for older students.
Many more students are also accessing the class on their own time through the Academy’s Google Classroom site. The course includes fun homework activities, and students can share their progress and coding creations with each other during the classes.
Students have described the class as “awesome” and as a “really fun and funny class”.
Logan Chauder is just eight years old. But this week, he found himself writing computer code while sitting at his dining room table -- and programming a video game. Like his classmates and most students around the world, Logan has found himself blocked from school by the COVID-19 virus, at home and looking for something to do.
Enter the Nuclear Innovation Institute’s newly created Coding Academy.
“My son had a fantastic week learning to code thanks to NII Coding Academy,” says Melissa Chauder, Logan’s mother. “The instructors from NPX were very enthusiastic and engaging. He really enjoyed being able to answer questions and lead the class in the code that he chose to use.”
“It is incredibly rewarding to work with these kids and see how excited they are to learn to code and to have a platform to interact and share with each other,” says Phillip Craig, who hosts the classes from the NPX “studio” in Kincardine. Craig is an Innovation Catalyst at NPX and an experienced public-school teacher.
“NII is thrilled by the response to the Coding Academy and we will be expanding the programming to extend learning opportunities to even more of our local students,” said Bruce Wallace, NII’s CEO. “Learning foundational skills like coding is critical to working in a digital economy.”