
YC Backs Its Next Nonprofit, Coding Education Program CodeNow - seashore
http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/27/codenow-joins-y-combinator/
======
snoonan
I love this because it works on getting kids into the wonder and power of
coding before they hit the CS meat grinder later on. Falling in love with it
and getting some experience before they hit more rigorous learning down the
road. It will help a lot of other CS & engineer majors in their first year. I
hope that made any sense.

~~~
seashore
Thx! Exactly our goal. Get them excited about learning to code early on so
they will stick with it as it becomes more difficult.

------
rachellaw
I'm curious what kind of programming will be taught. Processing? Python?
Javascript/jquery? Will the focus be on more 'learning the basics' i.e. what
is an array, how to write a forloop or a focus on a specific, usable language?

~~~
seashore
We teach Ruby. Students learn about: \- variables \- notion of different data
types (string / integer/ array / hash) \- string interpolation \- iteration /
enumeration \- looping \- boolean conditionals \- defining/invoking methods

~~~
redschell
Neat. What lead you to decide on Ruby? I feel like Python used to be the most
common beginner language, and maybe it still is, but it really seems like Ruby
has gained over the past few years. Which is fine, because it's a great
language, but I am curious what gives.

~~~
seashore
When we first started we had an amazing group of volunteers with experience in
Ruby. Our focus is project based learning. It's been perfect for this.

------
juliendorra
Really nice to see a new ambitious program. As a you are a non profit, I'm
interested to learn about how you imagine working with other existing
initiative like (from memory) Coder Dojo, or Girls who code. (We of course
need thousands flowers, with everything from family-lead activities like our
Coding Goûter, to non-profits, to for-profit workshops or lessons, and even
in-school programs. At the same time I feel we also need to build up a
positive ecosystem of code education. We are not at the whole ecosystem stage
yet.)

~~~
seashore
Thx! The ecosystem is starting to develop. We have conversations with most of
the established orgs in the learn to code space. It's important to attack the
problem from multiples angles.

------
Alex3917
"A new approach, which the classes have already begun to adopt, is bringing
more students in but dividing them into groups of six to eight. Each of those
groups will work with their own volunteer trainer, and they’ll move at their
own pace."

If the goal is to scale small group in-person instruction, why not use Open
Systems Instruction? This seems like the perfect use case. The book Public
Schools Should Learn To Ski describes the benefits really well, but I'm sure
there are other books on this.

~~~
seashore
Not familiar with Open System instruction. Is it similar to Open Learning? Our
model draws threads from the flipped classroom approach.

~~~
Alex3917
No, it's a variant of the Keller Plan, but without the bias toward written
instruction.

------
sayangel
Wow this is fantastic. I think exposure to this kind of stuff is something
that not enough kids get. It's not their fault and I'm glad to see somebody
taking charge of spreading the word about tech.

I'm working on a hackathon to merge students (not just college) and
professionals in NYC and would love to get in touch with you guys.

~~~
seashore
Thx! Would like to learn more about what you're working on. Send us an email
info(at)codenow(dot)org

------
tribe2012
Great to hear a non-profit is attacking this. Unfortunately, companies like
code academy don't benefit from users actually learning to code. They are
focused on user engagement. Ideally, they are one and the same, but in reality
so many of these "learn to code" platforms do not teach the concepts very
well.

~~~
rdl
Even for-profit companies could make "fix" vs. "ongoing treatment" work in a
market where there is a constant supply of new patients (children) and a huge
market relative to the size of the company. If one person learns to code
reasonably well through something like this (or codecademy), referrals should
be cheap customer acquisition.

------
williamcotton
What's the point of teaching people to program? Why is this a non-profit? Why
not make this a for-profit entity? Does this have noble goals that aren't
addressed by a free and for-profit market? If so, what are those goals? Is
this the best way to achieve those goals?

~~~
williamcotton
_crickets_

~~~
jacalata
Your questions made me think that any response would probably be met with
comments like "well, what do you mean some people are 'disadvantaged'? Why
don't they just study something useful and work hard? What do you mean
'deserve'? What do you mean 'under-represented'? As compared to what, some
kind of _ideal_ representation? What is this bleeding heart rubbish? Why don't
you _trust_ the market?'

Dunno about everybody else, but it doesn't really seem a conversation worth
having to me.

~~~
williamcotton
If the conversation isn't worth having then why are we even talking about non-
profits at all?

What's the point of having YC support a non-profit venture?

~~~
jacalata
Sorry, I wasn't clear. I don't think the conversation would be worth having
_with you_ because of the giant gap between your starting position and
reality.

------
bwangsta
Congrats on being YC's newest nonprofit! The scalability of in-person training
is a concern that I have with my education /consultancy business, as well. I
look forward to hearing more about how you expand to hundreds of thousands!

------
thearn4
Sounds like a fun program! Come to Cleveland, we could use something like
this.

------
mathattack
Great idea! Glad to see them getting the help growing.

~~~
seashore
Thx! Excited to have YC's support.

~~~
onetimeonce
Hi Ryan. I want to talk to you about expanding further. My email is in my
profile. Thanks.

