3 Secrets to Optimizing Distance Learning

Four months ago, we at The Coding Space, like so many others, were faced with the challenge of transferring a robust in-person educational experience to a two-dimensional virtual learning environment that adhered to the same standards. Getting our kids to keep coding was one thing, but how could we achieve the other intangibles that in-person classes promote, like connecting and collaborating, engaging and contributing, reflecting and feeling inspired?

As we brainstormed options, experimented with ideas and solutions, and researched and compared notes with other educators, we chipped and chiseled away at a model that we are proud to share with our community of families and educators today.

Here’s what we’ve learned:

1) Maximize Zoom

Like many, we chose Zoom as our virtual platform early on, and we learned quickly that managing its many quirks and updates to quirks would be an ongoing process. More importantly, we learned to capitalize on its many strengths. 

Here’s what Zoom does really well:

• Multiple Screen Sharing: Much of our class format revolves around students independently coding as teachers circulate and check in to engage in discussions, prompt critical questioning, and provide support and reassurance. Much of this involves looking at students’ screens and seeing what they are making. Multiple screen sharing allows us to not break from this format. In our virtual classes, all students share their screens for the entirity of the class, as teachers observe, give feedback, ask and answer questions, and perform every essential function they would have done in person.
• Annotations and Remote Control Access: Annotations help us point something out to a student or explain a concept, and remote control access allows us to take control of a student’s screen if absolutely necessary. (We try our best to stay away from the latter just as we do in person, as we are building confident, competent learners who independently seek out knowledge, including how to manage all aspects of a computer.) Note: These features are not available on Chromebooks, unfortunately.
• Virtual Waiting Rooms: Having adopted the practice of using waiting rooms early on, we avoided the privacy concerns that erupted when the Zoomisphere exploded. Waiting rooms continue to be an optimal tool for controlling who enters the learning environment and when.
• Breakout Rooms: This amazing Zoom feature was a game changer for The Coding Space. Our 4:1 student-to-teacher ratio requires focused, individual attention and very specific conversations that are basically impossible to do in a large group, even if that ratio stands. Breakout rooms allow us to skip over the logistical hurdles of multiple Zoom accounts, while harnessing the energy derived from a group class experience. In all of our classes, students meet as a group and then split out into smaller groups during project-based coding time that maintains the 4:1 ratio at all times. Everyone reconvenes in the main room during group activity and reflection.

Pro Tips: 

• Multiple screen sharing works in breakout rooms, but the host must enable it in each room after the rooms are opened. 
• Only one Chromebook can share a screen at a time, but you can overcome this setback by putting Chromebook users in different rooms.
• Having one breakout group stay in the main room with the host allows the host to manage dropped calls and latecomers effectively while teaching.

2) Go Off Screen

Hands-on, off-screen activities are highly important to us at The Coding Space, especially during camp season. They reinvigorate focus, promote peer-to-peer connection, stretch young, elastic minds in new ways, and ultimately lead to reapproaching a problem through a new lens. 

In offering both half- and full-day virtual camp options this summer, we knew that we had a difficult task on our hands: How do we keep campers engaged through a screen for 3-6 hours a day in a way that is healthy, educational, enriching, and fun? We dug deep into our own treasure trove of resources and sought out the ideas of others as well. 

Here are our favorite hands-on, “off-screen” activities:

• Become a Painting: We converted the recent social media trend of recreating classic artworks using whatever you can find in your home into a really fun camp activity. Campers imagine that their Zoom window is the frame of a famous painting and scour every room in their house to make the painting inside of that frame. We’ve seen some amazing works of art!
• This I Believe App Brainstorm: Inspired by NPR’s “This I Believe” series, we ask campers to reflect on their core beliefs: what ideas are important to them and why? Campers are encouraged to think through why they believe what they do and consider how their beliefs affect their actions. They then brainstorm and sketch out an idea for an app that would support one of their core beliefs.
  
• Science Experiments: There are a lot of fun and educational experiments that can be done with the simplest of home products. Our favorites so far are studying the effects of dish soap on the surface tension of water and observing how organic matter grows in different types of substances.
  
• Memory Maps: One of our go-to get-to-know-you activities, Memory Maps interweaves actual geography and emotional experience in a creative and contemplative activity. We ask campers to think of a place that is special to them, consider why it is special, and draw a map that represents their experience of it. Maps have included the best parts of a summer vacation in Copenhagen and a camper’s most loved spots in their old neighborhood.
  
• Yoga: Every week we make sure to introduce physical activity to keep our campers’ blood flowing and advocate for their mental, emotional, and physical health. We’ve adopted some awesome yoga activities from Kids Yoga Stories that teach fundamental yoga poses with an engaging twist, like how to be a superhero yogi or sea creature meditation. These activities incorporate breathing exercises, emotional regulation, the art of letting go, and so much more.
  
• Short Story Writing: There is no process more creative and mentally engaging than filling a blank page. In this activity we examine the ingredients of a solid story structure. Who will the character be? What will they want? What will get in their way, and how will they overcome it? And off campers go. Everyone is invited to share their stories at the end and incorporate them into their coding projects.

3) Explore New Horizons

The concept of learning through play is fundamental to The Coding Space ethos, and we embrace it wholeheartedly during our elective time, where campers are given the choice of exploring a plethora of new STEAM tools each day. We’ve found the following tools to be the most successful. All of these run in the browser, so Chromebooks are completely fine to use.

• Pixilart: This tool allows campers to create digital art, including characters and backgrounds that they then can incorporate into their coding projects if they so desire. In the process, they learn basic design and animation principles and discover their inner artist. It is hugely popular.
  
• Bitsy: Quite a lot goes into designing the simplest of games, and Bitsy helps campers break some of these complex concepts down into digestible pieces, including dissecting and applying the three essential elements of a game: choices, goals, and feedback.
  
• Tinkercad & SketchUp: Both powerful tools for kids to explore the world of 3D modeling, architectural design, and 3D printing, these programs have allowed our campers to make anything from a commemorative coin to an imaginary castle in the sky.
  
• Twine: Don’t be fooled by Twine’s simple user interface. It is an incredibly powerful tool through which campers construct incredible non-linear, interactive stories and develop sophisticated conditional logic skills.
  
• Bfxr: Synthesizers generate sound waves using mathematics that usually have a particular style that we associate with computers and video games. Campers can use this synthesizing tool to produce original sound effects and import their creations to their coding games, animations, and stories.
• Google Song Maker & Online Sequencer: These music sequencers allow campers to write music with the computer as the orchestra. Instead of searching up YouTube for the Star Wars theme song (as great as it is), this tool dares every camper to compose their own music and bring their unique experience and vision to whatever they work on.
  
• FontStruct: What’s the difference between serif and sans serif? What is slab? Monospace? Kerning? Through making FontStructions, campers learn the basics of typography and develop their very own fonts.

In addition to introducing the above tools, our electives include roundtable discussions on computer science fundamentals, like boolean logic and machine learning, a “Future of Tech” series covering topics such as 3D printing, space tourism, and autonomous vehicles, and a “How Things Work” series that explores things like how computers and the internet function. We also offer opportunities to learn specialized aspects of the programs campers code in (often  Scratch and WoofJS), allowing them to dig deeper into game physics, effects, and techniques.

A New Classroom for the New Normal

The Coding Space is deeply looking forward to returning to in-person classes when it is possible (nothing beats face-to-face human connection), but we also have come to appreciate the unique, efficient, and effective experience of a virtual learning environment. We’re excited to continue to innovate both formats, meeting the dynamic needs of each of our families and the unpredictable fluctuations of the current times. As the mission of our company implies, we like to tackle challenges head on.