Courses

We all love MineCraft. This is a FREE workshop open to anyone between the ages of 9 and 12 years old where young learners can practice and develop their Minecraft Coding skills. Each week students will be presented with a MineCraft coding challenge to complete. UCode Teaching Assistants are available to support students in their learning progression. Please note that this is not a formal course, but an opportunity to practice with instructional support.

Scratch Sundays is a FREE workshop open to anyone between the ages of 6 and 9 years old where young learners work on developing Scratch games and applications. Each week studentswill be presented with a Scratch coding challenge to complete. UCode Teaching Assistants are available to support students in their learning progression. Please note that this is not a formal Scratch course, but an opportunity to practice with instructional support.

UCode has developed a series of animated videos that introduce 25 core coding and computing concepts in an age appropriate and fun way. It is the perfect starting point for young learners who wish to learn to code. The concepts serve as the foundation for learning how to write good code. Students view the videos and the complete a companion worksheet that tests their understanding and computational abilities. A great starting point for early age learners.

 

Foundational topics include: Computer Programs, Computer Memory, Programming Languages, Inputs, Sources, Sensors, Color Detection, Time, Logic , Flow Charts, Counting, Sorting, , Repetition, Comparison, Variables, Idle, Conditional Statements, Break Loop, Infinite Loop, String Text, Programming Loops, Return Value, Type Conversion, Artificial Intelligence.

This course uses Scratch to introduce younger students to coding. Scratch is a block based coding interface designed for younger learners

 

Each of the first 12 lessons introduce a foundational concept including; variables, operators, Boolean, grids, coordinates, degrees, angles, conditional statements, loops, random numbers, functions, and parameters

 

A series of coding exercises, project steps and quizzes reinforce learning. The final three lessons are devoted to a capstone project where students codes a Scratch game applying the concepts and knowledge that they have acquired.

This course is open to students who have completed Scratch Game Development or who have completed another Scratch Course. The course consists of 17 Units, with the first three units reviewing basic Scratch functionality. The rest of the course focuses on three fundamental computer science concepts: Variables, Logic, Loops and Conditional Statements. The lessons arefocused on introducing the concepts and then mastering them through coding exercises and project step. Students work at their own pace and supported by an instructor. Each lesson is available as a professionally produced video for review by students outside of class. The final lesson is devoted to a Capstone project where students demonstrate their mastery by building a game.

Python Coding For Kids focuses on developing strong computational thinking skills. The course is student led, where students work at their own pace, using a block coding interface to answer coding challenges.

 

The challenges increase in difficulty and complexity requiring increasing levels of logic, problem decomposition and problem solving to answer the challenge. Each lesson includes exercises and quizzes to support learning retention. Lesson plans are also available for teachers and parents. This course was developed in partnership with Cornell University faculty.

HTML/CSS  Advanced is for students who wish to continue to develop their web development skills to a level where the students can develop sophisticated web sites. The course builds on the topics covered in HTML/CSS Foundations by introducing tables, forms, classes, methods and advanced CSS styling concepts. The course is student led, where students work at their own pace supported by an instructor. There are 40 short lessons in the course. Course completion requires the coding of a multi-page website that incorporates the concepts covered in the course.

 

Unity is a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies to create three-dimensional, two-dimensional, virtual reality, and augmented reality games, as well as simulations.

Unity is the engine that powers many of the world’s most popular games. Each week a core animation concept is introduced and explained. Short assignments and exercises build proficiency. We give you the tools. You apply these to build stunning animations, games or simulations.

 

Please note that we follow the Unity certified curriculum. Students progress at their own pace and the length of the course is determined by their complexity of their project and their level of interest. This course requires students having completed basic Algebra.

Python Fundamentals introduces students to more advanced Python concepts, building on the experience they have gained in the intermediate level courses. Each lesson a core Python concept is introduced and explained through a series of exercises. Short assignments and exercises outside of class build proficiency. For the last two weeks, students work on a capstone project that pulls together all of the concepts and coding techniques that they now have in their toolbox.

 

Course worksheets are available that introduce each concept and how it is applied. These worksheets have been developed specifically for middle school students. They provide clear explanations of important concepts using non-technical language. This course is equivalent to a CS100 college level course and is modelled on courses at Cornell and Dartmouth universities.

Python Game Development is the first in a series of Python courses that use text based coding. In this course students build a video games using Python. The first lesson introduces students to Repl.it, a integrated development environment for Python. Subsequent lessons introduce a core Python programming concept using worksheets and simple exercises.

 

Concepts introduced include basic game design, sprites, lists, custom events, functions, operators, variables, objects, loops, conditional statements, functions and sprite groups. Students then apply these Python concepts to develop a fully featured video game in the final lessons. This is real coding from the ground up.

 

Advanced Python continues to build on previous course work by introducing students to advanced Python concepts. Concepts include Files, Queues, Arrays, Lists, Dictionaries, Objects, Classes, Sets, Stacks, etc.

 

In each lesson an advanced coding concept is introduced and explained through a series of exercises. Short assignments and exercises outside of class build proficiency. For the last two weeks, students work on a capstone project that pulls together all of the concepts and coding techniques that they now have in their toolbox. This course is equivalent to a CS200 college level course. We would note that this course requires a level of math equivalent to Algebra 2.

Kids love Roblox. The problem is that building games in Roblox Studio does not build strong foundations. In this course students build a Roblox games using Lua, and a text based editor. No more blocks. Each lesson a core programming concept is introduced using worksheets and simple exercises.

 

Concepts introduced include basics of game design, scripts, player position, navigation, loops, collision, moving parts, classes, functions, operators, variables, objects, loops, conditional statements, arrays, tables, and modules.

 

Students then apply these concepts to develop a fully featured Roblox game. There are 22 units in the course. It goes deeper into game design than does Python Game Development and we would rate it as slightly more difficult.

 

Java is a object oriented programming language that is widely used for cross platform applications. This course introduces programming in Native Java using an IDE. Java Fundamentals introduces students to Java in a 16 week course that is designed for students with no or limited experience in coding. Each week a core coding concept is introduced and explained through a series of exercises. Short assignments and exercises outside of class build proficiency. For the last two weeks, students work on a capstone project that pulls together all of the concepts and coding techniques that they now have in their toolbox.

 

Course worksheets are available that introduce the concepts and how they are applied. These worksheets have been developed for those new to coding. They provide clear explanations of important concepts using non-technical language. We think you will appreciate the approach.

 

We would note that this course requires a level of math equivalent to Algebra 2.

This content is intended to guide developers new to ML through the beginning stages of their ML journey. We use TensorFlow, however, the knowledge is transferable to other machine learning frameworks.

This content is intended to guide developers new to ML through the beginning stages of their ML journey. We use TensorFlow, however, the knowledge is transferable to other machine learning frameworks.

Blockchain is the computing paradigm that will become dominant in our students life times.

Solidity is the primary code language currently used for implementing smart contracts. Developed on the Ethereum platform.

During the formative years of the Web, web pages could only be static, lacking the capability for dynamic behavior after the page was loaded in the browser. There was a desire in the burgeoning web development scene to remove this limitation, so in 1995, Netscape added dynamic elements to Netscape Navigator, then the dominant web browser. They called the new language, JavaScript which has caused confusion, as it has no relationship to the Java programming language.

 

Since that time, JavaScript has followed a circuitous path to become an eco- system with extensive libraries and frameworks, and increased usage of JavaScript outside of web browsers. Whether it's the fancy scroll effects and animations that are on a web page, the information streams that appear when you browse social media, or the dashboard you use to check your finances, all of it is powered by JavaScript. The language has become so popular, many use it to build mobile and desktop applications and JavaScript it has since grown into the most commonly used programming language available today.

 

In this course, the follow on to HTML/CSS, students add dynamic elements to web pages and are introduced to the basics of 2D animation using JavaScript. Upon completion of this course, students may progress to Advanced JavaScript or begin to master Python in Python Fundamentals.

HTML and CSS are the technologies that web developers use to build websites and web based applications. Most web sites that you experience are built using HTML and their design or layout is determined by CSS which specifies the layout of elements on a web page, colors, graphics and animations. This course is a foundational course that introduces the basics of HTML and CSS over the course of 40 short lessons. The course is student led, where students work at their own pace supported by an instructor. Students ages 12 to 17 find this course very engaging as it allows them to build a multi-page web site that meets their interests. 

 

Students who complete this course may move onto HTML/CSS Advanced.