Youth Digital Courses (App Design, Minecraft, etc.)

[shinyhappypeople]

Older daughter would LOVE some of their courses if I dared show them to her but they're pricey, so I want to make sure they're worth the money. 

 

Youth Digital Courses

 

I'm also open to other (cheaper) suggestions of how to learn coding, minecraft mods, server design,  app design for android or fire, etc.  I am COMPLETELY out of my depth and know next to nothing about this topic, so it's hard to evaluate what's good and what's not.  I'm not even sure where to begin my research. 

 

Help :)

[u2006kids]

+1

[kiwik]

I do know there have been two for one deals through homeschoolers buyers co-op [i think].  That would get you twice the bang for your back.

[Serenade]

One of my sons is doing the 3-D modeling course, and I've been quite pleased with it.  When my son has a question and e-mails the company, the response time is very quick.  I like it that my husband is automatically copied on this e-mail correspondence, so he is aware and can help when needed.  (He does the electronics supervision in our house.)  In short, I would buy another course from them and probably will when my son completes the one he is now doing.

 

ETA:  My son just turned 13, if that helps.  He has pretty much self-directed through the course.

Edited December 2, 2015 by Serenade

[SkateLeft]

Both of my boys have done the Mod Design 1 class and enjoyed it. My oldest daughter is a computer science major and would have loved the YD courses when she was younger.

 

A few other recommendations:

 

Code.org - Lots of great free resources to get started. This is where I started with my youngest.

Scratch@MIT along with the book, Super Scratch Programming Adventure: Learn to Program by Making Cool Games

After working with Scratch, my youngest graduated to Python for Kids: A Playful Introduction to Programming

 

I also highly recommend picking up an Arduino starter kit. They're inexpensive and many of the kits have project books. The Arduino IDE uses the C programming language.

 

 

[kwhdman]

Both of my children (DS11 and DD12) are in the Mod I course for Minecraft (using JAVA).  My son has completed it, and my daughter is on her final project.  I was impressed with the course.  In addition to funny and engaging teaching videos, the response time for help with always within 24 hours - usually within just a few hours.  One thing i REALLY liked about the course was the responses the instructors provided to questions.  The answer was never given.  The student was given a line or section of programming to narrow down their programming error.  I guess eventually an answer would have been given if needed, but I appreciated the way they made the student go find their own errors instead of just giving them the answer.  I also really liked the review they gave at the end of the course when the final file is presented.  It was very thorough, complete with constructive criticism and completely personalized and tailored to my son's work.   For example, they just didn't say "good characters".  They said they really enjoyed using the hobbit armor he created and described various specific scenarios showing where my son received inspiration from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings in one of his mobs.  It may be a boilerplate response, but they had to take the time to really go through his programming for some of the examples they gave and not just a quick glance.  It was very well done.  They are about to start the 3-D game programming course.  : )

 

As mentioned in an earlier post, if you do decide to purchase, monitor it on the homeschool buyers coop.  You should be able to snag it for 50% off if you are patient.

 

[ondreeuh]

My 14 year old did Mod Design 1 and enjoyed it. He is now doing Game Design 1 (2D) and thinks it is super boring. Unlike Mod Design, which included a ton of Java coding, the game design one is much less technical. I actually bought level 2 for him in advance, but I'm going to see if I can switch it out for another course. Might just do Mod Design again as his little brother would LOVE to make mods.

[Caviar]

Both my dd's 11, and 9, are doing 3D Game Design 1 this year.  It's been an up and down road.  Sometimes they'll spend 2+ hours working on it, and then will go for several weeks without doing anything, but that does have some thing to do with our computer memory!  Make sure that you have LOTS of memory space on your computer!  Did I mention, make sure you have LOTS of memory space on your computer!  The course they are doing is not online, like I thought it would be.  They had to download the programs to our computer, and save all their work on our computer, and then when they are finished, they send a copy of their final work back to Youth Digital.  I'm not sure I would spend the money for the courses, but we were lucky in that we are part of a homeschool partnership in which it was all paid for!!!  Definitely get the BOGO free option on homeschool buyer's co-op!  I would not spend the full price on it!  My dds have learned a lot, and there is a lot of hard work involved, but they do have fun with it.  And, hey, what other subject will a child willingly spend more then two hours on?!

[nobeatenpath]

Just chiming in to agree that Mod 1 has been a hit in our household, and I have been super impressed with the materials and the response time from the tutors if there were ever any questions. I would be happy to buy another course from them (if I could snag it cheaply on homeschool co-op again :) )