Welcome to our November ECS Monthly Meeting! I’m excited to have you join us as we delve into important updates and explore tools for Unit 3. Our team, including Brooke Osborne, Danny McAvoy, Melissa Jones, and myself, will guide you through the session. Our objectives for tonight are to strengthen our community connections, review the progress of the school year, discuss Unit 3 tools, and address any questions or concerns you might have.
Feel free to use the chat feature to communicate with us throughout the meeting. We encourage you to turn on your microphone and ask questions whenever you feel comfortable. Now, let’s hand it over to Danny for this month’s reminders.
Thank you, Brooke! We have several important reminders for this month. The Unit 1 SRI assessment was released last month, and the Unit 2 assessment became available just two days ago. You can find these on the CS 10K site. Although the site was down for maintenance today, it should be accessible soon. Keep an eye out for the Unit 3 assessment, which is scheduled for release in December.
We’ve also launched our Phase 3 online resources for Units 3 and 4. These resources are designed to be more streamlined, making it easier for you to access the information you need. We hope this change will enhance your experience.
It’s wonderful to see many of you actively participating in the forum and collaborating on challenge work. Please continue sharing your resources and insights, as they are invaluable to both your peers and the Code.org team.
Let’s take a moment to check in with everyone. How is everything going? We receive a lot of feedback through the forum, but we want to provide space here for additional input.
Some participants have shared their progress in the units. For example, Luanne is currently in Unit 1, which is fantastic! Remember, there’s no wrong place to be. It’s crucial to progress at a pace that suits your students, ensuring they feel comfortable, especially in Units 1 and 2. Taking the time to establish a strong foundation will benefit you as you move into Units 3 and 4.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on the resources we’ve developed at Code.org. If you have feedback, particularly regarding the SRI assessment, please share it with us.
Nicole mentioned that she appreciates the resource folder, as it provides excellent ideas for tailoring lessons to her students’ needs. Thank you, Nicole! If you’re watching this recording later, please contribute your thoughts to keep the conversation going.
Next, we’ll demonstrate JSFiddle, an HTML and CSS editor. As you approach Unit 3, you’ll be using HTML and CSS to introduce students to web design. JSFiddle is a collaborative tool that we find very useful. Brooke and I will show you how it works.
[Screen sharing begins]
Here’s a simple webpage I created. You can see the HTML section, the CSS section, and the results window. While JSFiddle also supports JavaScript, we’ll focus on HTML and CSS for now. Remember, HTML is for content, and CSS is for styling.
[Demonstration continues]
If you have any questions about JSFiddle, please feel free to ask. We also have resources available in our online professional development to help you become familiar with using JSFiddle.
We’ve been hosting these monthly webinars for a while, and we’ve learned that ECS-specific webinars are also available on the CS 10K community. We aim to integrate with them so you can access content and interact directly with the curriculum writers.
Thank you all for joining us today. We look forward to seeing you at next month’s meeting!
Engage with your peers by participating in an online forum discussion. Share your insights and experiences related to the Unit 3 tools and resources. This will help you deepen your understanding and learn from others’ perspectives.
Participate in a hands-on workshop using JSFiddle. Create a simple webpage using HTML and CSS, and collaborate with classmates to enhance your design. This activity will reinforce your web design skills and familiarize you with collaborative tools.
Provide constructive feedback on the resources developed by Code.org. Discuss with your peers how these resources can be improved or tailored to better meet your needs. This session will help you critically evaluate educational materials.
Plan a strategy to integrate ECS-specific webinars into your learning routine. Identify key topics of interest and set goals for what you hope to achieve by attending these webinars. This will help you make the most of available learning opportunities.
Reflect on your progress in the ECS program and share your experiences with the community. Discuss any challenges you face and seek advice from peers and mentors. This activity will foster a supportive learning environment and encourage personal growth.
Here’s a sanitized version of the provided YouTube transcript:
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Great to have you both join us tonight! We are going to have our November meeting this evening, where myself, Brooke Osborne, Danny McAvoy, and Melissa Jones will take you through some updates and things you should be aware of. We will also spend some time looking at tools for Unit 3.
To reiterate our goals for tonight: we aim to connect as a community, discuss how the school year is going, talk about tools for Unit 3, and at the end, address any questions or concerns you might have right now.
As a reminder, you can use the chat pod on the right-hand side at any time to communicate with us. We’ll be monitoring it as we go, and feel free to turn your mic on and ask any questions if you feel comfortable.
I’m going to turn things over to Danny, who will talk to us about some reminders for this month.
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Thanks, Brooke! We have a bunch of reminders for this month. As you know, the Unit 1 SRI assessment came out last month, and the Unit 2 one was released two days ago. It will be available on the CS 10K site, so please check for that. The site was down for maintenance today but should be up shortly, so keep an eye out, especially if you’re moving into Unit 2. The Unit 3 assessment is scheduled to release in December, so keep that in mind as well.
We released our Phase 3 online resources for Unit 3 and Unit 4 today. They look very similar to what you saw in Unit 2, but we’ve tried to condense them a bit to make it easier for you to access the information without having to click through as many levels. We hope this will be a positive change for you.
It’s been great to see many of you submitting your challenge work on the forum and collaborating with each other. Keep that up for Units 3 and 4 as well! As always, please share your resources in the resource folder and keep posting to the forum. Those posts really help other teachers and keep us at Code.org informed about your needs.
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Now, let’s take a minute to check in. How’s it going? We get a lot of feedback through the forum, but I wanted to give space here for it as well.
We had a couple of people share where they are in the units so far. Luanne mentioned she is in Unit 1, which is great! There’s no wrong place to be at this point. It’s important to go at the pace that your students need to ensure they feel comfortable, especially in Units 1 and 2. Take the time necessary to help your students get comfortable with classroom operations and problem-solving strategies, as this will pay off when you reach Units 3 and 4.
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I wanted to open up the floor to hear how things are going with the resources we’ve created at Code.org. If you have any feedback, especially regarding the SRI assessment, please share.
Nicole shared that she really likes the resource folder as it gives her great ideas on how to modify lessons to fit her students’ needs. Thank you for sharing, Nicole!
If you’re watching this recording later, please share your thoughts as well to keep the conversation going.
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Next, we’re going to move on to a live demo of JSFiddle, which is an HTML and CSS editor. As you move towards Unit 3, you’ll notice that HTML and CSS are the programming languages we’ll be using to start students off with web design.
JSFiddle allows for collaboration, which is one of the features we love. Brooke and I will demonstrate how that works.
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I’m going to share my screen now.
[Screen sharing begins]
Here’s a simple webpage I created. You can see the HTML section, the CSS section, and the results window. JSFiddle also supports JavaScript, but we won’t focus on that right now.
As you learn HTML, remember that the content piece is in HTML, while the style piece is in CSS.
[Demonstration continues]
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If you have any questions about JSFiddle, feel free to ask!
There are also resources available in our online PD that can help you get familiar with using JSFiddle.
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We’ve been doing these monthly webinars for the past couple of months, and we found out that ECS is holding ECS-specific webinars on the CS 10K community. We will try to merge with them so you can get content and ask questions from the curriculum writers directly.
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Thank you all for joining us, and we look forward to seeing you next month!
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This version removes any informal language, filler words, and personal identifiers while maintaining the core content and structure of the original transcript.
Communication – The process of exchanging information or ideas between computers or software applications. – Effective communication between the client and server is crucial for a seamless user experience in web applications.
Participation – The involvement of developers or users in collaborative coding projects or discussions. – Active participation in open-source projects can significantly enhance a developer’s skills and network.
Resources – Assets such as libraries, frameworks, or tools that aid in software development. – Utilizing online resources like GitHub can accelerate the development process by providing pre-built solutions.
Assessment – The evaluation of software or code quality through testing and review processes. – Regular assessment of code through peer reviews helps maintain high standards in software development.
HTML – A markup language used for creating and structuring content on the web. – Mastering HTML is essential for any web developer to effectively design and structure web pages.
CSS – A style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in HTML or XML. – CSS allows developers to create visually appealing web pages by separating content from design.
JSFiddle – An online tool for testing and showcasing user-created HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code snippets. – JSFiddle is a popular platform for developers to experiment with code and share their findings with others.
Community – A group of developers and users who share knowledge and collaborate on coding projects. – Joining a programming community can provide valuable support and insights for both novice and experienced developers.
Feedback – Constructive criticism or suggestions provided to improve code quality or functionality. – Receiving feedback from peers is an integral part of the software development lifecycle to ensure robust and efficient code.
Webinars – Online seminars or workshops focused on specific topics in technology and coding. – Attending webinars on the latest programming trends can keep developers updated and enhance their skill set.
