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It's safe to say that our Education system here in America is sub-par. I recently visited my high school to see what was happening in the 'new' computer programming class. I was surprised to see every student had their own iMac - definitely a step up from when I was there. But the thing that really puzzled me was the fact that the teacher teaching the computer programming class had no experience with computers or programming, whatsoever.
He had them working through Codecademy, which as the author described as, "immediately throwing students into a programming environment built right into the web page. Codecademy's courses provide no videos, no lecture notes, rather they are programs themselves, guiding you through principles by having you code." I found a lot of these kids didn't understand basic programming concepts, such as the modulus operator (%). It's tough to move forward when you don't grasp the small details. I liked the fact that students were presented the opportunity to write code and see the results but I felt it was lacking instruction, the kind of detailed instruction provided by KhanAcademy.
And this is where Udacity excited me! It took the best from both KhanAcademy and Codecademy and built something truly remarkable. Now, it doesn't have the best UI, the UX can be a bit clunky at times, but it's a huge leap forward.
Solutions like Udacity, and those to follow, will only help revamp our education system - whether it's computer science, math, or history - and make learning fun again. I agree with the author, I can't wait to see what comes of this in fifty years...