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Online Coding Program Comparison

• Topics

  • By Subject Area: Technology
  • Educational Options: Distance Learning
  • Grade Level: K-12

• Author

  Davidson Institute for Talent Development

• Year

  2020

Comments

Educator on 7/11/2020

My son hit some walls coding a game in Scratch and wanted guidance so I sought out classes through Juni. I did not know that Juni has a fixed curriculum. The liaison promised that my son would be placed in an appropriate class based on his coding background. He had never taken formal coding classes before, but learned using books and tutorials. It was a great disappointment when after discussing his placement in the advanced Scratch class, my son was put in the beginner class, possibly based on his age. During that first class, the teacher had him program a couple of projects which he did independently of her input, and then go straight to coding the final project for the beginner Scratch class (week 12 or so in their curriculum). After that, the teacher was unable to unlock any of the modules in the next Scratch class so she assigned a couple of additional beginner projects that my son did not learn from. The second week, the teacher was able to unlock a couple of the modules in the advanced Scratch class, but my son was very frustrated again by the slow pace. I wrote to the Juni office mid-week asking for more modules to be unlocked so my son could work at his own pace, and they unlocked additional modules. By the third week, my son had coded all of the projects in the advanced class. By the fourth class, my son was finally allowed to work on the game he needed help with as a master project. Unfortunately, the teacher had a lot of trouble helping him figure out how to add some features my son had planned. I felt the Juni classes were not a good fit for kids who can learn the basics on their own at a fast pace, or whose ideas fall outside of the set curriculum. Overall, it was disappointing. I don't think Juni is suited to kids who are highly independent, quick, motivated, and creative learners. It's great for introducing kids to a range of useful possibilities in Scratch, but the pacing could be a problem.

Educator on 4/23/2020

Juni Learning - our 8 year old son took Scratch trial classes with Juni Learning and Young Wonks. Both schools recommended Python instead of Scratch. They said he was too proficient with Scratch to continue with it. He chose Juni Learning. He connected better with the Juni teacher, and he was the only one able to convince our son to switch from Scratch to Python. He also liked the platform and curriculum better. Lastly, he has auditory processing issues, causing difficulty with accents. His Juni teacher did not have an accent.

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