What’s Next For Online Coding Education?
Learning to code is something you’ve been able to do online for some time now.
In the early days of the web there were text-based tutorials. I remember cutting my teeth on HTML Goodies and other now-forgotten tutorial blogs.
Then video streaming became feasible, allowing sites like Lynda.com to provide training by video. Soon after that emerged MOOCs like Coursera and iTunesU.
More recently, as web software has gotten better, we’ve seen services like Codecademy and Code School, which are interactive learning applications.
What kind of online coding education products and services might we see next? There are three things we can look at to try and forecast this:
- What aspects of “offline” coding education have not be replicated online yet?
- What will new technology make possible?
- What is the demand from employers?
1. What aspects of “offline” coding education have not been replicated online yet?
Rightly or wrongly, coding educators have attempted to bring what works offline, online, and will presumably continue to do so. A lot of offline education methods have not been (well) adapted for online yet including:
Tutoring/mentoring
There are plenty of self-paced tutorials online, but what if I get stuck on my own unique problem? Who can help me?
DIY learning is not for everyone. But human-to-human learning is not easily scalable, so hasn’t been explored much online.
Learning environments
When you get a guitar lesson, the first thing the tutor does is make sure you’re sitting correctly, holding the guitar correctly, holding the plectrum correctly etc. That’s easy in-person, but wouldn’t be so easy online.
Coding is somewhat analogous to this. If I’m teaching someone to code I might want to see their laptop, their IDE, their web browser, their Apache config and so on. But again, not so easy to do online.
Projects
Being a good software developer isn’t all about theory; you also need to know how to spread stuff out on the table and plan and execute a project. The current methods of online coding education aren’t able to teach that very well.
2. What is technology making possible?
New technology is likely to inspire new innovation in coding education:
AI
It’s usefulness may be overestimated, but AI could allow more interactive learning. For example, chat bots that can respond to questions.
It will also allow more personalised lessons i.e. lessons that learn you and focus on your particular strengths and weaknesses.
Live video
Watching pre-recorded video is good, but live video allows for two-way interaction which opens up new ways of learning.
Marketplaces and the gig economy
If I want to tutor coding online, there aren’t many places to offer my services outside of Craigslist. In the wake of education marketplaces like Skillshare and Udemy there are still plenty of possibilities to explore.
3. What is the demand from employers?
People learn to code for their own desire, but growth in programming education is mostly an industrial matter driven by the needs of businesses to hire more programmers.
What‘s on the employer’s wish list?
Job-ready professionals
Most online coding education is good at turning absolute beginners into somewhat-skilled amateurs. The next frontier for online coding education is to get better at turning absolute beginners into job-ready professionals.
Certifications
Employers hire people because they have work to get done. “Can he/she get the work done effectively?” is ultimately the question an employer has about a candidate. That’s a big reason that universities (continue to) exist, because degrees can (somewhat) help a candidate signal that to an employer.
New ways to help people demonstrate to employers that they know what they’re doing are sorely needed.
Challenges
There are also things in the way of progress that we hope people can address:
No standards
What constitutes a good coding education? It’s fun to argue about, but it’s making it extra hard for educators to provide a good service when the target is unclear.
Mixed messages
“Coding is easy”. “Coding is hard”. “Learn coding”. “Don’t learn coding”.
The attitude that a learner has about learning is far more impactful to their learning than any educational product. The confusing PR around coding education is making it hard for educators to set proper expectations with learners, and making it hard for learners to make good choices about what and how they learn.
What next for online coding education?
We can hope that new products come out of left field that freakin’ rock and completely defy any forecast.
But aside from those, here are some aspects where I think there’s both a will and a way in the world of online coding:
- Human-to-human teaching utilising live video.
- Smarter learning apps that create a more personalised learning experience via AI.
- Practical and/or project-based learning methods
What do you think? Would love to hear some more ideas in the comments.
JS Dojo: Javascript Tutorials With Real-Time Help
I agree with Alan Kay that the best way to predict the future is to invent it! So I’ve co-founded a coding education startup called JS Dojo, where you work on Javascript projects and get real-time help from professional developers.
Our goal is to have those who work in the field pass their knowledge on to those who want to.
To learn more about JS Dojo and to join our private beta program, visit us here: https://getjsdojo.com
