Same Code School. New Model.
We’ve been going strong for 3 years and over that time we learned quite a bit. Our goal is to provide quality tech education for students. In order to stay true to that mission, we have to embrace a growth mindset.
We aren’t the same code school. We are always growing and evolving. We hold the same values, but what we look like and who we are is different. For instance, we’ve expanded to new locations. We’ve also added to our team of instructors. In other words, difference in this case is good because it means growth. It means we’ve learned what works and what doesn’t. It means better. We’ve expanded our curriculum to create continued learning opportunities for our students.
We offer a variety of coding languages and students are able to pursue learning languages and technologies that suit their interests. For example, a student can begin learning HTML and CSS by building a digital hamburger, explore Python by programming a game of “Hangman”, or learn the fundamentals of building a database.
We’ve noticed that not all students enter our program with equal knowledge of programming or coding. We have been focusing on training our staff to recognize and help if a student is new to coding and doesn’t know where to start. Our team of instructors are able to help students draw connections between their interests and programming. As always, it is important to us that coding be accessible and available to every student, no matter the level of experience.
Along the lines of accessibility, we recognize different students move at different speeds through the curricula. At South Bend Code School, we want to make sure that students are moving at a pace that is appropriate to their experience level.
A classroom that operates like a startup
Startup culture is about self motivated teams who own a problem and work together to build cutting edge solutions. At SBCS, we want students to feel that way about their education. After all, education is about learning how to solve big problems.
We encourage students in our program to determine their path based on their interests. In our new model, students will have more options to choose from, more paths they can travel, and more ownership they can take over their learning. The end game will remain projects that stem from students building solutions to issues they care about.
We also want to continue to encourage students to learn how to work together in teams. As the old startup saying goes, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Our new model allows students to collaborate on projects in new ways and we hope that means fast friendships and innovative projects for our students.
We are excited and honored that our program has been successful enough to give us the opportunity to continue to grow upon what we have built. The journey from our first program to today has been a blast, and we are thrilled to be developing new programs, building more curricula, and working with more students. Here’s to the next three years of innovating and developing more programs that help to eliminate the barriers between students and technology.
