At the beginning of this course, I asked the students what they wanted to learn the most so that they could feel engaged and interested in what we'd be covering. Most students requested coding along with some basics of cross-platform computer use and other general computing topics.
This a hands-on course designed for students with little to no prior coding experience. Students will learn foundational computing concepts, practical digital skills, and web development basics in a collaborative, project-based environment. Through a combination of in-class instruction, online learning (via Codecademy), and personal projects, students will gain confidence working with computers, understanding how technology works, and creating their own web content.
Topics include hardware fundamentals, command line basics, version control with Git, HTML/CSS (web design), and navigating digital security in today's connected world. No prior experience required—just curiosity and a willingness to learn!
Resources
Find helpful information related to this course below.
Hardware Requirements
Students are required to bring a laptop to class each week.
Operating System
Any Microsoft Windows, Apple MacOS, or Linux laptop with a currently supported operating system will work.
Note: Very old models sometimes run into software compatibility issues.
Note: Laptops with an ARM processor may encounter some compatibility issues.
Chromebooks (ChromeOS)
There are certain Chromebooks that can work, however, performance problems and/or software compatibility issues are more common with these.
Disk Space (Storage)
Minimum: 10GB
Recommended: 15-20GB or more
RAM (Memory)
Minimum: 4GB RAM
Recommended: 8GB or more
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Software Requirements
IMPORTANT NOTE: Please refrain from installing software marked below with * yourself as there are very specific instructions on how we will do these.
The software we will be installing on students' laptops includes:
VS Code: Source-Code Editor
VS Code Extensions:
Coming Soon!
*Git: Source Control
*PNPM: Node Package Manager
*Node.js: JavaScript Runtime Environment
Apple XCode: Required for Git on MacOS
NOTE: This only applies for Apple laptops.
Downloaded via Apple App Store.