As a completely web-based platform, CodeHS has many tools and resources to help students and teachers work together virtually. As long as students have an internet-connected computer, they can continue to learn with CodeHS.
Setting Students Up for Success with Virtual Learning
Teacher Quick-Start Guide
If you're a teacher who's new to CodeHS or an administrator helping your teachers use CodeHS for this first time, check out Preparing for Your First Day to get set up fast!
Video Guide for Students
This article for students covers the site from the student perspective and gives tips for collaborating effectively and debugging.
Logging In
Students can access CodeHS from anywhere in the world by going to codehs.com and entering their username and password or clicking Login with Google.
If you have students using CodeHS for the first time, invite them to join your section so that they can enroll in your course.
If students are unable to login to their accounts, you can reset student passwords and troubleshoot login issues from your teacher account.
Options for Students Without Home Internet Connections
If you work with students who don’t have an internet connection in their home, there are several strategies you can use to help students get set up for virtual learning:
Print out lesson slides and handouts to send home with students.
Set office hours when students can call you to discuss the lesson, work with you by phone or talk about any questions they have.
If you want to keep your phone number private, you can set up a free Google Voice number where students can call you.
Record virtual lessons so that you can send them to students to download or watch later.
Check with local Internet Service Providers for options specific to your area.
Internet or cellular data connections that aren’t strong enough for video can sometimes support audio messages much better. Consider recording your lesson as an audio file or podcast using tools like Voice Memos or Vocaroo.
Communication and Assigning Work in Virtual Classrooms
Communicating with Your Students and Debugging Code
If they have a question on a specific activity, students can ask you a question directly by going to More > Conversation.
Student questions will then populate in your Review tab, where you can easily access the student’s code editor to provide feedback.
Students can also email you a direct link to the exercise they are working on, and you will be directed to their code editor. If you want to play around with their code to test your feedback, none of the changes you make will overwrite student work.
Using CodeHS Practice Problems
Another option is to assign Practice Problems, which are currently offered in Java, Python, JavaScript, and C++. Practice Problems can be found at codehs.com/practice. Practice problems are graded automatically, supporting self-paced student work.
Tracking Student Work
Tracking Student Progress
CodeHS has several tools to help you track student progress:
The Progress Tracker is a great place to get a birds-eye view of student progress, allowing you to see at a glance which students might need extra help.
You can break progress down by module, lesson, assignment, quiz score, and view the time spent on any activity.
You can also check which activities your students have worked on most recently to review student progress at a glance.
Grading Assignments and Leaving Productive Feedback
CodeHS has a variety of tools that teachers can use to leave feedback for students.
Fast Grade makes it easy to not only review student work, but leave feedback for students on their code or Free Response answers. See Grading on CodeHS Free and Pro for more info.
Customize your Canned Responses to make Fast Grade even more efficient.
Customize your Gradebook to focus on specific students, lessons or assignments.
Custom Badges are a fun way to recognize student work, mark milestones and celebrate achievements in ways that are unique to your students and classes.
Preparing for and Leading Live Virtual Lessons
Discussion Questions
Lesson Plans provide provide discussion questions to start and end class. When teaching virtually, these are questions you can post on platforms such as Google Classroom, or using your video chat platform
Handouts
Handouts can be distributed digitally by making a copy and either posting them or emailing them to students.
Problem Guides
Problem Guides are a teacher tool that provide a more in-depth look at a lesson’s problems to help you debug student code and provide productive feedback.
Leading a Live Virtual Lesson
Even when you aren’t able to meet with your students in person, you can still engage students through screencasts or virtual meetings. Platforms such as Google Hangouts allow you to host live lessons with students.
There are many strategies and CodeHS resources you can use to make virtual lessons as interactive as in person classes:
Get students talking about the Discussion Questions from the Lesson Plan by using your screenshare platform’s chat feature.
Set office hours or set aside time for Q&A during a live lesson so that students can ask questions on specific activities.
Share your screen to walk through lesson slides and coding examples.
Use your screenshare platform’s breakout rooms feature to get students working in small groups or pair programming.
Other tools that you can use with CodeHS lessons include:
Recording Virtual Lessons
If you are not able to meet for live virtual lessons, you can also record screencasts of lessons, lectures or examples to distribute for your students. Some tools, such as Loom or Screencast-O-Matic, also allow you to track who has watched a video.
Some things you could record in a screencast to distribute to students include:
Personalize lessons by sending out a short daily or weekly message with a greeting for your students and to organize/preview upcoming lessons.
Reviewing the lesson slides and taking notes to go in-depth on content.
Walking through a coding example step-by-step.
Brainstorming possible answers to a discussion question or handout.
Webinars
Throughout the year, the CodeHS Team and Teacher Trainers host a variety of free virtual events from webinars to 2-hour virtual PD workshops.
Learn more and register online at codehs.com/freepd!
Free 2-Hour Playlist on Teaching in a Blended Setting
Be ready to take your computer science classroom virtual this year! Go through our 2-hour playlist on Teaching in a Blended Setting with CodeHS. Visit codehs.com/playlist/9477 to get started.
Webinar: How To Use CodeHS For Virtual Learning
Hosted on Tuesday, 3/17 [Watch the full webinar recording below.]
More CodeHS Resources
Teacher Toolbox
Our Teacher Toolbox has a wide variety of tools that can help you zoom in on different aspects of student work and streamline your teaching practice. Check out the Toolbox to see what’s available!
Connect with Other Computer Science Teachers
To connect with our teacher community, visit our Teacher Forum or join our Facebook Group. Collaborate on debugging student code, share tips, tricks and best practices for remote work, and connect with fellow CodeHS computer science teachers!
Still have questions? Contact our team at hello@codehs.com