Introductory programming courses

Magandroid

Magandroid

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Hi all
Does anyone perhaps know of any institutes that might offer introductory programming courses for teenagers in the Cape Town area. My son's school doesn't offer IT, only CAT, and he is quite keen on wanting to learn more about it and possibly pursue it further. I know that UCT offered such a course for teenagers a few years back but cannot find anything currently.The course took place over weekend and it was designed to peek their interests in this field. I'd appreciate any suggestions and comments.
 
Magandroid said:
Hi all
Does anyone perhaps know of any institutes that might offer introductory programming courses for teenagers in the Cape Town area. My son's school doesn't offer IT, only CAT, and he is quite keen on wanting to learn more about it and possibly pursue it further. I know that UCT offered such a course for teenagers a few years back but cannot find anything currently.The course took place over weekend and it was designed to peek their interests in this field. I'd appreciate any suggestions and comments.
Click to expand...

Get your son an IT text book?
 
Magandroid said:
Hi all
Does anyone perhaps know of any institutes that might offer introductory programming courses for teenagers in the Cape Town area. My son's school doesn't offer IT, only CAT, and he is quite keen on wanting to learn more about it and possibly pursue it further. I know that UCT offered such a course for teenagers a few years back but cannot find anything currently.The course took place over weekend and it was designed to peek their interests in this field. I'd appreciate any suggestions and comments.
Click to expand...

Go over to coursera.org and get your son to do those courses. Also udacity and edx.

All free and all university grade (you can read up on those sites all about how they work) but this is the future of education.

I'm currently doing an Android course at coursera (just submitted my assignment 10 minutes ago), a Java and HTML5 one at Udacity.

Coursera & Edx works with strict deadlines and you have to wait months for a course to be reoffered. This might put your son off. Udacity is learn at your own pace, which is great.


With all these courses you get a certificate of accomplishment. If your son ends up doing some higher level ones then its worth signing up to their paid system as it allows his qualifications to be audited. Also you can list them on your CV and Linkdin.


EDIT: I'm also a UNISA BSc student and a full time senior developer, I find these courses to be on par with what I'm studying (and paying a lot of money for) and I'm finding great value in my job as well.
 
Last edited:
cbrunsdonza said:
Go over to coursera.org and get your son to do those courses. Also udacity and edx.

All free and all university grade (you can read up on those sites all about how they work) but this is the future of education.

I'm currently doing an Android course at coursera (just submitted my assignment 10 minutes ago), a Java and HTML5 one at Udacity.

Coursera & Edx works with strict deadlines and you have to wait months for a course to be reoffered. This might put your son off. Udacity is learn at your own pace, which is great.


With all these courses you get a certificate of accomplishment. If your son ends up doing some higher level ones then its worth signing up to their paid system as it allows his qualifications to be audited. Also you can list them on your CV and Linkdin.


EDIT: I'm also a UNISA BSc student and a full time senior developer, I find these courses to be on par with what I'm studying (and paying a lot of money for) and I'm finding great value in my job as well.
Click to expand...

Wow, thanks!

Do you still get a certificate or something if you dont pay that fee?
 
Hi all
Thanks for the responses but I need to also point out that he is only 15 and starting grade 10 this year. I don't want to overwhelm him with programming books and put him off. I think it needs to be fun to keep them interested especially in the beginning. And yes it will be in addition to his normal school subjects. As mentioned previously, his school only offers CAT as a subject which he has taken but it is useless and does count towards anything if he wants to continue his studies after finishes school.

(PS. I have downloaded "Beginners Java programming for dummies" which he reading and have also installed the apps which the book recommends, as a start.)
 
Magandroid said:
Hi all
Thanks for the responses but I need to also point out that he is only 15 and starting grade 10 this year. I don't want to overwhelm him with programming books and put him off. I think it needs to be fun to keep them interested especially in the beginning. And yes it will be in addition to his normal school subjects. As mentioned previously, his school only offers CAT as a subject which he has taken but it is useless and does count towards anything if he wants to continue his studies after finishes school.

(PS. I have downloaded "Beginners Java programming for dummies" which he reading and have also installed the apps which the book recommends, as a start.)
Click to expand...

This is why I posted about online study. Also, get him a raspberry PI and if your budget allows it, a Lego Mindstorm NXT. Make it fun for him.

There are many wonderful resources out.
 
cbrunsdonza said:
Yes. Its just not verifiable but its good enough for most of us.
Click to expand...

What do you mean with verifiable?

If you pay, would it then be verifiable?

The courses look really nice. Trying to find a beginners programmer course but the only one I can see is a Python course starting in March.
 
goofball said:
What do you mean with verifiable?

If you pay, would it then be verifiable?

The courses look really nice. Trying to find a beginners programmer course but the only one I can see is a Python course starting in March.
Click to expand...

Verifiable means they give you a URL link that will confirm your qualification. Since he is only 15, his experience by the time he gets to the job market will outweigh any course.

The Python one is very good and I enjoyed it a lot, by far the best coding one offered. They actually want to offer 2 more courses and make it a full certificate, if they do then it worth paying for it.

Rather let him first do the basic self study computer101 to see if he likes the system before you spend your cash on it.
 
cbrunsdonza said:
Verifiable means they give you a URL link that will confirm your qualification. Since he is only 15, his experience by the time he gets to the job market will outweigh any course.

The Python one is very good and I enjoyed it a lot, by far the best coding one offered. They actually want to offer 2 more courses and make it a full certificate, if they do then it worth paying for it.

Rather let him first do the basic self study computer101 to see if he likes the system before you spend your cash on it.
Click to expand...

On which site are these courses. I have been to the Udacity website and the only beginners course is java.
 
cbrunsdonza said:
Verifiable means they give you a URL link that will confirm your qualification. Since he is only 15, his experience by the time he gets to the job market will outweigh any course.

The Python one is very good and I enjoyed it a lot, by far the best coding one offered. They actually want to offer 2 more courses and make it a full certificate, if they do then it worth paying for it.

Rather let him first do the basic self study computer101 to see if he likes the system before you spend your cash on it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info!
 
cbrunsdonza said:
Verifiable means they give you a URL link that will confirm your qualification. Since he is only 15, his experience by the time he gets to the job market will outweigh any course.

The Python one is very good and I enjoyed it a lot, by far the best coding one offered. They actually want to offer 2 more courses and make it a full certificate, if they do then it worth paying for it.

Rather let him first do the basic self study computer101 to see if he likes the system before you spend your cash on it.
Click to expand...

Sorry, it seems like I still have some questions...

I see some of these courses at both Coursera and edx shows start dates of somewhere last year already. It looks like I can still enroll for them though. Does that mean they are open indefinitely or is there a specific cut off time when you need to be finished for the certificates?

For example: https://www.edx.org/course/mitx/mitx-6-00-1x-introduction-computer-1122
 
cbrunsdonza said:
This is why I posted about online study. Also, get him a raspberry PI and if your budget allows it, a Lego Mindstorm NXT. Make it fun for him.

There are many wonderful resources out.
Click to expand...
Had a look at these units and the raspberry pi I could consider but my budget will definitely not allow that Lego mindstorm. That is very costly fun to be had.
 
goofball said:
Sorry, it seems like I still have some questions...

I see some of these courses at both Coursera and edx shows start dates of somewhere last year already. It looks like I can still enroll for them though. Does that mean they are open indefinitely or is there a specific cut off time when you need to be finished for the certificates?

For example: https://www.edx.org/course/mitx/mitx-6-00-1x-introduction-computer-1122
Click to expand...

I know some of the Coursera ones you can join while they are running, but then you have to work fairly hard in the beginning to catch up. Many of them also run roughly back to back, so if you missed one, put it on your watch list for when it starts again.
 
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