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As the pandemic had adversely affected the education sector, many institutions had shifted to online teaching. However, Stanford had taken a unique route in regards to online learning by introducing a new course called ‘Code in Place’ which had enabled over 10,000 students in 120 countries to learn computer programming from 900 volunteer teachers which are likely the most teachers who have ever taught a single class.
Chris Piech and Mehran Sahami, faculty members at Stanford, built Code in Place of the first half of CS 106A, ‘Programming Methodology,’ which is one of the most popular courses at Stanford and teaches the fundamentals of computer programming through the widely-used Python programming language. To offer these lessons online, they created a new kind of virtual classroom experience focused on ‘human-centered learning.’
Piech further added:
“It was exciting to be part of such a new model for online learning. In Code in Place, we made thousands of robust learning communities called ‘sections,’ modeled after the very best part of CS106A. It just felt like a beautiful vision for how online learning could be truly human. We reimagined who gets to play the role of teacher. And it worked.”
Moreover, in this program instructors can even join in by signing up as a section leader. These section leaders lead interactive weekly sections with up to 10 students. According to one of the previous instructors:
“I loved getting to interact with and have an impact on people in far-flung locales. It makes the world feel smaller and more connected, and shows how much we have in common.”
Applications for students will be open from April 2nd to April 8th. This course is for people from any respective discipline and does not require any previous programming knowledge. This will consist of weekly lectures and multiple interactive sessions and assignments. Moreover, the instructional team also encourages online discussion beyond assigned sections to take advantage of the large, diverse, international Code in Place community.
To know more about Code in Place, click here.
