Using CodeHS for Virtual Learning | CodeHS Knowledge Base (2024)

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.

Teacher Quick-Start Guide

If you're a teacher who's new to CodeHS or an administrator helping your teachers use CodeHS for the 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.

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:

Using CodeHS for Virtual Learning | CodeHS Knowledge Base (1)

Student questions will then populate the Code Review tool, 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.

Click here to learn more about debugging strategies.

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 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 also 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.

Demo Video

Discussion Questions

Lesson Plans 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 provides 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:

  • Kahoot! - Create fun learning games or quizzes

  • Padlet - A collaborative space to share and post with students

  • Vocaroo - Share audio messages, mini-lessons or podcasts

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 to your students. Some tools, such as Loom or ScreenPal, 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.

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.]

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

Using CodeHS for Virtual Learning | CodeHS Knowledge Base (2024)

FAQs

Where can I find the answers for CodeHS? ›

There are multiple ways to view assignment solutions, including through the Assignments page, in the Solutions Tool, from the Resources page, and in the Code Editor. Pro teachers also have access to the Problem Guides.

How to get CodeHS courses for free? ›

Using CodeHS for Free | CodeHS Knowledge Base. Teachers can create a free CodeHS account to access our curriculum! CodeHS is happy to make our comprehensive web-based curriculum available for free!

How to use CodeHS for students? ›

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.

Is CodeHS free for students? ›

CodeHS K-12 courses are free, accessible, and engaging for students of all levels.

Can CodeHS detect cheating? ›

Code History is a great tool to aid in cheat detection, as teachers can identify exercises (particularly more complex exercises) which are completed quickly with very few code runs/saves as potentially using borrowed or copied code.

What can teachers see on CodeHS? ›

With CodeHS Pro, you can access the Classroom Data app, which gives you insight to student activity with these tools:
  • Activity Minimap - A general heat map of student activity.
  • Most Recent Activity - See the last assignment each student has worked on.
  • Assignment Action Feed - Recent student actions (such as submitting)

What are the pros and cons of CodeHS? ›

Pros: Video lessons are clear and easy to follow, and the guidance kids will get from actual tutors (with a premium subscription) is great. Cons: You can't do much without paying for access; a subscription is required to view most sections, and you can't send tutors questions without one.

Can anyone use CodeHS? ›

CodeHS is great to use for individual at-home learners of all ages. CodeHS has many courses for beginners to intermediate computer science classes.

What is the best free website to learn how do you code? ›

freeCodeCamp

freeCodeCamp is a non-profit community helping people worldwide learn to code by building projects, completing coding challenges, and earning certifications. Its website features hundreds of hours of free lessons on various programming topics, including how to learn JavaScript.

Can I use CodeHS without a teacher? ›

CodeHS offers a limited number of courses that students can enroll in and complete on their own at home. These courses are entirely self-paced and on completion, students will receive an official certificate of completion.

Is CodeHS useful? ›

CodeHS allows students to go through programming videos, quizzes, and programming practice assignments to build basic coding skills. It's not a bad set up, and does get students typing out actual code. Some students did like the set up and flourished under it.

What coding does CodeHS use? ›

CodeHS uses ES6, which is the version of JavaScript that all browsers use.

How to get CodeHS for free? ›

Create a FREE teacher account at codehs.com to get started today!

How do I get help on CodeHS? ›

For general questions please email hello@codehs.com.

Is Code Academy really free? ›

While Codecademy does offer some individual courses for free, you'll need a paid membership to access its skill and career paths, which function like bootcamps. The Plus plan costs $179.88 yearly or $29.99 monthly, while the Pro plan costs $239.88 yearly or $39.99 monthly.

Where can I find coding answers? ›

Quora. Quora is the most popular question-and-answer website which is open for all users to share knowledge, ask questions, and give solutions. A lot of tech giants and experts have an account on Quora that can guide programmers and solve their problems.

Where to find code org answers? ›

If you have a teacher account, you can see available solutions to most levels across the site, using the "See a solution" button to the right when you're signed in. Click on the blue arrow at the far-right-center of your page, to bring up the Teacher Panel with that button.

Where can I find answers for anything? ›

Answers
  • Answers.com. User-powered question and answer platform. ...
  • Ask a Librarian. Online reference desk service from the Library of Congress. ...
  • Brainly. Post questions to a community of millions of students and teachers. ...
  • Chegg Study. ...
  • Dummies. ...
  • eHow. ...
  • PolitiFact. ...
  • Quora.

How to get help on CodeHS? ›

For general questions please email hello@codehs.com.

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Manual Maggio

Last Updated:

Views: 6017

Rating: 4.9 / 5 (69 voted)

Reviews: 92% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Manual Maggio

Birthday: 1998-01-20

Address: 359 Kelvin Stream, Lake Eldonview, MT 33517-1242

Phone: +577037762465

Job: Product Hospitality Supervisor

Hobby: Gardening, Web surfing, Video gaming, Amateur radio, Flag Football, Reading, Table tennis

Introduction: My name is Manual Maggio, I am a thankful, tender, adventurous, delightful, fantastic, proud, graceful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.