Apple has opened registrations for its free coding sessions scheduled for Dec. 1-14. Apple’s free Hour of Code will be held at all Apple Stores around the world.
Free coding sessions
This will be the sixth year the company hosts the daily Hour of Code sessions via “Today at Apple.” They are one of the several programs the company hosts to help people learn to code, both inside and outside of the classroom.
“The sessions will provide opportunities for people at a variety of skill levels to learn coding,” Apple said in a blog post.
The free Hour of Code sessions will teach core concepts to aspiring coders. The sessions are for all age groups. Those between the ages of six and 12 will be taught with the help of robots, while others will get use the educational app Swift Playgrounds to learn coding concepts.
To celebrate Computer Science Education Week, which runs Dec. 3-9, the iPhone maker debuted a new Hour of Code Facilitator Guide to familiarize educators with Swift Playgrounds and other iPad applications.
You can sign up for the Hour of Code sessions via the Today at Apple section on each retail store’s webpage.
More from Apple
In addition to the free coding sessions, Apple also introduced the Swift Coding Club. It is a new program aimed at teaching coding using Swift outside of the classroom. Apple’s Swift Coding Club is for students ages eight and above, and it helps them develop apps and learn to code using Swift Playgrounds and App Development with Swift.
“The App Development with Swift curriculum gives high school and college students the critical skills they need to qualify for high-demand and high-skill jobs,” Apple said.
The company also introduced new Swift Coding Club materials based on its own Swift programming language to help educators teach coding. Apple also announced an upcoming Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science Principles course syllabus and curriculum. The program gives high school students an opportunity to get college credit while learning with App Development using Swift.
Students will also be allowed to take certification exams after their term is over. The certification exams will be offered by the Certiport Authorized Testing Centers globally. These exams will test the students’ knowledge of app developer tools, which are core components of apps and Swift.
Coding apps to help you grow
If you are unable to attend Apple’s free coding sessions, you can still access Swift Playgrounds, a free app on the App Store. Moreover, the app supports 15 languages, including Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese and English. The app was launched two years ago, but since then it has expanded to offer more courses, like developing apps with augmented reality.
Swift Playgrounds is a crucial part of Apple’s educational efforts. In 2016, the company debuted Everyone Can Code, which teaches coding to aspiring coders of all ages, from kindergarten to college and beyond. According to Apple, over 5,000 schools, community colleges and technical colleges around the globe are using this comprehensive learning program.
It’s not just Apple that wants people to learn to code; Google has similar intentions. Earlier this year, the search giant launched a new app called Grasshopper, which enables people to learn to code for free.
“Learn with fun, quick lessons on your phone that teach you to write real JavaScript,” the description of the app says.
Google’s app is available to both iOS and Android users, and it offers basic and advanced coding lessons with Javascript in a gamified format. It also offers puzzles based on a realistic code editor.
Google’s app offers a series of courses to help users progress as they learn. It starts with “The Fundamentals” course, in which users learn about various coding terminology and how coding works. In the next level, there are two courses in which coders are first taught to draw shapes before being exposed to more complex functions. Coders are also given real-time feedback each time they run a code.
“Many students have told us that this real-time feedback feels like a tutor, since the feedback feels so tailored to the student’s current state,” Grasshopper founder Laura Holmes explained.
