Intro and Basics
Hi! I’m Kate.
Welcome to Intro to Programming! I’m excited to (finally) launch this course. This course is based on the last 3 years of my experience teaching high school students how to program robots for the robotics team I mentor, FRC 2910 Jack in the Bot. This curriculum is based on what we spend a year teaching our students.
Why this course?
As a software engineer turned grad student who has been teaching students to program for years, it seemed like a natural decision to make it more accessible to everyone. Programming should never be limited to a few who can afford fancy classes or decide to join in when in school.
How does this course work?
The course is designed to have lessons that follow what we teach our students week by week. You can complete the lessons at whatever speed you want. Once you are done with a lesson, simply click the “complete and continue” button at the bottom.
What learning resources exist for this course?
For now, my focus has been to simply get the course up and functional. Long term, I intend to add quizzes, videos, and projects to get some practice with the code. I’m always hoping to further improve things. If there’s a resource you want, let me know via the contact form. Do keep in mind that I’m the only one behind the scenes on this, so I can only do so much.
Is the course completely free?
Yes. My personal goal is to make programming more widely accessible. Charging for the course would help me recoup the costs associated with the website and such, but it would directly conflict with the goal behind developing the course. Many of the links in the blog (they’re largely affiliate links), the ads, and any sales through the store cover the costs associated with me keeping this course completely free. I have no intent to ever change that.