Learn About Computers online

I’ve been often asked, especially by software/techy types whether the Code.org online courses are “good enough” for students to learn on their own without a classroom teacher.

In my gut, I’ve always believed that a fantastic online course can help students learn even if they don’t have a teacher, and that a fantastic teacher can only make things better. We now have data to visualize the impact.

This data below comes from millions of students using our Code Studio online courses. Roughly half of these students are studying the courses alone, without a teacher. The other half are learning in a classroom, with the help of tens of thousands of teachers. Student ages range from kindergarten through 12th grade, with the largest group being about 12 years old.

Learning #1: Classrooms progress further than students studying alone

In the graph below, the X axis is student age, the Y axis is their average progress in our courses. The blue line is students in classrooms with teachers. The red line is students studying without a classroom/teacher.

The blue line is clearly higher than the red line, meaning that students in classrooms progress further than students learning alone. (note: ages