The Teacher's Guide to Scratch Online Course

Dive into the vibrant world of Scratch and discover how it revolutionizes how we can teach! Coding is revolutionizing our world, and education is no different! This course will teach you how to use Scratch, how to teach Scratch, and our ultimate goal - to teach with Scratch! This course provides a comprehensive walkthrough of Scratch’s intuitive, block-based programming environment.

Learn how to code by crafting animations, games, and simulations while gaining the pedagogical skills to effectively integrate coding and digital interactive media into your classroom. Whether you're helping students code their first sprite or guiding them through complex projects, we've got you covered with best practices and classroom-proven strategies.

But it's not just about learning the ropes; it’s about weaving Scratch into the fabric of your educational approach to create a dynamic learning atmosphere. Embrace the full potential of Scratch as you learn to facilitate peer-to-peer learning, assess student projects, and encourage critical thinking. By the end of this course, you will become a Scratch empowered teacher, holding the key to unlocking your students' creativity and computational thinking skills — valuable tools that they can carry with them well beyond the classroom walls. Make the digital leap and watch your students thrive with a creativity-based approach to learning and growth that will prepare them for an increasingly tech-driven world!

As the author of The Teacher's Guide To Scratch book series, you can trust I don't just know coding, I know how to teach it too. The series was published internationally by Routledge, a world leader in educational publishing, in 2024. They provide not only a zero-to-hero learning path for teachers to teach them how to code, but includes countless tips, tricks and insights on how to teach coding.

The book series, along with my online courses, are the distilled wisdom of over 7 years of doing coding education nation-wide. I've taught in classrooms, libraries, science centres and more across Canada to students from ages 6 to 70. With over 20,000 students and 2000 teachers taught how to code I've honed my skills, seen every mistake possible, and come up with best practices to handle just about anything. Teaching coding became a passion of mine as I saw people discover the wonder and beauty of creative coding to express themselves, and understand the universe.

Before I started teaching coding, I of course had to learn it myself! I taught myself to code starting at age 12 and, while I definitely took some career detours, I never stopped. I've done professional web development, app development and my main passion has been game development. I run Massive Corporation Game Studios producing entertaining and educational games both physical and digital. Having had a career in tech I know the depth and potential that coding can provide and can bring that to inspire, explain, guide and mentor students of all ages.

It's that love and deep connection, not just to coding, but to digital creativity that keeps me fighting to incorporate coding into education. Scratch is the best tool I've found to do it. The books, and this course are all about helping teachers discover it themselves. The books and this course have completely different content, so feel free to check each out. They may have the same goals, but they'll give you different projects to work with and use in your classroom, and both will guide you through understanding the deep and rewarding opportunities that Scratch and coding education can offer.