In the last few years, online coding classes have become a common activity for parents everywhere to book for their children. Not only are the sessions fun, but they teach kids skills they’ll need in the classroom and workforce of the future.

Before signing up your child for sessions, it’s crucial to know how to recognize the best programs from the rest. Here are the signs to look for when booking programming lessons for your child.

Video Games as the Focal Point

Kids learn best when they’re motivated, and children everywhere are driven to learn to code when creating their own video game is the end goal. The best coding programs teach children to design and program a video game they’ll be able to play.

Motivation won’t be in short supply!  If your kids can learn to code online in a way that makes them genuinely hungry, they’ll retain the information better, and you’ll never have to twist their arms to do homework.

If you think children enjoy playing video games, wait to see how much fun they have coding them.

Small Classes

Whether the sessions are online or in-class, look for a program with a low ratio of teachers to students. Groups of four students per teacher are ideal because this allows children the attention and focus they need when learning new materials.

Children may struggle to absorb new and challenging material if they need to compete with classmates for their teacher’s time. Teachers will have a much easier time managing sessions when there are only a few students, keeping lessons organized and structured.

Young Teachers

Teachers need to know their material and be relatable when working with kids. Teachers will better understand what children feel when programming video games if they also grew up playing video games themselves.

Such love for gaming is contagious, and children will feel and respond to this level of passion, which is hard to fake. Children should learn from an undergrad with a Computer Engineering background who grew up with computers than an academic mathematical genius who didn’t.

Real Coding Languages

Finally, the best coding courses teach children the coding languages that professionals rely on to build the apps, video games and programs used by millions of people every day. Some introductory courses teach languages like Scratch, which aren’t really coding languages but more programs designed to convey to children what coding is like.

Look for a program that shows kids how to use actual coding languages, such as:

  • Python
  • Java
  • C#
  • C++

If your child is lucky enough to encounter these coding languages later in school, they’ll have a leg up on their peers. Even if their school doesn’t teach them coding, they’ll already know the languages useful to so many industries.

Most parents understand that coding and computer skills will be highly in-demand in the future. Remember to keep the above pointers in mind when enrolling your child in online coding classes.

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