Blackbird Updates Code Education App

PORTLAND, Ore., Aug. 24, 2021  —  Blackbird, bridging the gap in Computer Science curriculum, today announced updates and improvements inspired by student and teacher feedback to their code education app and platform. Improvements include a modern site-wide redesign, a dedicated page for Guided Projects, a Code Workshop that better eases students into using professional IDEs, and refined teacher tools used to manage classes, review code, view progress reports, and more. Created to bridge the gap between introductory game-based curriculum and advanced computer science, Blackbird was built to enable students and teachers to learn real-world coding skills in an intelligent and encouraging educational environment.

“With great feedback from our users we were able to refine the app’s user experience significantly. The goal was to improve ease-of-use for students and make it easier for teachers to have a successful coding class,” said Bjorn Hansen, cofounder and director of technology, Blackbird. “In the past year, Blackbird students have written over 2 million lines of JavaScript and completed over 150,000 lessons. We’re excited that Blackbird has had such an impact and we hope to hit 5 million lines before the end of the year.”

For more info, or to try Blackbird for free, please visit:  https://www.blackbirdcode.com/…Read More

App of the week: BrainPOP Featured Movie

brainpopName: BrainPOP Featured Movie

What is it? Watch a different animated movie every day, then test your new knowledge with an interactive quiz–free! Recommended by Macworld, Family Circle, USA Today, iPhone Life, and Common Sense Media.

Best for: Younger students.…Read More

App of the week: Tales2Go

education-appName: Tales2Go

What is it? Tales2Go is a kids’ mobile audiobook service that gives teachers and parents unlimited access to thousands of name-brand audio titles from publishers and storytellers to play on Apple mobile devices. Stories range from fairytales to classics like Curious George Rides a Bike to popular series and characters such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid and How to Train Your Dragon. There are also popular parenting titles. New stories are added continually.

Best for: Younger students and children.…Read More

App of the week: IBM THINK

Name: IBM THINK

What is it? Explore how progress happens with THINK: From the very beginning, humans have sought to improve the quality of life. We’ve worked to make our world more efficient, accessible, and safe. While each leap of progress has required its own intelligence and hard work, many seem to follow a distinct, repeatable pattern. We see how our world behaves, map what we find, understand causes and effects, believe we can create new outcomes, and act to build and improve the systems around us. THINK explores how we can follow this path to address some of our most pressing challenges–from the grand to the everyday.

Best for: Middle school through college…Read More

App of the week: Net Texts

Name: Net Texts

What is it? Net Texts allows students to replace their textbooks with customized multimedia courses delivered to their iPad, Android tablet, or laptop. Teachers can use the Content Management website to select existing courses or to create new courses by mixing and matching items from the library with their own educational material. Students can use the iPad or Android app to download and use these courses, filled with videos, slideshows, eBooks, PDFs, text, audiobooks, and web links.

Best for: High school students…Read More