Three educators plan to start a new free computer coding club serving 80 students at seven Kanawha County public schools and two in Jackson County, with plans to increase the number of students served over the next half decade.
The Kanawha Valley Coding Club will serve students from Kanawha's Horace Mann, John Adams, South Charleston and Stonewall Jackson middle schools plus Capital, George Washington and South Charleston high schools. The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation Board of Trustees approved a $12,490 grant for the club last month.
Cathryn Carena, principal of Jackson County's Ripley Middle, learned this week that the club had been awarded a grant from the Jackson County Community Foundation to serve students at her school and Ripley High.
Carena worked at John Adams last school year. She's starting the club alongside two people who still work at that school: Denise Workman, who teaches gifted students, and Dan McElroy, who teaches a reading program there.
Much of the so-far-announced grant funding will go toward paying the tuition for students to receive a year of online coding instruction from an Orlando, Florida- and Portland, Oregon-based company called Treehouse, which claims to have more than 163,000 active students in more than 190 countries.
"They can do it from anywhere and they can do it at their own pace," Carena said of the program. McElroy said his son-in-law, a chief technology officer, knows Treehouse's founder.
Treehouse's website seems to downplay the worth of a college degree in coding.
"With the right portfolio of skills and experience, you don't need a Computer Science degree to launch a promising career," the site states.
"You can go from beginner to job-ready in just three to 12 months with a Techdegree," it says, referring to a certification it offers. The company notes the certification is "not associated with higher education accreditation."
The front page of its website includes a video of a self-identified student saying Treehouse lessons have a "huge advantage" over a university, saying they can teach students more in a 5-minute video than a 2-hour lesson at a college.
Computing Research Association Executive Director Andrew Bernat noted his organization generally focuses on advanced degrees rather than two- or four-year degrees. But he also noted there's always been, dating back to correspondence courses, "efforts telling you a college degree isn't worth it," and said that if employers truly were happy with training from unaccredited sources, "they wouldn't be recruiting like crazy from universities."
When asked about Treehouse's statements about their offerings versus college degrees, Carena said she thinks the company and the club will feed students' interest in coding and give those who plan to attend college a "head start," while still providing a "certificate and expertise" to students who may not be interested in or can't afford college.
Workman said she plans to start up the Kanawha side of the club later this month, and Carena said registration and orientation for the Jackson section will be next month. Despite the largely online nature of the lessons, the founders say they plan to have 2-hour outside of school meetings, twice a month, of all 80 students, rotating the meeting locations among different schools. The meeting days have not yet been set.
They said the Kanawha and Jackson students would have their sessions in separate locations but could simultaneously connect with one another via technology. Workman said the first session is planned to last about a year.
Workman said she's only received about 40 applications for the 60 Kanawha student slots. She said she'd like to receive applications by Friday, but will continue to take applications until all slots are filled.
Carena said she's already received enough applications to fill the 20 planned Jackson County slots, but she'll only stop taking applications on Saturday. Selections for limited slots for both Kanawha and Jackson will be based on early returns, ability to attend meetings, teacher recommendations and need.
She said club participants will be able to discuss carpooling options for students in need.
To receive an application or ask about joining the club's advisory board, email kvcodingclub@gmail.com. The club is currently incorporated as a business but is seeking nonprofit status.
McElroy said students will be able to use their Kanawha public school system-issued iPads to take part in the program. Part of the Jackson grant money is meant to buy computers for the students there.
He said he wants the program to double the number of students served in its second year and raise $30,000 to do so.
"We want to expand we want to create an innovative educational model for the entire valley, the entire Kanawha County area and we want to do this by networking," McElroy said, citing possible connections with groups like the Clay Center and libraries. He said learning can take place "anytime, anywhere" in the digital age.
"You talk to a lot of people and there's almost a dismal feel," McElroy said, citing, West Virginia's economic woes. "People - they're anxious about the future here and we want to give these kids state of the art tools to stay here, contribute here.
"And I guess it's a message to the entire society, is we don't have to just sit back and be discouraged. We can take charge and start using intelligence ... we need to just connect the artists and the educators and the entrepreneurs, government people and we all really need to take a fresh look at learning and we're in a digital age."
Reach Ryan Quinn at ryan.quinn@wvgazettemail.com, facebook.com/ryanedwinquinn, 304-348-1254 or follow @RyanEQuinn on Twitter.