DS7 is looking for a Minecraft class this summer. I haven't found anything live in my area. An online class will suffice apparently. Does anyone have a suggestion for a good Minecraft class? Thanks!

master of none, this is EXACTLY what DS is looking for. He wants to make his own mods. He will be extremely excited! Thanks so much!

Wow, the youthdigital site has some cool courses.... I'm pondering hmmm... do I want to show this to my children or do I NOT want to show this to my children lol!

Thanks for the link mon!

polarbear

master of none : Thank you for the links to minecraft online classes.
last year my DD went to their on campus class.it was very fun for him indeed.
Thanks !

DD8 and DD10 have done very limited computer time on Scratch and neither is a "programmer" in any sense of the word, but they do LOVE Minecraft. I browsed through the Youth Digital website and the FAQ's and it does say they walk students through step by step with quizzes and help, etc. However, the videos I saw show kids really coding. Has anyone had a child take any of their courses before that could tell me a little about it? Would a child with very limited programming knowledge do okay?
Thanks in advance!

You would be amazed to know just how much professional programming involves taking existing code, tweaking it a bit, and reimplementing it. I know fully-employed programmers that don't have "programming skills."

My daughter has taken the class and really liked it. They explain what the code means and tell kids how to change it. There are quizzes, but they also provide code with problems so the kids can figure out how to make it run. So they aren't learning to code from scratch, but they are able to get familiar with it and can learn how important it is to be very careful with attention to detail (if any of you have children like mine, who rush through schoolwork and can be very careless while still getting As, then you may appreciate that as much as I do!).

We have been very pleased with it as a starting point. My daughter is also working on Codecademy, but it takes a long time to really feel like she is making interesting things that way. Having the YouthDigital course provided immediate encouragement and confidence.

This thread has been helpful, but I was also wondering about the App Design class from the same people. I started a new thread (under Recommended Resources) so I wouldn't threadjack, though.