In today’s digital age, coding has become an essential skill. It is the language of computers, and everything a computer does is controlled by code. Moreover, coding is in high demand, with many job opportunities in the tech industry and other fields.
However, for many young learners, it is perceived as complex, and the fear of failure often deters them from pursuing their passion. It was on this premise that My Code Kit was born: to simplify and make coding easily accessible.
In this blog post, we will introduce you to My Code Kit as we kickstart our pilot project. We are on a mission to make a big difference in STEM education, and we can’t wait to take you along on this journey.
How we started
In 2019, the founders of My Code Kit, Mel and Mia, passionate educators and tech enthusiasts, came together to revolutionise the way students learn coding. Research has shown that teachers and students perceive computer science as a difficult subject, and these views can lead to a lack of progress.
Mel has personally experienced this perspective both as a student and as a teacher. During her GSCEs, her teacher discouraged her from coding, and she later struggled with A levels, thinking coding wasn’t for her. However, she stumbled into a coding career when her company needed a custom solution, and she volunteered to build it. Then, as a teacher, she also observed that students perceived coding as difficult and often hesitate to ask questions, so building resilience was challenging.
Mia has had a similar experience, she didn’t have the opportunity to learn coding at school and was first introduced to it during her training as a primary school teacher at the university. At first she found it challenging and was constantly frustrated with her code not working but preserved. The feeling of overcoming the challenge sparked her interest in computing and she ended up specialising in it. She is passionate about young people building skills to support them as adults and prepare them for work.
Over the years, they have taught coding to young people in primary school and after school clubs and witnessed young people’s frustrations with errors. Whilst Mia was volunteering at a local Coding club a learner was stuck on a bug and said to Mia ‘I wish there was a debugging’ button. This was how the idea of our Flagship product – ’Ocobox’ was born and led to the establishment of My Code Kit.
About My Code Kit and our product offering
My Code Kit is an EdTech company offering a learning platform that uses AI technology to encourage ‘productive failure’. This approach encourages students to explore and make mistakes while receiving constructive feedback from our chatbot support system, ‘Ocobox’. To illustrate, if a student is learning to code by developing a password generator or a DnD dice simulator and encounters errors, they can turn to our chatbot for assistance. Our chatbot will explain the mistake and help the student fix it, thereby reducing the frustration.
This trial-and-error method is essential for learning coding, helping the students understand the concepts and develop their problem-solving skills. Ocobox makes the coding process fun and rewarding, so the students can focus on learning and reduce their fear of failure. This can greatly boost their confidence.
Our product is not only beneficial to students; it also provides a tailored novice solution, simplifying teaching and ensuring all students start from a strong foundation, saving teachers time. Our insightful reports, including the GRIT report, enable teachers to provide personalised guidance, support struggling students, and challenge high achievers effectively. At My Code Kit, we believe that artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to improve STEM education. We bring the power of AI to computing classrooms to help students develop 21st-century skills.
The journey of My Code Kit
Since idea conceptions we have received several awards, as shown above, to help us develop our app. We have won the Young Innovator’s Award as well as Women in Innovation Award. These awards have been instrumental to our growth, from just an idea to a full-fledged product. We aim to make a global impact by making coding accessible to everyone and increasing the retention rates of computer science.
As the number of STEM roles is due to increase within the next 10 year, our platform can prepare young people for these opportunities. With the support received from Innovate UK and community, we are now set to launch our pilot program.
If you are interested in signing up or suggesting a school for our pilot program, please click here. Hurry, as we have only 10 available slots for a limited time!.
We aim to help in addressing the digital skills gap, improving social mobility in tech and committing to decreasing the gender gap in technology. Everyone should have the opportunity to learn to code, regardless of their background, gender, or circumstances.
To support our vision further, we are excited to partner with the Tools Competition. This collaboration enables us to work with education researchers worldwide, ensuring that our product has a positive impact globally. Additionally, our partnership comes with $50,000 in funding, recognising our innovative solution in the Edtech sector and supporting our app development
To stay up-to-date and learn more about our product, please sign up for our newsletter on our website at https://mycodekit.com/#joinbeta. Become a part of the innovation that is shaping the future of education.