Do you know about teachers using sololearn or other apps in their lessons?

Question

I am a highschool physics teacher and i started recommending sololearn last year to some of my students. Mostly to students from 3th year (14y) and higher that were looking for a new challenge.
They are learning Java, Python, html, ... depending on their goals and interests.
I wonder if there are other teachers with similar experience or students that use sololearn in the classroom.
Please share your do's and don'ts.

Answer 1

I teach a Critical Thinking course that focuses on STEM for 6th graders. I individualize projects based on student interests - but any students with interests related to computer science and/or programming, I have sign-up for SoloLearn. They can choose their own language, but I try to guide them toward one I think would be useful for their interest [C++ for games to use later in Unreal Engine, HTML/CSS etc for those interested in web design (sadly, none)]. SoloLearn is definitely the best resource I've found for coding - beats the heck out of scratch and code.org, "block coding", that only teaches logic and not any actual language. Although, in general, 90% of my 6th graders abandon programming when they realize it's not instant (visual) gratification, in that they can't just make a real original app or game within a week of starting to learn coding. It's a shame. Although, perhaps one day we can make actual useful programming languages more visually aesthetic instead of line after line of text.

Answer 2

Certainly. Few users I know are teachers too. The user base consists of users from a wide variety of backgrounds. I'd say show your students a copy of the SL Content Creation Guidelines, if possible. We want to make sure they understand what (not) to do, that they are responsible for their activity on here. :>

How are the responses / reviews from your students so far?

Answer 3

Hatsy Rei
I get mixed responses but mostly positive.
Some find the courses hard or get a bit bored because they don't get to actual programming.
That is why now i recommend them to write some code after every part of the course in which they use the newly gained knowledge.
That way they will learn more in detail and experience what they can do with it.
If every part of a couse could end with a well chosen assignment (integrated in the course) that would be nice.

Also, i follow my students on sololearn so that i can see their progress and their posts.

Anyway, thanks for the response.

Answer 4

yes even I required sololearn as a teacher bcoz we can understand through every courses

Answer 5

Not a teacher, but an experienced person. In the late 2000s I self-published a 2D shooter (full-game, around 1 - 2 hours play for a beginner). I won a competition with a 3D simulation. I was part of the Pony Craft team before it disbanded, done a few backyard projects, and some freelance stuff. On the non-programming front, I've written a novel awaiting publication and half one on hiatus. I joined SL to better my C++ knowledge as I still think like a C programmer. I also saw it as a means of bettering my understanding of programming in general since there's no better way to learn than to teach. I may still explore web languages, but for now I'm more a C and now C++ dev. Constantly talking code on this app also helps my medical problem (memory loss).

Answer 6

I’m student, I learn in Information Security faculty, I’ve seen thousands of programming recources, but when I find Sololearn, it really changed my life )). I’ll always recommend Solo to all my friends and even just passersby.

Answer 7

WASP is a math teacher

Answer 8

WASP is Mathematic teacher!

Answer 9

Yes, why not? Plenty of teachers use this, even you recommended this... weird, isn’t it?

Don’t make projects too selective, keep a larger scope to see what they are interested in, it makes things much easier for you to see what they want to do with code, then what help they need.

Do let them toy around with ideas, let them experiment everything that won’t obviously destroy everything.

Answer 10

Yeah there are a lot of teachers in sololearn. First of all , sololearn itself is a teacher. Even than if you find any confusion in your topic , one can post the question and lot of people will help you to get your answer . So , they are also a kind of teacher

Answer 11

davy hermans If you are a physics teacher will you please help in one topic

Absolute error, relative error and percentage error
Thanks!

Answer 12

nonzyro You should definitely publish a lesson on game development. Can't wait to learn from your experience!

Answer 13

I am also an educator and hope soon will come into the field of programming and will surely recommend SoloLearn.

Answer 14

Nathan Sonnenfeld
Yes, I suppose so. I didn't even know that Google classroom had an age requirement! Interesting.
But, I think the reason they do is to supposedly protect the info of minors (kids) using them. Like, they wouldn't want a 10 year old to be posting things like their name, age, et cet on sites like these, if that makes sense.

Answer 15

davy hermans That's very fortunate for them as my students get to learn C and Java at 18/9 yo and this is in Malaysia! 😄

I do recommend SoloLearn to my students but unfortunate only a few of them take the initiative to explore.

Answer 16

The Coder
Try to limit your questions to coding. Say: How would i write a code that calculates rel and proc errors from measurement and abs error? That i will be happy to answer.
https://code.sololearn.com/c7AF1MnQdIGd/?ref=app

Hope this is usefull to you.😉

Answer 17

I'm maybe not a teacher at a school, but I sure teach people in my free time for an extra bit.

Answer 18

J.G. - Oh wow, thank you - I never saw anything about an age requirement anywhere. Thank you for bringing it to my attention!

(A side comment, it's so silly how so much educational content online (Google Classroom, for example - such a great system but can't use in my classroom) has an age requirement, yet all sorts of obscenities are available with no real age validations.]

Answer 19

Yes I am sure that Sololearn would be very useful for students of all ages, however please bear in mind the terms of use of Sololearn and your responsibility to your students and the policies in place of your educational establishment.

Ensure that the age of the students is 13 and over.
Ensure parents are informed. (with regard to school policy and educational authority)
Have regard that the content of SoloLearn is their property and should be used with regard to their terms.

I could go on with my thoughts, personally I think that if I was teaching ages 16 plus it would always get my recommendation for use (not necessarily in my teaching but as a suggestion to see challenge " quote a challenge" which I would adjust with questions to suit my teaching focus etc , however I feel there are quite a few areas that some students may be disadvantaged in conveying their ideas and cementing their understanding. (Discussion area, within a class environment this is often structured and purposeful questioning is used to assist...at crucial terms to their learning...I wonder if this would be as effective in a discussion topic such as this.)

Answer 20

Yes, I am a teacher too.