CodeJoy Interactive Student Shows

Coding. Cardboard. Robots.

A digital divide plagues US education. Nearly half of all students lack access to computer science. CodeJoy bridges this divide with an educational media revolution. CodeJoy produces a live, interactive, virtual TV show in which students learn to code and watch their code control real robots during the broadcast. Hailed as “PBS for the 21st Century,” CodeJoy is shaping the future of learning!

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Overview

HundrED shortlisted this innovation

HundrED has shortlisted this innovation to one of its innovation collections. The information on this page has been checked by HundrED.

Web presence

2019

Established

2.5M

Children

4

Countries

Target group

Students lower

Updated

April 2024

Our goal is to make robotics approachable and relevant to a wider range of learners, both teachers and students. CodeJoy envisions a world where questions of distance and access are no longer barriers to learning. Through our Interactive Student Shows, we are building a world in which everyone, everywhere can engage in coding and robotics education.

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

The urgent need to bridge the computer science education gap fuels CodeJoy. Despite state-level CS education policies and mandates in every US state, only 1% of new teachers have CS degrees. CodeJoy’s mission is to ignite a new generation of creators by eliminating barriers and inviting everyone, everywhere in the world to explore robotics and coding through our Interactive Student Shows!

What does your innovation look like in practice?

Students interact with CodeJoy Student Shows through our web platform, CodeJoy.Live. This browser-based experience allows students to see video, chat with hosts, and write code, all in one place. It feels like a live, interactive TV show! During a live broadcast, up to 400 participants interact simultaneously. Teachers report extremely high engagement as students watch to see if their codes are chosen.

Teachers also interact through CodeJoy.Live, monitoring student participation, and following up the live experience with on-the-spot interventions. Many teachers echo Riverside USD’s Daniella Moya who said, “Every single one of my students was engaged and loving every minute! They couldn’t believe it was live!”

CodeJoy’s clients interact through a separate platform, CodeJoy Hub. This platform tracks student and teacher participation data, enabling clients like the Connecticut Lt Gov’s Computing Challenge to see which districts, schools, and teachers are engaging in the initiative.

How has it been spreading?

Virtual delivery enables CodeJoy’s growth and scalability model. We've grown faster online, serving more people in remote & underserved areas than we could have in-person.

Bootstrapped from a garage with a nearly $0 marketing budget, we’ve spread to over 20 states, reaching 10,000 teachers and 50,000 students mainly through word of mouth.

Our main clients are educational service organizations. These organizations seek ways to better reach the school districts in their service area. NASA’s TechRise Student Challenge, the Connecticut State Dep of Education, and the Infosys Foundation USA have all employed CodeJoy to reach the far-flung teachers they serve. Capitalizing on increased internet access (a COVID legacy), CodeJoy brings innovation directly to classrooms that need it most.

If I want to try it, what should I do?

Wanna catch a live CodeJoy Show? Register and join a show: www.CodeJoy.org/upcoming-events

Want to learn with CodeJoy as a teacher, through live, virtual professional development courses? Learn more: www.CodeJoy.org/teachers

Interested in seeing how CodeJoy Interactive Student Shows could boost participation in your educational initiative? Email us or schedule a chat: www.CodeJoy.org/contact

Implementation steps

Consultation and Planning

First, CodeJoy meets with the client to plan the initiative. We have 9 different shows to choose from, each with different stories and learning goals. We choose the best shows for their initiative, and schedule the shows according to their needs. Some clients schedule 5 shows a day for weeks at a time. Some clients schedule single shows weeks apart. We also train the client to track the progress of their initiative. Finally, we co-create a marketing plan to reach their target audience.

Systems Set Up

Our operations team sets up the shows, and provides the client with a registration link to share with their target audience. Teachers can then register themselves and their classrooms to attend, reserving enough seats from the 400 participant limit for their students. Teachers receive automated confirmation & reminder emails and calendar invites.

Marketing

Clients know who they want to reach with their initiative, and they have established methods of contact. Clients may send emails, flyers, set up booths at STEM fairs, and more. Through CodeJoy Hub, the client can track sign ups for the initiative in real time, adjusting their marketing and outreach. This culminates in many shows being fully booked, with hundreds of students attending the same show from multiple locations! By supporting existing systems, CodeJoy supports grass-roots growth.

Delivery

Showtime! We launch the show 10 mins early, allowing students & teachers to log in and become familiar with the platform. During this “pre-show hangout,” students chat with Matt the Robot and learn that we really do respond to them live! Once the show begins, Kelsey and Matt the Robot keep students engaged through fun narratives and cute cardboard characters. After 45 mins, we’ve often upwards of 8,000 chats, and we see 95%-100% of participants having written at least one complete code!

Reporting

After all the sessions are complete, we meet with the client to discuss the numbers. In one recent initiative, the Connecticut Lt. Gov’s Computing Challenge, we served over 2,800 students and 106 teachers from all across the state in 3 weeks!

Impact on Initiatives

Due to CodeJoy’s support of the Connecticut Lt Gov’s Computing Challenge with CodeJoy Interactive Student Shows, submissions to the challenge increased by 250% in a single year! Similarly, in working with Penn State’s ABC CREATE Teacher Network, we increased teacher participation in voluntary training by over 800% in two years by engaging students and teachers through our CodeJoy Interactive Student Shows!