Homeschool Review Crew CompuScholar Digital Savvy New Course

Two of my children have shown themselves to be extremely interested in computers and various aspects of this highly technical field, so I was thrilled to get a chance to review the Digital Savvy course from CompuScholar, Inc.

The company offers additional courses as well that other Homeschool Review Crew members are reviewing to include:

Web Design and Java Programming

Web Design 

 Java Programming

       

What is the Digital Savvy course from CompuScholar, Inc.?

First, I want to mention that CompuScholar, Inc. used to be known as Homeschool Programming but has recently changed their name to CompuScholar, Inc. They began as a husband-wife, homeschooling parent team and with printed course books in 2008. The new company name now has expanded to incorporate their course offerings for both homeschoolers and public/private schools. While homeschoolers are still very much a part of the heart of the company, the name needed to reflect their expanded offerings of courses. I also want to point out that I had used the company's courses in the past, even used their printed text with my older son. So, I can tell you first-hand that the quality of what they offer has not been compromised in any way with the change of the company's name. If anything, it may have even improved. Though, it was really excellent from the start.

For the purpose of this review, I received two online codes to use: one for my student and one for the teacher (me). The Digital Savvy course is recommended for Grades 6-12. It is online and includes 25 chapters of lessons. Each lesson has a video presentation, text and a quiz. The teacher mode includes a teacher guide and quiz answers. The courses are self-study courses, and all activities that the student submits goes directly to the teacher for grading, not to the CompuScholar, Inc. company.

The course is intended to take two full semesters and comes with a syllabus that outlines the suggested use, usually taking about a week for each chapter. The chapters each include video instruction and textbook in an onscreen format that you could print if you prefer. Each section includes a short quiz, which the student has three attempts to master and is taken on the computer in multiple choice format, and finishes up with an assignment, which the homeschooling parent grades using a rubric that is included, and a final exam. The final chapter includes supplemental work.

The course covers:

Fundamentals of Computer Hardware
Fundamentals of Computer Software
Operating Systems
Computer Files
Computer Maintenance and Troubleshooting
Computer Networks
Search Engines
Computer Security
Word Processing
Spreadsheet Programs
Presentation Programs
Database Technology
Project Management and Teamwork

Mid-Term Project (Digital documents, spreadsheets, databases and presentations)

Digital Images
Internet Communications
Social Media
More Social Media
Creating Web Pages
Web Page Design
Web Links, Images, and Animations
Programming Concepts
Digital Logic
Careers and Professional Skills

Final Project (digital images, internet communications, social media, create website and write program with Scratch)

Supplemental Lessons (Computer Number Systems of Binary, Digital and Other)

How Did We Use It?

I had used a couple programming courses from the company in the past with my older son, who is a computer guru now, but I wanted to expose my youngest, who tends to follow in his footsteps with technology, to it. The only possible obstacle is that she is younger than the recommended age, but still, I felt she could handle it.

There are two logins - one for the teacher and one for the student. Both have access to the courses, but the teacher login also includes additional information such as a grading rubric, teacher guides, and answer keys.

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When the student logs on, they click on the course listed which takes them to a screen that lists the chapters. All they do from here is click on the chapters in order and follow the course, watching short videos and taking quizzes and submitting assignments.

What Did We Think?

The format is easy-to-use but not dumbed down by any means. We found the video instruction and the animations to be of good quality and informational. I also appreciated that the contents of the video was also included in a textbook format online. Another aspect that we really appreciated was that the quizzes give you instant results and show you any questions you got wrong and then gives you two more attempts to correct them, but when you take the quiz the second or third time, the multiple choice answers are not always in the same order. So, you have to know the answer and not just a letter to fill in to get it right. My older son, who has taken a couple courses from this vendor in the past, also noted that they included information that is helpful for an actual programmer and not just spewing out the history of computer science with facts that may or may not have any real-life use. We liked the graphics as well, and that's saying A LOT coming from my highly critical, computer age children who like to point out commercials with cheap graphics and a 10-year-old who will meticulously fill in pixel by pixel for sprites she has made for her brother's computer game creations.

FIND COMPUSCHOLAR ON SOCIAL MEDIA @:

Homeschool Programming
Facebook – www.facebook.com/HomeschoolProgramming
Twitter – https://twitter.com/HSProgramming @hsprogramming

CompuScholar, Inc
https://www.facebook.com/CompuScholar
https://twitter.com/CompuScholar @compuscholar

Read what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew thought by clicking on the picture below:

Schoolhouse Review: Homeschool Programming TeenCoder Java Series and Android Programming

My son and I have had the privilege of reviewing TeenCoder Java Series and Android Programming from Homeschool Programming, Inc.

 

We received a download of the TeenCoder Java Series, which is a two-part/two semester course that includes first and second semester curriculum. The first semester covers Java Programming, and the second semester covers Android Programming. Both semesters are set up to be presented in similar ways, with lessons presented inside of chapters and a DVD video summary introductions to each chapter, for more visual emphasis.

We received both semester’s course load as pdf downloads as well as two separate DVDs of video presentations that summarized each lesson in a fun recap with clipart style color animation and easy-to-read graphic fonts.

Everything he needed was in the downloads. The DVD is a bonus for students who are more visually motivated – which describes my son, who loved the DVD summaries.

The downloaded information required a PC that runs Windows XP or more current versions of Windows, or a Mac that is running at least an OS 10.5.8. My son downloaded it onto his Windows 7 laptop.

Since my son is our resident computer guru, when I received the link for the download, I just handed it over to him. I did the same with the DVDs, though I did take a peek at the DVDs, and I did check in on him throughout his work time to oversee his progress and to get an idea of what he was learning.
  The curriculum is intended for 9th through 12th graders, so I knew my 13-year-old son, who is going into 8th grade this fall, was slightly under this age requirement. However, this child lives, eats and breathes computer programming languages, so I knew he would be excited about giving it a try.

From our experience, the TeenCoder Java Series seems to be an excellent computer science course.  I have written for internet websites about programming as a profession, and this course appeared to be on par with some of the courses out there aimed at professionals seeking certification.

During the first semester, students learn about how to write Java code. In the second semester, they learn to write their own Android mobile device applications.

I was very happy that nothing additional had to be purchased. The learning took place using a free version of “the industry standard Eclipse development environment” which anyone interested in pursuing a career using Java programming needs to know.

Each chapter contains between one to four lessons and usually includes an activity at the end before continuing onto the next chapter. The chapters and lessons explain, in detail, a programming concept and provides sample coding examples. It uses hands-on activities, and allows students to write their own programs using the chapter topics as a guide.

Here are some screenshots of some of the projects he completed:

The course encourages students to put their creativity to work and to add their own personal touches to each project. We had so much fun with the programmed results, such as the program my son wrote in lesson 6 that automated a fill-in-the-blank style story using adjectives, nouns and adverbs that his sisters and I gave him. The program plugged these words into the pre-written story that my son chose to use, and the results were hilarious.

We were given 8 weeks to use the curriculum for the purposes of this review and were expected to finish at least one chapter per week.  Out of the two semesters worth of work, working at a pace of an average of two chapters per week, we covered the 16 chapters in the first semester and downloaded the 15 chapters in the second semester’s book to look it over and get started with that as well. My son has not yet plunged in with both feet yet on the second semester course work, but he has looked it over enough to get even more excited about Android programming.  The layout of how the material is presented is very similar in nature to the first semester's format, only it will cover Android programming.

For most students, one hour per session is probably a good recommended estimate for pacing the work to finish within each semester. My son, however, doesn’t like to break his focus once he’s locked into a programming mode. He did not work every day on the projects, but when he did, he worked diligently for more than one hour at a time. One afternoon, he even spent five hours completely engaged in the course.

My son was able to complete the TeenCoder Java Programming course entirely during our 8-week review period, and he is looking forward to learning how to program for the Android as well.

The TeenCoder Java Programming course and DVD is $90
Just the Java Programming course is $75
Just the Java Programming video is $20

The Android Programming course and DVD is $90
Just the Android Programming course is $75
Just the Android Programming video is $20

Buy together as a bundle and save:

The TeenCoder: Java year Pack courses and video is $155
The TeenCoder: Java Year Pack courses only is $130.00
The TeenCoder: Java Year Pack videos only is $30

Please read what other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew thought of this and other products from this company, here, or click on the picture below: