Has anyone used this at the university level?

Researching this tool for inclusion in a basic programming course. It looks great! Contemplating this as an introductory tutorial just to teach some coding basics before we tackle another platform. Has anyone else tried this tool with college undergraduates? If so, did they find it “too childish” or did they enjoy it? Thanks!!

I’m an undergraduate and thoroughly enjoy CodeCombat, if that helps.
Though, I’ve got over a decade of programming experience, so I may not be part of the target audience. :smile:

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Thanks, UltCombo! I appreciate your feedback.

I graduated with a BS in CS. Have worked as a professional programmer since '97. I kind of like this site, but really, I wish there were some way to “test out” of the basics. I’m hoping that I am going to get up to some more interesting levels soon, but slogging through all the simple examples where you have to change just one little thing, or put in one function call - whatever. It’s pretty tedious and not very interesting. I think the tool (game) in general could be quite applicable for college level courses if a content track was written aimed at audiences at that level.

Maybe it would be OK as-is for people getting exposed to their very first programming experience, but for anyone that has even a basic programming course under their belt already, I think it is going to feel really slow and tedious, at least for a while.

Just my opinion.

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Thanks, Hallbjorn. This is my concern as well. I’m teaching a small class of 15 students, and most of them will have very little programming experience. However, there are always a few students who have taken at least one basic programming course. I’m thinking that it might make sense as an initial unit – just for a few days – but not as the primary focus of the class.

Very good points. And indeed, CodeCombat is aimed at people with zero programming knowledge, it starts with the very basics of logic and syntax.

CodeCombat may be a good choice to level your students group, starting from the basics as to not leave anyone behind.

Hello Aaron,

I handle support for CodeCombat and the only email I recall seeing from Higher Ed/University level is one from a TA considering using CodeCombat in a class. I’ll double check and get back to you.

As a side note, I was still an undergraduate when I was hired by CodeCombat and had used the game (and still do) to try to keep my programming skills up to date.

We must organize a club of anonymous developers without CS education :slight_smile:

Hello. My name is Valentin and I don’t have CS education. I’m telecommunication engineer.

Of course I have many years of the experience as a software/web developer. But I’m still playing and learn something new with CodeCombat.

I have many years of programming experience and enjoyed the game. My goal wasn’t to worry about the simplicity but to get a top ranking position on the game boards and to complete the levels as quickly as possible. So it was enjoyable in that respect.

You could always give this as a supplement to the main course work. Especially with programming, having another outlet to try your code is always a bonus. There is only so much reading students can do. In this way they would have a game as well.

What Hallbjorn is probably looking for is a fully fledged game where you put your skills to the test. One that assumes you know what you are doing and just slams you with enemy attacks. Or has you do very complex algorithms. Perhaps that could be a goal for the volcano level? And if you paid, you could start there if you “self certify” that you already know coding?

@Hallbjorn there is a level in Kithgard Dungeon called “Kithgard Mastery” that lets you skip the rest of the levels in that campaign. I don’t know of any other levels like that in the other campaigns, but if you are still in the dungeon it would let you out.

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Hahah good idea, though I guess I’d be leaving the club soon as I have just submitted my final academic paper.

In all seriousness though, it is interesting how software development is such an welcoming area for people from the most diverse backgrounds. Several “open source heroes” don’t have formal education, and often develop better software than those who do. It is also an area with huge skill gaps—sometimes a punk fresh out of school goes by leaps and bounds around those that have been in the profession for a decade. I have personally grown to be a senior full stack developer and technical leader in just about 5 years of professional experience—it is about developing your skills and yielding results.

Note to readers: please don’t take this as encouragement to drop out or skip school. Many companies have picky requirements, and formal education is always a plus, obviously. I just meant to say that formal education is not a complete necessity if you want to live off software development, unlike several other areas.

p.s. Guess I got a bit carried away and may have drifted from the topic. If anyone wants to continue this discussion, please fork the thread.

Such great feedback from the community. Thank you, everyone, for sharing your thoughts and your personal experiences.

I have decided to experiment with Code Combat in a limited way, but it will not be the backbone of the course. At this point, it looks like I will be nudging the students toward the use of Construct2 after they have experimented with some basic programming concepts via Code Combat.

Thanks again!

Could you say what it is? I’m curious.

I don’t think it is in any way a substitute for Code Combat, or vice versa, so I guess it’s OK to mention it here. Construct 2 appears to be a user-friendly program for game development.

The tool advertises itself as “game design without programming,” but it does involve many programming concepts. To be honest, I wish the tool was advertised in a different way. However, combined with something like Code Combat – and other resources – I think it will help me teach a bit of game design and a bit of game programming.

Thanks!

Thanks.

I think it’s not a problem to mention even CoCo competitors here. Because we always can learn something new from our competitors or partner with them.

It’s always great to read interesting topics, so I’ll throw my two cents as well :slight_smile: I’m studying computer science, never had anything to do with programming before but thanks to all sites on the internet I’m learning more each day. My studies aren’t really demanding so I’ve learnt about 90% of what I know that’s to programming sites. I like to solve problems and do some tasks - helps out a lot with algorithms, basic thinking as well as getting better understanding about lots of programming-related topics :wink: Maybe this isn’t the right place but I would like to thank you all for all of your hard work and… I hope I’ll be able to do more in order to help you out or work with you in future :slight_smile: Thanks!

PS: Codecombat surely helps, it’s rather unique and awesome tool, even if the dungeon/forest levels are probably a bit of a chore for someone a bit more familiar with coding. Speaking of my studies - for sure I can tell that advanced topics in glacier, as well as some levels in mountains surely cover things I haven’t heard about on my studies :slight_smile: I have to admit that the community is great!

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I found out we do have at least two university using our services, but I cannot reveal who or how they’re using it.

What am i doing wrong on leave it to cleaver

Please do not bring up dead topics? Please click on the New Topic Button on top right and then post your question there.

I dont see it any where

Go to the home page: https://discourse.codecombat.com/

It should be on the right hand side (A + sign with the words New Topic next to it.

Click on it and fill in title, in the dropdown, select Adventurer or the Green Box.

Then, in the large text box, give us a description and your code and we will help.