EasyCode Pillars Walkthrough
Accessing and Assigning EasyCode Pillars
EasyCode Pillars uses fun, engaging project-based lessons to teach students core concepts in Python including variables, loops, if statements, lists, functions, and events.
In each Codesters lesson, students are guided through the completion of a project through a series of small activities. In the last activity of the project, students use the skills learned to complete a project that allows them to apply their own personality and identity to the work.
Here’s how you will access EasyCode Pillars curriculum, beginning at the log in page:
Go to login.learning.com
Enter your username, password, and district.
If your school or district uses Clever, click the ‘Login with Clever’ button to begin the login process.
You can learn how to log in through Clever here.
From the Teacher page, click ‘My Classes’ and select the class to receive the curriculum.
Once the class has been selected, navigate to the ‘Library’ and open the EasyCode Pillars tile.
Click the ‘Assign’ button to add to your class.
PLEASE NOTE: you must have your class open in the left side bar to successfully assign curriculum.
Assigned curriculum will appear in the class assignment list on the left side bar. Click the ‘Edit’ button to remove an item or reorder the assignment list.
When a student clicks on the lesson in their assignment list, it will take them to that specific lesson in their Codesters student dashboard.
However, once in the Codesters platform, students can use the drop-down in the upper left-hand corner to navigate to any Codesters lesson that you, as the teacher, have given students access to through the Codesters dashboard.
Click on a lesson title to view the details tab, lesson plan, categories, and standards.
Accessing the EasyCode Pillars Gradebook
Student progress in EasyCode Pillars can be viewed only in the Teacher Dashboard on the Codesters platform.
All activities will auto-score except the final project, which must be manually graded. (Final project grades can be manually entered in the Learning.com gradebook if desired.)
To navigate to your Teacher Dashboard in Codesters, click on a lesson title and click the ‘View’ button:
A student landing page will appear:
Select ‘Exit Student Mode’ in the upper right corner of the landing page.
Your Teacher Dashboard will open to a view of all the classes to which you’ve assigned EasyCode Pillars curriculum.
Clicking ‘Manage Class’ will open the class grade book
Codesters Gradebook Options
Lessons can be turned on and off to limit student progress by checking and unchecking the lesson box. Once in the Codesters dashboard, students have access to any lesson to which you have checked the box.
Teachers can easily view submitted code and projects and compare students’ work to the correct solutions.
To see sample answers for the activities, click on the preview buttons:
From the student roster click on the plus + button to track student progress.
When you click on one of the green, yellow, or red circular icons in the student’s progress bar, the student’s code will appear in a new pop up window.
***Please note that if there is a yellow caution symbol or red exclamation mark
in the progress bar, this means the student did not correctly answer the question and should revisit their code.
Select the teacher solution button (‘A’) to show the code editor. Select the ‘Answer’ tab to show an example coding solution.
The lightbulb icon links to the Codesters How To webpage.
Archiving classes in Codesters
Classes in Codesters can be archived from the Classes menu. In the tile for the class you wish to archive, click the ‘x’ in the top right corner:
A pop-up window will display, asking if you would like to archive the class.:
A class that has been archived will have all of its information saved. On the Classes menu in Codesters teachers will now see a ‘Show Archived’ button at the bottom, which will reveal the archived classes:
If teachers wish to make an archived class active again, click the recycle icon on the top right corner of the archived class:
A pop-up window will display, asking if you would like to make the class active again:
By clicking ‘OK’ the class will now be active in your Codesters Classes.
Viewing and Sharing Codesters Projects
Codesters projects can be shared to users with access to the program through Learning.com. Project sharing meets compliance with Student Privacy agreements and shared projects will not be visible by the public. To learn more, click here.
If we revisit the Teacher dashboard, we can select the ‘Class Projects’ button to view student-submitted final projects:
Or we can select the ‘Projects’ tab to view student-featured and public examples:
Select a project to see the option to share with your teacher or classmates:
By selecting ‘Share’, the option to share the project through a link appears:
*Please note that projects can only be shared with the class teacher or other classmates
Grading Codesters Projects:
Codesters projects can be graded by both teachers and students using the rubric below.
Information about grading student created projects can be found here:
Contact us with Questions
Questions submitted from a teacher account will be sent to Learning.com’s Customer Support email address.
Questions submitted from a student account will be emailed to the teacher. Students are required to enter an email address, but they can enter the teacher’s email if the student does not have one.
Connect with Other Educators!
Visit the Codesters Facebook Community Page!
This forum is available to those using Codesters in the classroom to come together to ask questions, share best-practices, and talk about their experiences teaching coding.