Learn Javascript Fundamentals and More With Google's Grasshopper

About eighteen months ago Google published a mobile app called Grasshopper. Grasshopper was created as an app for students to use to learn to code on their Android phones or iPhones. Today, Google announced that you can now use Grasshopper in the web browser on your laptop or desktop computer.

Whether you use Grasshopper on a phone, tablet, or laptop each lesson starts with an introduction to the basic vocabulary of coding before moving into the coding lessons. You have to pass the vocabulary quiz before your can jump into the lessons. Each lesson has a tutorial, a practice activity, and a quiz. You have to successfully complete each lesson before progressing to the next one. Grasshopper will save your work in progress.

Applications for Education
I tried the Grasshopper app when it first came out and found it intuitive and easy to use. As I wrote then, I can see middle school and high school students following the tutorials with little or no intervention from their teachers. In fact, I'm going to have my 9th grade students try Grasshopper next week when I'm away for the day and a substitute teacher will be with them.

VidReader - Create Searchable Transcripts of YouTube Videos

A couple of weeks ago I published a blog post and a video about a neat service called SnackVids. SnackVids has since been rebranded as VidReader. With its new name VidReader does the same thing that SnackVids did. That thing is create a searchable transcript of any YouTube video that is narrated in English. As you'll see in the video, the transcript is not only searchable but all of the keywords are hyperlinked to timestamps in the video.


Applications for Education
After I published the above video a couple of weeks ago, a lot of people commented to me that SnackVids, now VidReader, could be a good tool to provide assistance to students who need to or want to read along with a video.

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