IOL Technology - Skills and Employment Edition

Editor’s letter THE news that South Africa is officially the leading country with unemployment especially for the youth has somehow renewed the Skill revolution in South Africa. In this issue of IOL Tech we shine a spotlight SA’s efforts to address future skills.

Our cover feature focuses on a new type of school leader who will oversee a new type of school, the UCT Online High School. There’s something about the UCT Online High School that will make a dent to current skills challeng​​e. In addition to efforts at UCT the MICT Seta is also asking South Africans about 4th Industrial Revolution skills. We list some of the skills and challenge you to express your thoughts on skills that will be necessary in the 4IR. In a practical way, we offer you an opportunity to learn some practical skills. This feature will be

regular going forward with the hope as our loyal reader you can be inspired to learn something new.

We begin with practical skills to learn about starting an online store for your business.

As South Africa navigates its skills and employment challenge, we would like to serve as your guide with information that can lead you in the right direction.

As from next month, we will add technology employment opportunities that will keep you updated about new job vacancies.

I’m currently working on a column about the Future of Work, which will feature in our next issue.

The future of work is being shaped by two powerful forces: the growing adoption of artificial intelligence in the workplace and the expansion of the workforce to include on- and off-balancesheet talent. What changes could

be in store for the workplace, the workforce, and the nature of work itself? These are some of the questions that will be answered in our next issue with the focus on skills and employment in technology.

Enjoy this edition of IOL Tech digimag.

Wesley Diphoko

CONTENTS w 11 new 4IR skills on the cards w YouTube is searching for South African creators

w How TikTok influencer made home renovation videos her full-time job

w What you need to know to start an online store

w DIGIX Lab gives developers a space to revolutionise their big app dreams

w Engage to educate: how tech can help spaza shops

w How to move from developer to start-up founder

w Meet the principal of the UCT Online High School

w 9 apps for kids to develop their coding skills

CONTACT US PUBLISHER Vasantha Angamuthu vasantha@africannewsagency.com EDITOR Wesley Diphoko wesley.diphoko@inl.co.za DESIGN Dominique Owen dominique.owen@inl.co.za PRODUCTION Renata Ford renata.ford@inl.co.za BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Keshni Odayan keshni.odayan@inl.co.za SALES Charl Reineke charl.reineke@inl.co.za ENQUIRIES iol.magazines@inl.co.za

The Media, Information and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority has urged the public to make their voices heard on future skills qualifications

11 new 4IR skills on the cards IOL REPORTER

THE Mict (Media Information and Communication Technologies) Seta has developed what they consider to be 11 4IR future skills. As part of this process the Seta has facilitated a process of gazetting them with the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO).

“As the Mict Seta, we are excited about our partnership with the higher learning institutions in launching and spearheading the provision of formal training for 4IR in South Africa. We are hopeful that with these 11 qualifications we are going to bridge the shortage of skilled labour within the ICT and digital industries, and ultimately increase the employment rate and entrepreneurship in South Africa,” said Matome

A powered-off SoftBank humanoid robot known as Pepper, wears a waiter’s uniform. | Reuters

Madibana, MICT Seta acting chief executive.

The newly developed qualifications include: – Artificial Intelligence – Cloud Computing – Cyber Security – Data Science – Design Thinking Lead – Design Thinking Practitioner – Internet of Things – Robotic Processing Automation – Quality Engineering Automation – Systems Development – e-Waste The Seta has indicated that these qualifications will equip young professionals and the workforce to deal with the disruptive effects of new technologies, enabling them to innovate and create new products and services across industries.

The Mict Seta has organised itself around the 4IR by establishing an advisory committee with the focus on education, research, policy and labour. One of the key outputs from the advisory committee is the Integrated Digital Skills Strategy. The 11 qualifications were developed under this strategy in collaboration with a community of experts such as universities, TVET colleges, QCTO, Original Equipment Manufacturers, professional bodies, labour and government departments.

“We have the opportunity to create a 4IR-ready country and workforce. I am confident that the multi-faceted and collaborative approach we are taking will yield positive results and have long-term effects,” said Gugu Sema, acting senior manager 4IR at Mict Seta. | IOL Tech

YouTube is searching for South African creators IOL REPORTER

YOUTUBE has announced the YouTube NextUp programme will be available in Nigeria and South Africa. The programme is an opportunity for creators to take their content creation to the next level.

Twenty creators with eligible channels will be selected to win a production stipend of $1 000 (about R15 000) to be used for the acquisition of production equipment to advance their YouTube careers.

The selected creators will also have the opportunity to attend a week-long intensive “Creator Camp”, learn new skills and access support by the YouTube partnerships team.

The YouTube NextUp programme is available to creators who are committed to advancing their YouTube careers and producing fresh and compelling content.

Eligible channels for selection into the YouTube NextUp programme should have 10 000 to 100 000 subscribers and at least three pieces of original and native video content uploaded in the past three months.

Channel accounts must be compliant with the YouTube community guidelines and have no strikes. Participation in other YouTube creator master classes is also a basis for acceptance.

“We believe that the next generation of successful creators

are already honing their skills on YouTube,” says Addy Awofisayo, YouTube Content Partnership in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“We are excited that the YouTube NextUp programme will help take creators to the next level in their YouTube careers, enabling them to develop whole new genres and online experiences for audiences around the world.”

Applications for the YouTube NextUp programme are open.

To apply for YouTube NextUp, each creator must submit an entry form with the video they are most proud of and best represents their technical production skills, creativity and storytelling ability. They also need to answer either of these essay questions in 200 words or less: “Why should you be selected?”, “How do you collaborate with other channels?” or “What are your plans for the next two years?”

Judging will involve the evaluation of the creator’s submitted video and essay.

YouTube, through programmes like YouTube NextUp, has a commitment to being an advocate for the diverse communities that reside on the platform and will continue to expand its efforts to support marginalised and under-represented communities, it says.

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Starting an online store may seem intimidating but the barrier to entry for becoming an online retailer is actually quite low

What you need to know to start an online store

STARTING an online store may seem intimidating but the barrier to entry for becoming an online retailer is actually quite low. That’s because e-commerce platforms enable you to easily set up shop on the web – even if you’ve never done it before.

Xneelo has put together a simple guide to help you start your own e-commerce store. First, select a web hosting provider, then choose an e-commerce platform, and then select your payment gateways.

Hosting your e-commerce site You’ll need a website listing your products for sale. The three key elements you’ll require are a

registered domain name, a hosting account, and an HTTPS connection.

Your domain name is your site’s address and makes it possible for customers to find and browse your store. Choosing an easy-to-recall name will help drive visitors to your site.

Your hosting provider will manage the server where your website is stored. Choose a provider you’re comfortable working with because this will be an ongoing relationship.

Review each option’s customer service. Look out for 24/7 availability, quick responses to queries, and clear explanations.

At xneelo, we register domain names, provide high-quality web hosting and reliable customer service.

Essential e-commerce security E-commerce involves asking customers to trust you with sensitive information, including their credit card details.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates enable HTTPS, a secure connection between web browsers and your site’s server, so your customers’ information isn’t likely to be stolen.

Free SSL is included in all of xneelo’s Web Hosting packages.

Choosing your platform These platforms make it easy to display your products and accept payments online. You can choose between platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce – the latter can be easily added to your WordPress site.

Hosted platforms, like Shopify, don’t require hosting infrastructure, which seems like an advantage. The downside: they limit your control over your content, along with your design and development choices.

With a self-hosted platform, you have ultimate control and flexibility over your store’s content and design.

WooCommerce offers extensions

to help you with shipping, display options, social media marketing, data analysis and more. In other words, you can fully customise your store to your exact needs.

Selecting your payment gateways Once you have a platform and hosting in place, you need to decide how customers will pay for your products. Choosing the right payment gateway to offer is no small task.

After all, you want to be sure that your customers’ payment information is in good hands.

Fortunately, popular e-commerce platforms tend to support multiple well-known payment gateways:

Many of these payment options are quite affordable. For example, PayPal and PayFast are available on both WooCommerce and Shopify with no upfront costs. You’ll have to pay transaction fees, and there’ll be costs required to upgrade. For a store that’s just getting started, these options are strong choices. Other options you could consider are SnapScan and MyGate.

With South African e-commerce expected to grow almost 9% annually over the next five years, now is the perfect time to get into online retail.

Fortunately, you now know what you’ll need to start an online store.

ENGAGE TO EDUCATE

Technology can help spaza shops become a hub of learning and skills development in communities

ANDREW DAWSON

SPAZA shops are at the heart of many South African informal communities, selling small quantities of everything, from groceries and home care products to medication and cleaning supplies.

For the millions of citizens who live hand-to-mouth, the role of the

spaza shop as a bulk breaker is a lifeline. Yet what if these community hubs could become more than just general dealers, and play an active role in the upskilling and upliftment of the people they serve?

Technology has the potential to help them do this, creating

centres of learning, education and distribution enabled by a digital world.

The digital key unlocks a new world of possibility Distributors have already seen the value in bringing spaza shops into a digital economy – simplifying the ordering and selling processes to create greater efficiency and line of sight into the last mile of the value chain.

Merchants are able to automatically generate orders without having to wait for a sales rep to make a call, which makes their processes faster and more efficient. However, this same technology has the power to evolve into much more than just a logistics tool.

Once digital solutions are in place, the technology can, fairly simply, be extended to benefit the community at large with a platform to assist with educating and growing opportunities. The same system used to send out information around product promotions in-store can be used to address knowledge gaps in the community.

Engage to educate Ensuring the stability and sustainability of spaza shop ventures requires the owners to undergo skills development themselves. Improving entrepreneurial, selling and financial skills enable more stable and sustainable ventures. From this point, educational portals can be incorporated to offer community members access to learning initiatives.

For example, an educational portal could aid in providing communities with a stopping gap for much needed skills shortages.

Entrepreneurial courses could provide better financial and business management skills for micro to small business owners,

who need support and guidance to ensure business continuity.

These same skills can provide opportunities for new business and the growth of these micro enterprises.

Medical skills could be taught to provide a better understanding of basic health awareness.

This will also allow community members to be treated locally rather than seeking health care further away or at busy healthcare facilities.

The application and reach for a community portal is possibly endless. We need to capture the opportunity and make the best use of enabling less fortunate communities – as they could make a difference for the country.

Spokes from the hub With economic sustainability at severe risk due to Covid19, rampant unemployment and governmental instability, it is essential to grow greater participation from a larger proportion of the population. Skills development and upliftment of people is critical in achieving this.

If those involved in the logistics chain look beyond generating revenue and growing business opportunities, toward adding value to communities, we could help people move beyond survival mode. The spaza shop is the one constant in often disrupted communities, and they have the potential to become the centre of a positive ripple effect. They are the connection to the community and have the potential to become the hub for creating circular microeconomies within underserved communities.

Andrew Dawson, MD at MACmobile. *The views expressed here are not necessarily those of IOL or of title sites

The University of Cape Town is proud to confirm the placement of its UCT Online High School director and principal, Yandiswa Xhakaza, who is an avid educationalist

Meet the new principal of the UCT Online High School

FAST COMPANY CONTRIBUTOR

IN JULY, UCT launched an online high school, becoming the first university in Africa to extend its expertise and impact to the secondary schooling market through an innovative online modality.

The public response has exceeded expectations, which is indicative of the global need for innovation in the education sector. Across South Africa and the African continent, parents, learners and teachers have shown interest in this education offering, with more than 4 000 learner applications for January 2022 and climbing.

Bolstering the launch announcement, the university is

proud to confirm the placement of its UCT Online High School director and principal, Yandiswa Xhakaza, who is an avid educationalist.

Xhakaza experienced the dire consequences of an unequal education system as a young girl.

They left an imprint in her life so profound that she has dedicated her life to finding effective solutions to provide high-quality education at scale.

Starting out as an English teacher in 2010, she has grown tremendously and has gained new skills, travelling the world to learn best practice from other countries. She brings a wealth of knowledge, having started and operated a school in Centurion in 2017. She is a leader and comes

from leading a national literacy organisation, the Nal’ibali Trust, where she served as CEO. She holds a Bachelor of Education degree (Wits), Postgraduate Diploma in Management (Wits) and a Master of Business Administration (University of Pretoria).

Her operational skills and large-scale implementation capabilities are going to be valuable in her new role.

Xhakaza believes that UCT Online High School is exactly what this country needs, offering high-quality education at scale.

She explains: “Online education in our context will always come with its own fair share of challenges as a developing country. The digital divide is

significant and we have to work around the digital barriers such as poor network coverage, data costs, access to devices and computer literacy, to mention a few. This is exactly the type of challenge I am excited about, because when we get this right, it will be a massive win for all of us.”

Xhakaza begins her tenure as the director and principal of the UCT Online High School from November ahead of its first official cohort, cementing her role as its leader from the onset. ‘’I am delighted to be joining the UCT Online High School team pioneering such amazing work and I look forward to breaking barriers and working towards the accomplishment of something so deeply personal to me, a course I have been preparing my whole life to chart forth,’’ she said.

UCT’s vice-chancellor, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, welcomed the appointment.

“Yandiswa embodies what we as an institution stand for: building an inclusive society using the knowledge and resources that we possess. With her leading us on this journey we will be building a more equitable and sustainable social order and influencing our young people from an early age to prepare them for the demands of higher education and society.

Her experiences and passion is just what we need to make a success of the UCT Online High School, which is a key project of the university’s Vision 2030 and shows how we are committed to unleashing human potential across our society,” said Phakeng.

“Yandiswa’s commitment to education and willingness to continuously better herself for the good of her students is evident from her experience as a teacher, school leader and educationalist.

We could not be happier that she will be joining the UCT OHS team and leading us on this incredible journey that is anchored in our Vision 2030 strategy to unleash human potential for a fair and just society and on our three pillars of transformation, excellence and sustainability. She is acutely

aware of the challenges we face as a nation when it comes to democratising education and she has proven over the years how she is able to begin to bridge the divide. Her experience and passion is just what we need to take us forward successfully and begin to play our part in bringing education to all.”

Adding support in her career move, acting chairperson of the Nal’ibali Trust, Kay Lala-Sides, said: “We know that Yandiswa has a real passion for making highquality education accessible to all South Africans. It is that passion that led her to Nal’ibali and it is the same passion that draws her to UCT’s Online High School.

“During her time with us, Yandiswa worked with our executive team and the board to help the Nal’ibali campaign adapt to our changing world, strengthen systems and processes, and introduced cost-effective innovations that helped us deliver value at scale. We wish her well as she takes these experiences with her into her new role and look forward to opportunities to collaborate in the future.”

The UCT Online High School has been designed to service South African learners from a broad range of socio-economic levels.

The UCT Online High School offers a CAPS-aligned curriculum, and enables learners in grades 8 – 11 in any corner of the globe the opportunity to study at a monthly fee of R2 095, making it one of the most affordable private schools in the country. Grade 12 will be

The curriculum will be made available from January 2022 for free in an interactive online platform called the Open UCT Free Curriculum

offered from 2023.

Admissions for the UCT Online High School opened on July 21 and great interest has been shown ahead of the start of the new school year in January 2022.

Learners will benefit from the UCT Online High School’s supported self-discipline model, which allows learners to pace their learning and get high-quality one-on-one tutoring from expert teachers and support coaches whenever they need it. Learners will also benefit from a unique range of university and career preparation services and offerings.

In addition, the curriculum will be made available free from January next year in an interactive online platform called the Open UCT Free Curriculum. Users of the free content will be issued a learner number to save their unique learning path and data, with unlimited logins permitted.

Learners have full access to a curriculum where they can progress at their own pace through expertdesigned notes, videos, animations, simulations, practise assignments, quizzes and more.

The interactive content is intuitively organised and easily searchable, making it an excellent resource for teachers and learners around the country. In its first year, the free curriculum will be released in increments per grade.

For more information, live weekly webinars are hosted with UCT Online High School head of culture Kieno Kammies and prospective parents, as well as monthly information sessions for families who have confirmed that they’ll join our community in January, and for those wanting more details before applying. Reserve your place at the weekly webinar here: www. uctonlinehighschool.com/webinars The Valenture Institute and UCT Online High School are currently hiring more than 300 new staff members to help create the most impactful school in the country.

Applications for available positions can be accessed here: https:// apply.workable.com/valentureinstitute-pty-ltd/?lng=en

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DIGIX Lab gives developers a space to revolutionise their big app dreams CALLING all App developers! If you love to code, build helpful digital products and create or contribute to a variety of tech specific projects, then Huawei’s Developer Hub, the “DIGIX Lab” will become an empowering home for your curious and creative minds.

This lab will allow developers to experience Huawei's open capabilities and real devices firsthand, master and share knowledge about Huawei's latest open capabilities through handson practice and directly access the Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) ecosystem.

This new facility, a first of its kind from Huawei in the Middle East and Africa, shows the tech giant’s continued growth and investment in the region, as well as its commitment to skills development

and training.

It will serve as an innovation hub for HMS App development on the African continent to drive idea exchanges, business growth and collaboration.

The DIGIX Lab will provide a home for developers to experience the full range of HMS developer resources such as training on Huawei integration kits, marketing of apps, technical skills assistance and testing to help them reach new heights.

This is in conjunction with the “HUAWEI Developers Programme”, which provides developers to participate in workshops, developer community and to receive newsletters and comprehensive support from the DIGIX Lab team.

Huawei is empowering developers by putting their skills to

use and giving them the platforms to innovate from scratch, building the entire app lifecycle from ideation to development.

One of the key services provided is HMS Core, which offers an extensive variety of 24 app services and capabilities such as Account Kit, Ads Kit, In-App Purchases Kit, Push Kit, and ML Kit (machine learning), which developers can integrate into their Apps on HUAWEI AppGallery to provide unique, high-quality experiences for users.

To date, AppGallery has rolled out more than 80 000 Apps and this number continues to increase.

On September 21, Huawei Mobile Services launched the Huawei’s Developer Hub, the “DIGIX Lab” in Johannesburg.

For more details visit our website.

How to move from developer to start-up founder FAST COMPANY CONTRIBUTOR

I ALWAYS knew I wanted to start my own company some day, and many developers have the same aspiration. Developers tend to have countless product ideas that turn into side projects, and some of those projects can turn into the real deal.

But transitioning from developer to founder is likely the hardest thing you’ll ever do – and it isn’t the right move for everyone.

I’m a believer in offering more senior technical opportunities for developers, because stellar technologists shouldn’t be thoughtlessly promoted into management roles that don’t make sense for them.

One of the first projects I worked on as head of engineering at Salesforce was creating and elevating the technical track within engineering alongside the management track to convey the value and equal importance of the technical individual contributor route.

That said, the journey to founder can be rewarding – and if you decide the entrepreneurial path is for you, look to others who have done it and learns. Here are some of my top lessons.

DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE VALUE OF TIME IN A TECHNICAL ROLE Spending more time in a technical role can give you a unique perspective as a chief executive. Earlier in my career at PeopleSoft, I wanted to move into a management position much sooner than I did. My manager at the time persuaded me to spend more time as an engineer in the trenches. It ended up being a blessing – the identity projects I worked on at PeopleSoft informed my vision for Okta and gave me the time I needed to hone my engineering skill set.

Technical experience will also set you up to create and execute the right R&D culture and rhythm.

Innovation and investment is nonlinear – and as a founder, you’ll need to convince your board and non-technical teammates of that.

KNOW THAT YOU’RE NOT JUST BUILDING FOR DEVS In the show Silicon Valley, a group of engineers create a platform called Pied Piper. It’s portrayed as revolutionary, winning

first prize at TechCrunch Disrupt and receiving rave reviews from fellow developers. But the early product ended up being a bust – the interface was far too complex for the average user.

This is all too relatable for many engineers. When you’re living and breathing code, it can be hard to remember that most people don’t have the same technical expertise.

You have to build for a broader audience, and this even applies to developer-focused companies.

One way is to seek out partners and a founding team with different experiences than you..

PREP FOR A DAY-TO-DAY THAT LOOKS DIFFERENT I can remember thinking when I was an engineer, “why would anyone need a calendar?”

I had to get accustomed to relying on a calendar when I moved into management and juggled meeting after meeting along with other new responsibilities. Another change: you have the final say on higher-stakes decisions in the chief executive role, so your decisionmaking process slows down.

Meet a TikTok influencer who made home renovation videos her full-time job

FAST COMPANY CONTRIBUTOR

TIKTOK is known for everything from popular dances to short comedy sketches. But during the pandemic, another sort of content went viral.

With people stuck at home during lockdown, home renovation projects took on a whole new urgency. And TikTok was there to deliver.

There’s a community of creators on TikTok taking on full room renovations, showing us how to fill a wall with plants, designing custom wall panelling, and helping make wallpaper trendy again.

One creator, Kyla Herbes, runs the account @houseofhipsters and saw her internet presence blow up as a result of the interior design videos she posted during the pandemic. While her early videos from 2019 would only get around 1 000 views and no more than 50 likes, she now has nearly 350 000 followers and her videos can top 100 000 views.

Herbes’s first brush with TikTok fame came in May 2020, when she embarked on a project called the One Room Challenge. The viral video, now at over half a

million views, shows the sped-up renovation of a room in her house, with the popular song Renegade playing in the background. In fact, she often uses trending sounds or songs in her design videos in order to get more views.

After that first viral video, Herbes worked to grow her following, posting one video a day for a month straight. “People were doing 30 days of outfits, so I started doing 30 days of home vignettes,” Herbes said. “It was really difficult because I was like, ‘Well, which corner am I going to style now?’”

She started out small, showing a piece of empty counter space in her kitchen, for instance, which she would decorate with a few basics like plants, candles, and bowls.

However, as the videos progressed, Herbes realised viewers were more interested in “tips and tricks” and learning how to improve their own homes. She changed her strategy to start reconfiguring small parts of her house, like a video teaching viewers how to style a bar cart into a coffee station.

Herbes also runs a blog called House of Hipsters, which she started eight years ago. TikTok came later, in 2019. While she still runs the blog, she now posts TikTok videos three to five times a week, largely featuring home projects, vintage store finds, furniture renovation, and decor and shopping advice.

“I definitely like mixing old and new,” she says. “I would say [my style] is eclectic modern. I like to put something new with something kind of creepy, crumbly, crusty, and old.”

In her bedroom, Herbes has high-end Philip Jeffries wallpaper, paired with $50 (about R750) velvet curtains from Amazon, along with a vintage Chapman tassel lamp, mixing a variety of styles for a signature design.

She plays up these juxtapositions in her TikTok home tours, where she regularly talks about mixing modern pieces with thrifted and vintage finds, like old lamps or even vintage ceramic monkeys.

Before the pandemic, Herbes owned a vintage shop, but once Covid hit, she found herself in the position of many other small business owners and had to shut down her store. TikTok became her primary business. Because of the popularity of her blog, Herbes was able to monetise her TikTok through sponsored posts, which she works with brands to develop.

Sometimes, to mix it up and engage her followers, she’ll involve them in her design choices. When decorating a guest room, she asked viewers to vote on the colour of the decorative pillows. Teal won out over pink, and viewers chose a salmon-coloured paint for the walls.

Coding is a skill that’s now part of just about every discipline plus it’s fun for kids to learn

9 apps for kids to develop their coding skills DHIVANA RAJGOPAUL dhivana.rajgopaul@inl.co.za

CODING is a skill that’s now part of just about every discipline; it’s fun for kids to learn as well as easy for parents and teachers to add to lessons at home or school, according to Google.

Students of all ages can be engaged while learning to code and there are coding apps for just about every grade and skill level.

Below is a look at nine apps that can help kids with their coding skills.

The apps are broken down into two sections: beginning to code, and more advanced coders.

Beginning to code:

Cloud Stop Motion (Play Store) Cloud Stop Motion is a stop-motion and animation movie creator which allows kids to work with animations on a zoomable, scrollable timeline.

Sound effects, music, titles, credits and speech bubbles can be added before rendering to an MP4 movie.

A library of audio, backgrounds and styles is also included.

Grasshopper (Web app) Grasshopper is a coding app for beginning learners that uses games

to build skills with JavaScript.

Learners can move up through progressively challenging levels to refine their coding prowess.

Access hundreds of courses in web development and data science are available, and in-demand languages like Python, CSS, and JavaScript.

Scratch Jr (Play Store) Scratch Jr is tailor-made for younger learners and is based on a programming language that teaches kids how to program by creating their own interactive stories and games.

Piper Make (Play Store, App Hub) Piper Maker is a drag-and-drop coding platform for the Pico. Using Piper’s hardware packages available online, the Piper Make portal offers new narrative-based tutorials, projects as well as ways to start building and coding technology.

Tynker Jr (Play Store) Tynker Jr is the app for children who are just learning to read. Children between the ages 5-7 can learn the fundamentals of coding by connecting picture blocks to move their characters.

More advanced coders:

Bloxels (Play Store, App Hub) Bloxels lets users build a video game with their own characters and art.

Game worlds are quick to build with built-in logic, triggers and actions.

Codecademy (Play Store) Codecademy creates an engaging and accessible way for children to learn to code online allowing them to gain skills for employability and build something with technology.

Replit (Play Store, App Hub) The Replit online coding platform is perfect for beginners. Replit supports all programming languages, including Python, Java, Javascript + HTML/CSS, and C/ C++, and runs on every device, including Chromebooks. It combines an IDE (integrated development environment) with a debugger, builtin testing/autograding, and hosting tools to build sites and applications.

Tynker (Play Store, App Hub) Tynker features block-based coding challenges that help learners move on to more complex skills like Python coding and advanced computer science. It even offers AP Computer Science courses.