'Code in Place', a computer coding course in Covid time

Learning during a grim phase of Covid Delta wave in India 

My log in page

When India was simmering with Delta wave of Covid-19, deaths were reported everywhere from one's neighbor to distant places, medical/social assisting system of every kind was disrupted completely, human dignity touched it's lowest point in our recent history; we sat in our homes with doors and windows closed and  mask on, isolating self in rooms possibly available, as if 'Covid-19 was in the air'. Hardly there was any home left where the family members were not with viral infective symptoms of some kind. People ran from one medical store to other in search of counter top medicine of some sort as there was no one to prescribe or guide to. This peak period ranged from mid April to the end of the May 2021. It was a period when 'Code in Place' came as rescue & refuge for many of us, here in India.

Shelter in Place vs Code in Place 2021 

OhYay for virtual Section

Phrase well suited to the situation when we all needed 'Shelter in place' and Stanford University provided us with 'Code in Place'. One can hardly imagine that how beneficial it was to us to engage us mentally for hours without any Covid-19 fear or isolation pressure from rest of our world. I sat transfixed to computer monitor, pouring attention to, unaware to the grim world outside, in my room at least for that much of the period. Thank you to all the distinguished team members of Stanford University for saving us from the rigorous pressure of the Covid Delta wave with unique opportunity of learning as well, a new skill set.

Coding in Places

Screenshot of a lecture video by Prof Mehran Sahami

It was a computer course in learning for coding and programming for Python language, based on Stanford University's CS106A, like the one they had in previous year in peak Covid-19 time of 2020. This was an online course, conducted for five weeks duration, requiring at least 10 hours per week, from April 19th to May 28th, 2021.

Karel commands from Karel Reader

For me it provided an unique experience of learning Coding in computer language Python. Each week with 3 days lecture videos, 1 day for 1 hour Section teaching, learning, problem solving activity with assigned  Section Leader of a Section around 10 students. Every week there were due assignments to solve and submit in due period. 'Karel' robot for initial learning of Python language, 'Ed' an online IDE hosting CIP community, 'OhYay' access for live Section for 1000+ section meetings around the clock across the globe engaging in virtual experiences were a huge shoutout. Hangout campfire by Section leaders was so useful to sort out and debugging of code written by any individual. Handouts, Lecture Videos, Lecture Slides, Files are still there for 'Life after Code in Place'.

While working on PyCharm IDE

Teaching by Mehran Sahami, Chris Piech, Julie Zelenski was a life time experience for the Coding. 

Meeka's design was selected by voting 

My experience was that the 'Content delivery' in teaching is a crucial part in communicating learning; while 'content', 'resource' and 'language-medium' matters little.

Final Project Showcase

  Learning Coding was like getting magical tool along with 12,000 students, 1125 Section Leaders from all across the globe in a Community Service gesture of Stanford University in the testing time of Covid-19.

Getting my final project published in the showcase of Code in Place 2021 was a real reward and a great opportunity of participation.

Thank you Mehran Sahami, Chris Piech, Julie Zelenski, Brahm Capoor and many more in the entire team of this project at Stanford University, expanding in all 7 continents and countries.

Map of Code in Place 2021, thankfully shared from