Tekkie UNI Review

How TekkieUni meets the 2 criteria?

Fun factor

Its teachers are highly experienced in working with children and undergo an intensive training, where they are exposed to new methods of creating engagement by combining a game with the actual projects development. TekkieUni’s educational plan was written by renowned technology leaders.

TekkieUni believes that the best way to learn something new and create a desire for it — is by creating something of your own. That’s why the company empowers students to build apps that are important to them, and to actively lead the project from A to Z. Exercises become progressively more personalized and advanced with the time and progress. Students in advanced levels choose their projects and plan their implementation themselves.

TekkieUni keeps its classes small (a maximum of eight students) to enable instructors giving each student the attention they deserve and the option to interact with the teacher and fellow-classmates in real time. Tekkie classes have created the way that a student could develop trust and comfort and share experience with both their teacher and the team.

Since it is a coding class for kids, the company offers a weekly lessons structure (one class hour and one practice hour) to create stability and encourage commitment among students. During the practice hour, all students are invited to Q&A sessions, where they can ask questions, as well as practice and speak with other students from TekkieUni. Instructors can answer questions vocally or via live chat.

TekkieUni uses a very simple video-conference software called WebEx, which has a friendly user experience. The software is very similar to Skype, however, the teacher doesn’t activate student webcams during lessons. The company believes that avoiding the need for the students to be visually exposed, helps to create a  more comfortable and confident learning environment. This helps to direct attention to the teacher and to the material. Students can speak into the microphone or use the chat. All lessons are broadcasted live, automatically recorded and are available online until the end of the course.

How it works

TekkieUni method combines project-based learning with live classes, taught by experienced teachers. When students log in to their private personalized homepage, they can easily see upcoming classes, classmates, latest forum posts and more. As a result, students are always updated and engaged. From there, they can also engage in the weekly real-time class. Tekkie Uni’s smart interactive tools allow students to share screens, and to chat with their teacher and classmates during class.

In case students miss a class, or they just want to watch it again, they have access to recorded classes, so they can watch them at any time. To create a more in-depth learning experience, TekkieUni has an additional weekly live Q&A session with a senior staff member who helps both students who need extra support, and those eager to advance by working on personal projects.

TekkieUni forums allow students to share ideas and develop their creative-thinking skills with both teacher and classmates. Have a question? Technical issue? TekkieUni’s customer care and technical department work 24/7 so you will able to reach out with any questions you might have.

Course Utility

TekkieUni accepts both students with a vast knowledge of coding and those with a zero knowledge-base of coding. The company does offer three levels of courses that correspond to the student’s prior coding knowledge:

• Beginner- ’Junior Innovators Course’ / ‘Robotics For Kids’ / ‘Starting From Scratch.’
• Advanced- ‘Sophomore Developer Course.’
• Master- ‘Senior Entrepreneurs course.’

Junior Innovators Course

This course is for students with no background in computer science. The Junior Year Course focuses on launching your first game and application. The course moves from basic logic and programming concepts to advanced coding, all done using fun and unconventional teaching tactics.

Students learn how to develop an idea for an app, how to use development tools and how to create interfaces. They also learn to implement different objects, animations, sounds, as well as how to use mathematical functions. This year includes lessons on MyFirstApp and MyFirstGame, where you will learn and produce both games and apps of your own ideas.

The program’s main objectives:

• To experiment with logical thinking
• To instill design and planning habits, self-discipline, and reinforce the concept of working individually and as part of a group
• To expose children to the software-development project process

Robotics For Kids

Robots are everywhere– in hospitals, factories, banks, agricultural industry and much more. Understanding the internal logic of the robots will help us engineer the robots of tomorrow. This course is for students with no background in computer science or robotics engineering.

In this course, students will learn how to code virtual 3D robots. The student will code robots to navigate various 3D mazes while learning the foundations of mechanics, physics, and engineering.

The program’s main objectives:

• Programming statements: if/else, loops, while and random
• Variables: use variables to store information
• Sensors: use gyroscope, Tachometer, touch and color sensors

Starting From Scratch

Coding, just like any other language, is learned best at a young age. There are many ways to teach programming, however, the main challenge is how to explain abstract mathematical concepts like axis, parameters, and variables to young children. Scratch, a programming language that was developed by MIT, rises to the challenge. It uses colorful animation to help illustrate difficult concepts and opens a door to the wonderful world of code.

In this course, students will create games, videos, and stories, while learning the foundations of coding so there’s no need for previous experience.

The program’s main objectives:

• Getting to know the Scratch learning environment, its friendly animated characters, and cool graphic design tools
• Creating fun games by dragging and dropping built-in blocks of code
• Implement the internal logic and structure of programming

Sophomore Developer Course

This course is a great fit for the students who already have the basic coding knowledge or have finished the Junior course. This course is focused on more advanced app-making skills, such as browser-based apps, SmartCode methods, game design, animation and basic database work, together with project management and teamwork skills development.

The program’s main objectives:

• To advance the coding skills and implementation of smart code
• To strengthen teamwork and social skills
• To plan ideas execution and implement the different stages of the project

Senior Entrepreneurs course

This course fits for students who have a deeper understanding of coding or for those who have already finished the Sophomore course. The course focuses on design for mobile devices, perfecting the user experience and emulating real-life startup teams launching new advanced apps.

Students will develop not only tech skills but also qualities such as creativity, persistence and social skills, needed to build great teams.

The program’s main objectives for students:

• To reach a professional level
• To learn a variety of perspectives and come up with original ideas
• To improve teamwork by working cooperatively with other kids toward a shared purpose

Extras

• Graduate every year with new Tekkie apps of your own
• All sessions are available for review
• Receive email updates of your child’s progress
• Risk-free (two sessions)