CTL Chromebooks will be available with CodeCombat licenses, allowing students to learn computer programming by playing a game

CTL has announced an agreement with CodeCombat, an exciting and engaging platform to help kids learn computer science. Now in use by 47,000 students at 1,800 schools, CodeCombat makes learning to code as easy as playing a game. CodeCombat’s classroom product, which launched just four months ago, is now in use by 47,000 students in grades 4 -12 across 1,800 schools in all 50 states – making it one of the fastest-growing companies in the Ed Tech space.

“CodeCombat is excited to be working with CTL to deliver an all-in-one solution to students and teachers in our schools. CTL’s Chromebooks are a great device for K-12, and when you add in CodeCombat’s web-based computer science platform, it’s the perfect combination,” said CodeCombat cofounder and CEO, Nick Winter.

Over the last two and a half years, CTL has worked with Google to introduce a line of CTL Chromebooks that have been recommended by PC Magazine as the best choice for Chromebooks in Education. CTL has a wide range of Chromebooks including touch screen models and Chromebooks with an added X-Panel™, which reduces breaks from the top by 90%. To see CTL’s complete line of Chromebooks, visit ctl.net. CodeCombat licenses will be available with any CTL Chromebook.

“CTL is proud to partner with CodeCombat in order to offer licensing packages for this interactive, instructional coding game to our education customers just in time for the new school year,” said CTL President, Erik Stromquist.

Quantity discounts and reduced pricing for non-profit educational organizations are available. Interested schools and teachers should contact CTL for pricing and more details. In addition to making licenses available to schools, individual users can add a CodeCombat license to their Chromebook purchase for $30 through ctl.net.

CodeCombat has significantly enhanced its platform in time for back to school. Major new capabilities including Game Development and Web Development have been added, and the number of levels available to users of its original Learn to Code module has been quadrupled, giving students plenty of runway to keep enhancing their coding skills.

CodeCombat enhancements available Sept. 1 include:

• A new Game Developer module that allows students to create their own games that can be shared and played with friends and family;
• A new Web Developer module that allows students to create their own mobile and web apps that can be shared with friends and family;
• An adaptive personalized learning system that recommends extra practice levels when it senses a student is having trouble with a concept to ensure they have mastered a skill before they move on;
• A new hint system that automatically provides assistance to users who are stuck within a level;
• The ability for users to personalize their CodeCombat Hero (player persona) and add a Pet, both of which have been proven to increase engagement;
• Dozens of new levels for its Learn to Code module that extend the curriculum to 2.5 years for elementary school, 1.5 years for middle school and 1 year for high school – with new levels being added every month.

Teachers do not need any prior experience in computer science to use CodeCombat in their classroom. CodeCombat covers curriculum requirements from several competing K-12 computer science standards such as CSTA, ISTE, ACM, K-12 Framing, AP CS A, AP CS Principles, Common Core, and NGSS. CodeCombat aims to teach 85 percent of the undergraduate-level material that computer science majors at Stanford would cover in their first year.

CodeCombat also helps toboost student interest in CS careers. Many students, especially girls and students of color, don’t ever consider a career in CS. CodeCombat’s game-based learning approach engages all students and sparks their interest in CS, providing diverse avatars so that players can choose a hero that looks like them.

The addition of CodeCombat enhances CTL’s existing offerings of educational apps. CTL has partnered with leading app developers to make a host of apps available to enhance the learning experience. Here are some of the educational apps available with any CTL Chromebook or Windows device:

• WeVideo® is a unique cloud-based collaborative video editing service that helps people from all over the world simply create and share great-looking videos.
• PocketLab® is a science lab that fits in a pocket. PocketLab allows students to explore the world and build science experiments using integrated sensors including: Accelerometer; Gyroscope; Magnetometer: Pressure and Temperature.
• LabCamera® by Intellisense allows students and teachers to conduct physics, biology and chemistry experiments.
• Noteflight® is an online music writing application that lets students create, view, print and hear music notation with professional quality.
• Google® Chrome Management Console makes it easy for school IT administrators to deploy and manage users, devices and apps across a fleet of thousands of Chromebooks.
• Google® Classroom is a new tool in Google Apps for Education that helps teachers create and organise assignments quickly, provide feedback efficiently and communicate easily with their classes.
• Google® Apps for Education allows teachers and students to create, share and edit files in real time. Google Apps for Education core services include Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Hangouts and Drive.
• And many more – ask your sales representative.