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Launch HN: Scrimba (YC S20) – Interactive video for learning to code

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Re: Launch HN: Scrimba (YC S20) – Interactive video for learning to code

#51

Post by primitivesuave »

gchallen wrote: post #42

Very cool idea! We actually built something very similar for the CS course I teach at Illinois. Example: https://cs125.cs.illinois.edu/lessons/asserting/#switch . We've built this on top of Ace, which allows us to deliver lessons that have a mix of text, playgrounds, and these interactive walkthroughs. Overall I think that this is a great direction. Glad to see others working on it!

I went to UIUC and professors like you are what make the CS program so exceptional. I had Lawrence Angrave for CS125 whose Zen graphics library for teaching Java created my first impulses to code for fun.

You have my eternal gratitude for all your hard work.

Re: Launch HN: Scrimba (YC S20) – Interactive video for learning to code

#52

Post by ofou »

It seems to me that Scrimba is just an spin-off from Khanacademy's live-editor on steroids. I would not actually called it innovation per se, but pretty useful btw! Along with repl.it, best tools avalaible so far.

[1]: https://github.com/Khan/live-editor

Re: Launch HN: Scrimba (YC S20) – Interactive video for learning to code

#53

Post by newguy1234 »

mrborgen wrote: post #50
lquist wrote: post #39

Is Scrimba open source?

No, but we’ve considered open sourcing it, so we might do it one day.

Please do. I am also working on an edtech project and would love to integrate this into my courses.

Re: Launch HN: Scrimba (YC S20) – Interactive video for learning to code

#55

Post by mrborgen »

barbwire wrote: post #54

Is it really true that "... over 70% of people who are trying to learn to code today use videos."? Is this as the primary method of learning, or are videos just a component of the modern-day learning experience?

freeCodeCamp did a survey amongst people learning to code, and 3 out of 4 used YouTube to learn. And that didn't even include other video sources.

In Stack Overflow's 2020 survey, over 50% of respondents said they use video tutorials when they are stuck.

It's probably only one component of the learning process, though, as I assume that most code beginners read articles/docs as well. But an important one.

Re: Launch HN: Scrimba (YC S20) – Interactive video for learning to code

#56

Post by brainless »

Wow this is cool since I was thinking of this exact problem a couple days back. My thought process was inspired by Loom videos where I thought a round head of the instructor in front of an interactive IDE would be a great way to reach.

My idea was to try to create a VS Code plugin for this when instructor videos, stitched with a Git repository would "play" inside the IDE.

Edit: The homepage of Loom has a good enough example to get the idea I had, just imagine the instructor head and the video controls inside your Editor. https://www.loom.com/

Re: Launch HN: Scrimba (YC S20) – Interactive video for learning to code

#57

Post by pomber »

As someone working on a similar space (https://codehike.org) I really like what you are doing. I haven't tried any full course but I can imagine how the format improves the learning experience while also making the job easier for the instructor. Good luck!

Re: Launch HN: Scrimba (YC S20) – Interactive video for learning to code

#58

Post by quickthrower2 »

mrborgen wrote: post #31
quickthrower2 wrote: post #28

Hey, I love Scrimba. A few on our team used it to quickly get up to speed with modern React. There is a lot good I have to say about the React course and the platform! I wrote a post about it recently: https://www.exploringreact.com/2020/09/19/need-a-comprehensi... where I recommend your course as THE React course to do for a verity of reasons and many of them are to do with the Platform itself, although Bob Ziroll i…

Wow, thank you so much for that awesome blog post! It's thanks to acts like that we've been able to keep the wheels going at Scrimba the last year, as we haven't had money to spend on paid advertising, so we've had to rely on organic growth.

Thanks. It’s genuinely what I thought so glad to write it. I think I found you through Google it might have been an ad or organic result last last year.

Re: Launch HN: Scrimba (YC S20) – Interactive video for learning to code

#59

Post by kevindeasis »

Hey Per, I'm a big fan of your product. I used it as a tool to teach people how to code. I used many tools and scrimba was one of them.

2 questions. can you tell me more about your competition and how you're planning to navigate the market with competitors?

how do you get new users?

how do you keep students engaged to finish the course? people i've introduced into scrimba never finished the course and ended up going to a different course.

Re: Launch HN: Scrimba (YC S20) – Interactive video for learning to code

#60

Post by Grustaf »

I don't really see why this would be better than the traditional format with lectures that go through the theory with some examples, and then homework tasks you solve yourself. As long as those tasks are appropriate, it's an excellent method that closely mirrors the realities of being a developer. I learned iOS development from the Stanford course and I can't imagine a better way.
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