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6-8 Grade Teacher Playbook

How to use Evanston’s EL3 to engage your students in Code 65 during December

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Background

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District 65 is hosting Code 65, this year’s month of code initiative, on the EL3 learning platform.

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Via EL3, students can access numerous coding challenges, share their coding accomplishments with their classmates and their teacher, and add their participation and achievements in their EL3 profile.

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Purpose

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The Code 65 initiative is the opportunity for middle school students to be exposed to the power of computational thinking and making and independently pursue coding projects of interest.

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Until District 65 can formally incorporate coding into the curriculum, Code 65 creates a challenge incentive for students to take advantage of the one-to-one iPad environment and explore the art and science of coding -- engaging our students to become creators of technology -- not just users.

2019 Middle School Challenge:

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For each Coding Challenge that students complete, they will earn a digital ticket to enter into a raffle for the chance to win a $50 gift card to Barnes & Noble. A student from each grade at each District 65 Middle school will win a gift card. Students can pursue these challenges independently at school or at home on their iPads.

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Winners will be announced on January 10, 2020.

CODE 65 in 2019 in a Page

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• Sign-in & get started! https://el-3.org
• Use your school username & password to access your account
• Earn digital raffle tickets for each challenge completed to win a $50 Gift Card to barnes & Noble.
• Visit Evanston Public Library or MetaMedia for Code65 Programs & Open Hours to complete challenges.

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Signing-in to EL3

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District 65 and Northwestern’s Digital Youth Network, the developer’s of EL3, have a data-sharing agreement, so students can use their school’s Google sign-in information to access EL3.

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Get started at https://el-3.org

If students don’t see their name, select “Use Another Account”

Signing-in to EL3 (cont.)

Signing-in to EL3 (cont.)

Students should enter their D65 Google username:

{6-digit student ID} @district65.net

Again with username and their password (LunchPin ID -- 8-digits)

Signing-in to EL3 (cont.)

Month of Code 2018

EL3 Code 65 Campaign Page (1)

Once a student signs-in, they'll be redirected to their profile page. Here students can choose their avatar, include a personal quote, and select their interests and what they want to be.

EL3 Code 65 Campaign Page (2)

Their profile page also includes a “widget” where they'll see Month of Code challenges curated for their school and grade level (grade levels are separated into K-5 and 6-8).

The widget will include a listing of challenges available. Each Challenge will include the icon, name, start button, difficulty level, and are color-coded).

EL3 Code 65 Campaign Page (3)

White-colored backgrounds represent puzzles, which are step-by-step challenges that result in uniform results for all users

Blue-colored backgrounds represent projects, which are challenges that lead to personalized, independent outcomes

EL3 Code 65 Campaign Page (4)

The two upper boxes show what students are currently working on and have recently completed.

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If students don't finish a challenge in class, this section lets them quickly return to it when they sign in the next time

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EL3 Code 65 Campaign Page (5)

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Students will be able to see others student entries for PROJECT challenges via EL3’s Showcase feature.

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The Starter Guide helps students to determine the challenges best suited for them based on their interests and level.

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EL3 Code 65 Campaign Page (6)

Each challenge provides the directions to follow and the links to complete the Challenge.

EL3 Code 65 Campaign Page (7)

For Puzzle Challenges, students can type in what they learned after finishing the challenge.

EL3 Code 65 Campaign Page (8)

For Project Challenges, students can cut & paste their project’s URL to verify completion.

EL3 Code 65 Campaign Page (9)

In Resources students can download a PDF for a step-by-step on how to submit their URL to Project challenges.

EL3 Code 65 Challenges by Level (6th-8th Grade)

SUPPORTS

• If you run into ANY technical difficulties, please let us know so we can get on top of it.
• Contact the EL3 Helpdesk: Go to https://code65.zendesk.com/ and click on small "Submit a Request" located at the top right and submit a “ticket”

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THANKS!

for all the ways you are engaging your students in Computer Science!