Coding with Ana and Elsa

“Coding?” When am I ever going to use this again?  Well, all I have to say is it was a humbling and slightly frustrating experience, but also intriguing once I got into it.  This process has shown me how out of tune I am with technology, and how easily I want to give up when it challenges me a little bit.  I decided to do a

one-hour coding class with Ana and Elsa, solely based on my daughter’s ambition to want to help me.  Let’s just say that was a complete flop, and I was left to fend for myself.  Moving on,  the first thing was that it had started with a little tutorial video, which I did watch, just in case it had important information I needed. It basically explained the reasonings for coding and what it is, and then towards the end of the video they introduced the Frozen coding game, and gave the basic instruction of what to expect for the first level.

At first the instructions were very basic and I had to use very little critical thinking.  I was a little intimidated once I got onto the coding activities to see that it had 20 levels to do! I thought you myself “oh goodness, cancel my afternoon” But it was honestly not that bad! I had some helpful tips in the top of the page that provided some clear instructions on which degree’s to turn, how to move Elsa, and Ana to the right and left. I did have to start over a few times as I ended up completely confusing myself and could not back track my thoughts.

Level 6 was a tough one for me, I followed the instructions, and I still was not able to figure it out. I moved onto the next level and I was able to get that one.  I liked that every different difficulty level was presented with a small video that explained what was coming next and how to properly code it. I was overthinking on some of the levels and I had to make sure I ran the sequence a couple of times in order to know what I was required to do next. The instructions on the top of the page, were a huge help in this aspect.

I thoroughly enjoyed doing this coding, surprisingly enough. Admittingly I am not one to jump at the computer teachings.  I have very basic knowledge, and it has carried me this far.  I was not able to finished all of the levels, as I was growing a little frustrated. But 17/20 levels I consider a huge win, being I had absolutely zero prior knowledge about this kind of thing.  I do however recognize the importance of having these skills, as we are heading into a world that is moving towards having technology as a base for almost all learning.  The end of the coding I was given the opportunity to just make my own coding sequence and I decided to do a snowflake, because it seemed the most appropriate to go along with the Frozen kind of theme. Honestly speaking at this time of the process I was kind of over it and did the simplest sequence I could think of.  It turned out very cute, I will say. But this whole experience taught me personally how much I overthink, and need to brush up on some computer skills.