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tonydiv's comments

tonydiv | 8 years ago | on: Why Education Startups Do Not Succeed (2011)

I am trying to build an online coding school for kids ages 6-13. I mostly agree with what's being stated because we already have customers in China, Korea, and Japan despite doing no marketing there. They are hard markets to ignore, especially when US parents are a harder sell. In order for us to be successful in the long-term, we must be a cross-border company.

Coding is one of the things that parents are increasingly willing to pay for, but it is still in the process of becoming a middle-class family demand.

https://block.school

tonydiv | 8 years ago | on: Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2017)

BlockSchool | JavaScript Intern (Age 16 or under) | Remote, 5-10 hours per week

BlockSchool is looking for an intern age 16 or under to help us build an online coding school for kids ages 6-13.

This once-in-a-lifetime internship opportunity is available to any student anywhere. Work remote for $100 per hour toward college (or a coding bootcamp!) and get professional-level mentorship whenever you need it.

Responsibilities include:

- Coding exercises and projects using our JavaScript editor

- Reviewing and strategizing curriculum content

- Conducting user testing

To apply, we request a 1-minute video introducing yourself and any links to projects you have created.

Apply here: https://under16.block.school/

About our kids online coding school: https://block.school

tonydiv | 8 years ago | on: Steve Wozniak announces tech education platform Woz U

I'm really excited to see where this goes given I'm in the industry too! That said, I am skeptical of the background of this company and the quality of instruction/curriculum.

For anyone interested in K-12 coding education, I have been working on a project called BlockSchool. We connect students ages 6-13 with teachers from top colleges and companies via video chat. We have developed a fun 3D block-based world where everything is programmable.

We already have students in 4 countries! If you're interested in a free trial, email me at [email protected] with Hacker News in the subject line :)

tonydiv | 8 years ago | on: MessageBird raises $60M Series A

Anyone have experience with their VoIP? Currently using Tokbox but been having some troubles. We integrate it across web, iOS, and Android for a kid's learn-to-code with live teachers product.

tonydiv | 8 years ago | on: Request for Education Startups

Why not before high school? As someone teaching kids, they grasp the concepts just fine at young ages and if the material is presented in a fun and personalized way, they tend to enjoy it more than other subjects (depending on how those are taught).

Actively exposing your child to coding will greatly increase the likelihood they pursue it later on.

Our pricing is as low as $22.50 per hour with a friend, which I consider pretty affordable compared to many extra curriculars!

tonydiv | 8 years ago | on: Request for Education Startups

I would love feedback on my project BlockSchool from anyone who is interested in ed-tech!

BlockSchool is an online coding school for kids ages 6 to 13. We hire teachers from top colleges and companies like Stanford and Facebook, and connect them with students who don't have easy access to high-quality instruction.

Our classes are conducted via video chat in a fun 3D block-based world where everything can be controlled by writing Puzzle code (our visual programming language), JavaScript, and Python. It's collaborative, social, and kids love the creative freedom we give them.

We are focused on 1:1 and 1:2 instruction now which isn't 'scalable' but later on, we plan on offering a help service for kids only when they get stuck or need a new concept explained. This will lower the cost for students substantially. We hope to follow in the footsteps of VIPkid on this front.

We are based in Seoul/SF, so we have a number of students in China, Japan, and Korea already, but a majority of our customers are in the US.

If anyone is interested in offering feedback, here is our website: https://block.school

We'll be applying to YC too! Hopefully our project is relevant to what they're looking for. We're also growing quite fast :)

tonydiv | 8 years ago | on: Segment raises $64M led by Y Combinator

Had nothing but problems with their product over the years. In 2012, they had a bug in their analytics.js which resulted in me losing about 10k new users. Last year, I was experiencing multi-day delays between an event and it appearing in Mixpanel, Intercom, etc. Prior this year, I was using Branch and then realized how many sacrifices you make when you use Segment – they will never be up to date with all the most recent SDKs/APIs, so you will always be pulling your hair out. We ended up using Segment + 4 other services, it would have been better to not use Segment at all.

I hope they sort these problems out, and build a better developer product. Right now, they're focused on the enterprise, and I'm amazed their product is sufficient.

I'm writing this because their team is amazing and kind, but I hope they improve their product.

tonydiv | 8 years ago | on: Ask HN: Who is hiring? (June 2017)

BlockSchool | Kids Coding Instructors | REMOTE ONLY

Description: BlockSchool is the 1st online coding school for kids ages 7+, and we teach students in 3 countries (US, China, and India). We are hiring young teachers from top 100 US colleges who are (1) AMAZING with kids, (2) engineers (don't need to be a software engineer though), and (3) available to teach 10 hours per week. Each class is scheduled, 40 minutes long, and requires a stable Internet connection.

Our curriculum combines Puzzle, a Scratch-like language, with a 3D block world similar to Minecraft. While in alpha, we use Code.org and Scratch too.

*Pay is $30 per hour, and some equity, even though you won't be a full-time employee.

Here's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApjTV1iseHE&t=5s

Technologies: You must be extremely comfortable teaching/using Scratch mainly. Certain advanced students will require you to know JavaScript too.

Contact: tony[AT@]block[dot]school

Website: http://block.school

tonydiv | 8 years ago | on: How Scratch teaches kids to follow the hacker ethic

I agree with you assuming they can type, but I have also seen kids get really frustrated with keyboards and typos. It takes them a lot longer to express their thoughts than dragging blocks.

By 4th grade, you're probably right. But 2nd, unsure.

tonydiv | 8 years ago | on: How Scratch teaches kids to follow the hacker ethic

I actually think Scratch is great for adults to learn how to program.

I think there isn't a Scratch for artists/professionals to create because the educational aspect is hard to nail, and pairing that with a publishing tool is even harder. It's not impossible, but it sounds really hard to get right.

tonydiv | 8 years ago | on: How Scratch teaches kids to follow the hacker ethic

Awesome, are you an engineer too? A few questions if you don't mind me asking:

1. How serious are you about your child's coding education?

2. Do you teach her/him too?

3. Would you ever hire an instructor in a 1-on-1 or 1-on-2 setting if it were affordable?

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