Disney has teamed up with a well known Japanese game creator to make a new web-based training program called Disney Codeillusion. This “online learning adventure” comes with a physical book called Disney Technologia School of Magic (very Disney indeed.)

This program is meant to teach kids (and adults if they would like) how to animate using coding and computer programming.

I admit it’s a very compelling idea, but as Forbes author Scott Kramer points out the company representative told him “Coding skills are the future of work around the globe. It’s vital we find a way to make the learning process engaging. Currently fewer than 10 percent of people who start online coding courses ever finish them.”

Being a parent, and paying for these programs before, I completely believe that number.

The team behind this program tried to make it fun, so people stick with it.

“Users learn to code while doing snow magic with Elsa, breaking tiles with Wreck-It Ralph, and many more adventures within Disney kingdoms. The development team hopes the fun approach to learning moves people from just consuming content to actually creating their own. After all, this is the very foundation of making your own movies and video games.

To advance in the training you will need to complete mini lessons that, like any good lesson, builds on what you learned before. The author indicates that the lessons are only a few minutes but there are a lot of them. 125 to be exact. Each one averages 30 minutes and the program is offered in four coding languages (HTML / CSS/Javascript / Processing.)

The book is also very impressive and it does sound quite fun:

“ like a high-quality photo album bearing plenty of thick pages and sealed envelopes that you don’t open until you’ve completed lessons. Within those are puzzles and cryptograms that you solve to open up new doors. It’s very engaging, and it made me wish my own computer programming classes back in the day were as immersive.”

Now the down-side. All magic comes with a price and this one is what you would expect from something like this. It’s $2,000, but there’s a free trial to see if you are interested.

If you would like more information, the author does have experience in programming, you can read his article HERE.  If you would like to visit the Disney Codeillusion site you can do so HERE.

Source: Forbes