CoderZ Helps Educators Build Their Own Coding Tournaments

With STEM-focused learning a hot-button issue for educators throughout the country, and many schools and school districts holding one-off style competitions to test students’ computer skills, a New Hampshire-based technology company has created a platform to make it easier to set up and execute localized coding tournaments.

CoderZ, a company that wants to make computer science more accessible through a digital curriculum, created “League in a Box” for educators to create on-demand virtual tournaments for their schools, the company said in a news release. The tournaments can be held in schools or other venues within the community, though gameplay takes place on the CoderZ coding platform. Students from one or more school districts can come together in teams of three to six to complete missions by programming virtual 3D robots, learning the fundamentals of coding along the way, the release said.

While the objective of League in a Box is to incorporate STEM into a school’s curriculum and build a student’s knowledge of the subject matter, CoderZ Vice President of Business Development and Sales Yaarit Levy said in a public statement that it can build other skills in the process.

“In addition to students learning coding and robotics, working as a team hones their collaboration skills, achieving mission goals boosts their critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, and the competitive aspect encourages grit,” he said.

Educators set up tournaments on the CoderZ platform, selecting from several levels to ensure the mission difficulty matches the knowledge level of students. The company said in its release that each division — novice, junior and pro — comes with a training pack to familiarize students with the CoderZ platform, as well as about 20 training missions to practice for the competition itself.

During the competition, a team dashboard keeps educators apprised of students’ progress and results, the release said. The platform also provides an overall leaderboard that shows scores updated each hour, and for educators, a guide detailing how to lead the operation, administration, communication and educational support before, during and after the event. The kit provided to educators comes with promotional materials to drum up interest within the school and district, as well as badges, certificates and awards to recognize student accomplishments, the release said. In addition to allowing educators to create local STEM tournaments, the latest version of CoderZ’s code-learning platform allows educators to take part in the international CoderZ League: The Virtual Cyber Robotics Competition.