Codecademy Achievements

Taking courses in Codecademy was an interesting journey. 

I knew nothing about HTML, CSS, or website design until I started.  Initially, the amount of lessons and the forecasts of invested time were not particularly motivating.  The site could have been a bit more user friendly in terms of trying to determine the beginner courses.  In order to proceed, I used Professor Cripps’ suggestion to use the search bar to locate the required courses. 

However, the entire system did lead students through the lessons quite well. 

There were only a few times where I needed assistance.  Receiving badges and finishing lessons did increase my motivation.  After completing them all, I realized that the prompts Codecademy provides are so thorough that I do feel additional practice would be needed to actually build a website.  I also noticed that in some instances during the HTML lessons, content was added so that the student would not need to. This practice may enable the student to run through the lessons more quickly.  I’m not certain that this method realistically ends up helping the student.

I experienced interesting and dull topics. 

I believe the most enjoyable course for me was the “Make a Website” as it was more of a review combining the most important HTML the CSS courses together.  I actually felt like I had absorbed a majority of the information at that point, and felt more confident about the process!  Conversely, the Introduction to HTML was the most challenging course for me, as I was learning the basics and how Codecademy presented its lessons. I also found the tables and forms sections to be uninteresting, although I do understand how they are necessary.  The entire experience wasn’t awful, but I will say I’m thankful for WordPress!

The lessons I took were:

HTML: 

  • Elements and Structure
  • Tables
  • Forms

CSS:

  • Selectors and Visual Rules
  • The Box Model
  • Display and Positioning
  • Colors
  • Typography
  • Grid

Make a Website: 

  • Site Structure
  • A Closer Look at CSS
  • Boundaries and Space
  • Building with Bootstrap

Note:  When I had the free Pro trial, I did unknowingly end up taking some additional lessons within CSS and HTML.  Looking back if I had known, I might have saved some time, but I believe that in the long run, these additional lessons most likely increased my understanding and the retention of the material.

Below is my achievement evidence: