Curriculum

Web Design I

Taught in both English and Spanish, our Web Design I class is designed to teach our students the fundamentals of web programming, building self-efficacy and digital literacy in the process. It has three main parts: core technical skills, career-readiness, and a capstone project.

Core technical skills
The curriculum teaches participants the fundamentals of HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Topics include Bootstrap, flexbox, responsive design, branching statements, loops, and functions.

Career-readiness
The class includes dedicated lectures on presentation preparation and public speaking. Students are also introduced to relevant technology-facing career paths by guest lecturers.

Capstone project
Students apply the taught material to build a website centered on addressing challenges to affect social impact in their communities. Common topics include domestic violence and addiction.

Sample capstone projects

Project websites from students have covered a variety of issues including domestic violence, addiction, parole reform, gun violence, and poverty. Students research their topic of choice and develop websites that either display information and resources or represent a future or existing organization. Some examples of capstone projects are below.


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Bread of Life
Food, Shelter, and Services
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Cultivate & Feed
Feeding the Needy
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The PinkPrint
Gender-Responsive Education
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Project Diploma
We Get Scholars GEDs
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WhyNow
Women in Recovery
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Stop Domestic Violence
There's Always Help

Python

Taught in both English and Spanish, our Python class is designed to challenge students to think about problems with a computational mindset and implement solutions using the Python programming language.

Our Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python course is based on MIT's introductory programming course of the same name. This course is an introduction to computation and programming for incarcerated students with little or no programming experience. Topics include the notion of computation, Python, algorithms and data structures, testing and debugging, and algorithmic complexity. Students complete final projects and give presentations to showcase their knowledge. By the end of the course, students will feel confident writing small programs that allow them to accomplish useful goals.

Web Design II

Our Web Design II class combines front-end web development skills from Web Design I with algorithmic skills from Python, allowing students to build more sophisticated web applications.

Taught in partnership with Code Your Dreams, this course empowers students to build technical projects that make a difference in their communities. Each student leaves the program with their own web app developed using HTML, CSS, Python, Flask and SQLAlchemy, as well as the skills and inspiration to continue solving big problems with code. The curriculum introduces students to some of today’s fastest-growing roles in technology, including project management, user experience research and design, software development, and marketing.

Game Design

Our Game Design class introduces core coding concepts through the accessible and engaging medium of video games. This course aims to foster a broader interest in programming and to prepare students for additional training in software design.

Through the exciting medium of 2D arcade games, this course teaches universal fundamental programming concepts such as variables, conditionals, loops, functions, object oriented programming, version control, problem solving, debugging, and critical thinking. Throughout this course, participants are challenged to think critically, collaborate with others, and positively express themselves through their creations. The course culminates in a final capstone project, where students will use the skills developed throughout the semester to build an original game in Python using the PyGame library.

Digital Fabrication & Robotic Devices

Our Digital Fabrication course draws on fundamental skills in mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering to build physical systems.

Our Digital Fabrication course teaches students foundational skills in electromechanical rapid prototyping, and how to use these to build physical products that address a real-world problem. The course covers key topics in mechanical design, additive manufacturing, electronics and embedded systems programming. The course culminates in a capstone project, where students recruit these skills to design and build a physical electromechanical product to address a real-world problem.