Textual programming made easy!
Many schools and teachers around the world want to teach their students programming. Initially this is often done with playful tools, ranging from the Beebot robot to Scratch Junior or Scratch. After using such tools, kids often want to move to more powerful, textual programming languages, like Python.
Python however is hard, because it is only available in English, and requires learners to learn complex programming concepts and syntax at once. Hedy is the easy way to get started with textual programming languages! Hedy is free to use, open source, and unlike any other textual programming language in three ways.
- Hedy is multi-lingual, you can use Hedy in your own language
- Hedy is gradual, so you can learn one concept and its syntax a time
- Hedy is built for the classroom, allowing teachers to fully customize their student's experience
Multi-lingual programming
While almost all textual programming language have keywords in English, such as for or repeat, Hedy can be used in any language! We currently support 47 different languages, including Dutch, Spanish, Arabic, Turkish, Chinese and Hindi. If your language is not available you can always start a new translation.
Step by step learning
Learning a programming language can be overwhelming, since learners have to learn concepts (for example if-else or loops) and syntax (like quotation marks or round brackets) at the same time. In Hedy, concepts are first introduced with little syntax and then refined. A scientifically proven way to learn!
Built for the classroom
Hedy is suitable for kids aged 10 and up and designed for classroom use. Teachers can use our free, built-in lesson plans, but can also author their own lessons and load these into the Hedy user interface.
Programming in context
Hedy shows programming in the broadest way possible, and can be used in variety of exciting ways. Hedy allows for the creation of digital and interactive stories, colorful drawings that can be shown on the screen but also drawn with a pen plotter or embroidered on a shirt, and can be used to create games or apps with buttons and keyboard actions.
Is Hedy free?
Yes! Hedy is 'Open source', which means that everyone can help us make Hedy better. You can find our code on Github. If you like Hedy and want to contribute, we accept (and are very grateful for) donations!
Do I need to install anything?
No. Hedy works in the browser, which is the program you are using to look at this page. Probably Chrome or Edge or Firefox. Hedy also works on phones and tablets.
Do I need programming experience to teach with Hedy?
No, that is not needed. All concepts are explained in the slides and in the interface for learners. If you create a free teacher's account, you also get access to the teacher's manual with information on how to teach and frequently made mistakes.