Spectrum Progressive School students created their own version of the popular Flappy Bird Game using drag and drop code named Blockly. Blockly teaches students about coding logic and in the background uses Javascript code to build an app. Colleges like MIT, Stanford and Princeton are requiring all entry level college students to take a Blockly type course based on SNAP programming platform (See ​http://snap.berkeley.edu). 

25 local Rockfordians showed up to create an Interactive Holiday Card with Code! Spinning stars, talking snowmen and tons of interactive parts flew around room!

View ALL Interactive Holiday Cards Here: https://scratchplayer.github.io/ 

Local youth showed up (with parents and grandparents) on this ThanksGiving weekend to learn what coding is all about! Attendees had fun with the cubic inch robot, OzoBot, while learning basic coding logic.

For more information about “Learn Coding with Robot” visit http://rvchourofcode.com/coderobots

On this cold, dreary night a dozen people sat down in the warm RVC downtown computer lab to learn coding! The ages ranged from 6 - Mom and Dad age. Attendees learned loops and iterations and created multiple snowflakes with hundreds of loops and iterations.

There a few spots still open for December’s Hour of Code. Attendees with be creating an interactive greeting card using Scratch programming.

Almost one hundred showed up for this years "Tech Expo 2017"! The speakers did an awesome job presenting the skills needed to work for their company. In addition, 13 local companies hosted tables. Each company shared with students the opportunities they have to offer, such as, internships and future job opportunities.

What Now?
Students should follow up with any and all contacts you made. In addition, make sure and register for the courses at Rock Valley College that will help you obtain the needed skills.

Visit here for course lists.

New Mobile App Development Certificate
Professor Konkol and the CIS Division of Rock Valley College is proud to announce the recently approved Mobile Application Development Certificate! This certificate prepares the student for a career as a mobile application developer.
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Course Sequence:
CIS170 Programming Logic & Design
CIS280 Programming iOS Apple Mobile Devices (Fall only)
CIS245 Programming Android for Mobile Devices (Spring only)

Questions? email Professor Konkol c.konkol@rockvalleycollege.edu

New Network Technician Certificate
Professor Stephanie Wascher and the CIS division is proud to announce the new Network Technician Certificate! This certificate prepares the student for a career as a network technician.

Course Sequence:
CIS 102
PCT 110
PCT 262 (Spring only)
PCT 270 (Fall only)

Thank you!
"This event took a team of individuals to make successful! I would like to thank the CIS Faculty, RVC Maintenance, RVC Video and Sound guys for all your hard work to help put this together. I would like also thank President Doug Jensen and our Dean Sharon Jacobsen for their support! Last, but not least, I would like to thanks the companies who took time out of their day to inspire and encourage our students." - Professor Chuck Konkol

Below are the companies that helped make this years Tech Expo a success!

Sue Maragi, RVC Bookstore | rvc.bncollege.com
Tracey Bell, Rockford Housing Authority | rockfordha.org
Sam Basile, TREKK Design | trekk.com
Phil Fonfara, Gener8tor | gener8tor.com
Meagan Schaeffer, WorkPlace | workplacesearch.com
Jeff Jinkins, Rockford Park District | rockfordparkdistrict.org
Bob Bisconti, Bisconti Computers | bisconticomputers.com
Andrea Nyberg, Ticomix | ticomix.com
John Belich, Belich Solutions | belichsolutions.com
Mike Broski, Entre' Computers | entrerock.com
Ryan Sutherland, Aerotek | aerotek.com
Russ Dulaney, Dulaney Drafting & Designs | dulaneydraftinganddesign.com
Joe Granneman, Illumination | illumination.io

Professor Chuck Konkol and a group of RVC students will host a table from Noon-2pm both days. Professor Konkol and his students with showcase "Learning Code with Ozobots". 

6th & 7th graders learned what binary code is and how computers function in a binary world.

Students converted their initials to binary code and then created a bracelet using white for 0’s and black for 1’s.

Thanks to RVC student, Andrew Garrican, for showing up today to help on his day off! The students loved working with Andrew and I think he has a good time as well.

Professor Chuck Konkol has been asked to host an Hour of Code session at Spectrum Progressive School in December 2017. All students will have Chromebooks to complete the workshop! Around 30 5th – 8th graders will attend the #RVCHourofCode workshop along with Spectrum teachers. Hey Spectrum, get ready to get your code on!

Attendees used the #1 game to learn how to code Alex and Steve to move around the Minecraft world. Students learn basic coding logic, if statements, do loops and iterations!
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Register for November and December Hour of Code events here.