After Pandemic Surge, Coding Tool Scratch Is Focused on Supporting Teaching - EdSurge News

As homebound students and teachers looked for online resources during the pandemic, many turned to Scratch, a free coding system for kids developed by the MIT Media Lab. Scratch was already a popular option. It's been around since 2007 as a way to make animations and simple video games by combining Lego-like icons representing different coding functions. But in the 12 months beginning in March 2020--as schools across the country went remote for health reasons--usage spiked, and the number of projects shared on the service rose to 23 million, roughly double the amount from the previous year. Meanwhile the service has been going through some big changes behind the scenes.