The Digital Adventures Blog
For parents, educators and students to discuss tech education for kids, best practices for teaching coding & engineering design to kids & emerging technology trends
Featured Posts
4 Trillion Dollar Tech Companies
“A million dollars isn't cool. You know what's cool? A billion dollars.” - The Social Network For a long time, this quote really stood out to many about the ambition needed to develop, launch and grow the next generation of technology companies. When Sean Parker shared this quote with Mark Zuckerberg, it unlocked an emerging truth about technology; there is an opportunity to build really big c...
3 Critical Reasons Why Kids Should Develop an Engineering Mindset
Engineering is the use of math & science to solve problems. Engineering isn’t coding, programming, robotics or CAD modeling. Although engineers can use coding, programming, robotics or CAD modeling to solve problems. If our students only understanding programming, then they will feel as though they can’t solve problems in robotics. Or, if we only teach our students CAD modeling, then they w...
Navigating the creative destruction of technology
At one point, there were experts on the Apple IIe. Before, that we had those who were proficient on punch card programming. Every age and every generation has technology tools that are considered the pinnacle of efficiency and effectiveness. When these new tools are released, everyone jumps on the bandwagon and new solutions are quickly built using these amazing new platforms. And, just as soon...
2019: Year in Review and 2020: Looking Ahead
After ~5 years in business, we thought it would be a great time to reflect on the first few years, express gratitude (spoiler alert: Thank you parents/guardians!) for those who have helped us along the way and give a preview for what you can expect in the next decade from Digital Adventures.First and foremost, we want to let you know how truly grateful we are to the parents/guardians of our stu...
A Great End to a Great Season: Fall '19 Showcase
This past weekend, we hosted our showcase event at each studio for the community of learners and parents/guardians who support their journey in learning to building with technology.To say that this event exceeded our expectations would be a severe understatement. Over the past several months, we have continued to iterate on a format for the showcase event that would enable students to demonstra...
Jim's New Adventure
Dear parents, students and loyal fans,As you know, I have been a part of Digital Adventures in Wilmette since opening in 2015. In that time, I have worked alongside a variety of students from four-year-old Lil’ Coders to seniors in high school. We developed exciting technology projects, problem-solved bugs in our code, and built and destroyed robots in the intense battle bots arena. We have ...
What students build at Digital Adventures
It's often illustrative to take a look and highlight what students have built during their time at Digital Adventures.Our primary goal is to teach students to develop the confidence and skills they need to build with technology independently. While our class structure often follows a format of enabling students to complete a given project during the 60 minute class period, we've found that over...
Devices here. Devices there. Devices everywhere.
This weekend, I had a conversation with my niece. I asked her how things were going at school. We discussed more and then eventually began to talk about technology. I asked her how she liked technology learning at school. She responded that she didn’t like Scratch.We talked a bit more. And then she said, devices are everywhere. We just need to know how devices work. We don’t need to know how de...
Tesla’s Cybertruck shows why tech keeps winning
This week, Tesla released a pickup truck named the Cybertruck. For those who are familiar with the automotive industry, this will likely be the most consequential vehicle Tesla ever releases. And, it will cement their status as innovative disruptor of the status quo in this industry.American buyers LOVE pickup trucks. The Ford F-150 has been the best selling vehicle for the last 30+ years. Duri...
Don't blame it on the algorithm
Recently, the creator of Ruby on Rails, David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH), tweeted about how his wife, Jamie, who he shares financial accounts with received a lower credit limit (5% of his) on the newly launched Apple Card. Given their combined income and credit history, DHH, decided to use his social media platform and the associated potential for virality to bring light to an important issue - a...
Technology shouldn't feel like magic
When students build their first video game or robot, they will often say, “Oh wow. It works.” Typically, I respond with, “don’t be so surprised!” However, I think there is a deeper insight from students response to bringing something new to life right before their eyes. Humans are naturally a creative bunch. We seek to bring new ideas, innovations and inventions to life. In technology, this can...
Technology education has the highest ROI for kids
"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance." - Derek Bok, President Harvard UniversityIn business, return on investment (ROI) is a metric that is often used to determine which projects to fund. Projects with the highest ROI are typically prioritized versus those with a lower ROI. To make this assessment, a team will often put together a proposal outlining that components of a project a...
The Stunning Paradox of Failure
“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t fail.” - Bill GatesAlthough most of us would agree with this quote by Bill Gates. In many ways, we try to spare our kids from failure because we know how it feels. Failure can be painful. Failure can be demotivating. Failure can be difficult. So, we erroneously think that if we can orchestrate their friends, classes a...
5 Ways to Make Money with Video Games
Video games have changed quite significantly over the past several years. During the good old days, kids simply played games like Mario Brothers to have fun with their friends. Over time, they could develop expertise in specific games. But, there wasn’t a clear way to monetize this skillset.Recently, this dynamic has changed quite dramatically. Now, gamers are able to showcase their skills on ...
3 reasons to remain strongly bullish on tech
Recently, there have been several high profile stumbles for technology companies. From privacy scandals at Facebook to a delayed IPO at WeWork, the news stories might cause many to believe that technology is falling out of favor. While, these are temporary interruptions, our position continues to be that you should remain long term bullish on the game changing potential of technology.Technology...