Material Access Overview
In an effort to keep educator materials, answer keys, and assessments safe from curious eyes, we do require teachers to be GitHub Educator Verified before they can access the curriculum.
The Introduction to Computer Science with MakeCode Arcade curriculum is a full academic year course designed to be taught for introductory programming classes in High School. The curriculum is free and uses web-based technology and tools that can be accessed across platforms and devices.
Downloading and Updating Curriculum
Once you are verified, please follow the steps below to download the course.
1. Find the Curriculum
At the moment, the Intro to Computer Science with MakeCode Arcade course utilizes a GitHub repo for its content. Once you are approved as a GitHub educator, you can join the repo by visiting https://aka.ms/TEALSintroCS. While it’s not possible to open many of these files directly from GitHub, it is fairly simple to either download a copy of the files to your own machine or create a “branch” of the repo that keeps you connected in the case of changes or updates.
When using the Intro to CS with Arcade curriculum on GitHub, an entry-level user will most-likely want to download the entire course onto their own machine so that they can easily access it whenever they like without needing to be connected to the internet.
2. Copy the Curriculum
The simplest way to make that happen is to navigate to the repo and click the green “Code” button above the file navigation pane on the right side. This will open a dialog window that allows you to download the entire package as a ZIP folder. More advanced users can clone the repo using Git using the URL from the same dialog window.
Download
Download the ZIP file to your computer. Once expanded, you will have the complete curriculum on your machine, ready to edit however you see fit!
Note: Make sure to re-download the zipped file from the repo from time to time (ideally around the end of August) to make sure you have the most up-to-date version of the curriculum.
Clone (Advanced)
If you have more experience with GitHub (or you’re itching to learn) then it might benefit you to create your own branch of the curriculum. This will allow you to keep your curriculum up to date more easily, even if you’ve made changes on your side.
Install GitHub on VSCode
To do this, we recommend using Visual Studio Code, which is free and has a wealth of online resources for a beginner who might be looking for advice. Simply download the program at https://code.visualstudio.com/download and install these GitHub plug-ins: • GitHub Actions • GitHub Pull Requests • GitHub Codespaces (Optional) Now you’re ready to log-in to GitHub and create a branch.
Log-in to GitHub on VSCode
On the bottom right of the VSCode window, you should see a profile icon and a settings gear.
Click the profile icon to open the menu that will allow you to sign in to GitHub with your educator account.
Create a Branch from the Repo
Pulling files from a branch is easy once you have VSCode set up. Just visit the curriculum repo and click the same green “Code” button mentioned above. This time, instead of downloading the zipped file, you’ll click the button next to the URL to copy the address of the repo you want to clone.
There are multiple ways to initiate the branch from VSCode.
- Click “Clone Git Repository…” in the main window
- Click the “Clone Repository” button in the sidebar
- Open your Command Palette and type Git: Clone into the text box
In all cases, you should then get a text box at the top of the window where you can paste the URL from the repository that you copied in an earlier step.
VSCode will ask you where you want to copy your files. Choose a location on your computer (local drives work the best.) Remember the folder you chose, because that is where you’ll be accessing the curriculum from as you move forward.
Access Your Cloned Files
Your cloned files should now be in the folder you selected. You can use these files in the same way you would have if you had downloaded and unzipped them directly. The main difference with this method is that you are set up to “pull” from that repository again at any time to receive the latest updates.
Caution: Do not attempt to push or commit any changes. While your permissions likely won’t allow commits back into the master branch, there is a possibility that it will interfere with your ability to easily pull again in the future.
3. Follow the Intro to CS thread on the Forum
Our user forum contains the most up to date information on all of our activities and curriculum sets. For update notices, tips, tricks, or questions, please visit [https://forum.makecode.com/c/teals-intro-cs] (https://forum.makecode.com/c/teals-intro-cs) and click the bell for notifications.