PixBlocks – digital transformation of education
26 August 2020
The PixBlocks platform is an intuitive tool that enables programming education for all kinds of people, regardless of age. It helps them learn Python block and text programming and can be used in both school and individual teaching environments. How was it created, what makes it different, and what benefits does it guarantee? You will learn it all from our interview with Krzysztof Krzywdziński – the owner and creator of Pixblocks.
Innovative solutions such as PixBlocks are not created every day. What is the story of this tool? How was the idea born, and how was it developed?
K.K.: It took a couple of years to develop this idea. I have been involved in programming and IT competitions since high school (first, I took part in them, and later I organized them myself).
Also, my children certainly motivated me – I wanted to teach them how to program with a tool that was accessible and adapted to their development levels.
In fact, however, the main starting point was a remark from one of my friends in the education sector that the market was “hungry” for comprehensive school solutions for teaching programming.
As for the project itself, I created a large part of the PixBlocks code on my own, in the evenings around 2018. Then in 2019, the first investor joined the project, so it was possible to hire a few programmers who expanded PixBlocks.
The year 2019 was also the time when we organized competitions and large information and marketing campaigns. The year 2020 brought in to turn the next round of investments and attempts to enter foreign markets with our product. There is something going on here all the time, and this motivates us to take further action. It is a never-ending cycle.
What can PixBlocks offer you?
K.K.: It is a comprehensive environment to learn programming at every school level. PixBlocks consists primarily of a huge number of courses, lessons, tasks, and examples.
The two main areas PixBlocks focused on are block programming courses (for children) and text programming in Python (for teenagers and adults).
What is important – the platform is equipped with an automatic task validation engine. Additionally, there are also tutorials showing how to create games. We also have our own engine for games in blocks and Python, allowing you to create complex games in a very straightforward way.
Who can benefit from using PixBlocks in the first place?
K.K.: First of all, teachers benefit because our tool provides access to extensive programming courses at all levels of education. What is more, we also provide them with a special administration panel (teacher’s panel) to manage classes, create tests, and track student progress.
Secondly, students benefit because PixBlocks provides them with interesting learning material backed up by accessible visualizations. It encourages them to learn by competing in development competitions and creating their own games.
However, it is worth noting that PixBlocks is an application that is not only useful in schools. Many of our users learn from our courses fully independently.
What distinguishes this tool from other, rival solutions?
K.K.: The fact that we offer a comprehensive course, and we combine task performance with creativity. Our distinguishing feature is also the advanced teacher’s dashboard enabling you to fully manage classes, lessons, and tests.
It is also important to mention our game engine, which allows you to create a simple game in just a few lines of code.
How is education changing in Poland and abroad, what role will digital tools such as PixBlocks play in it?
K.K.: You can certainly notice a trend towards the digitalization of education and the search for comprehensive tools with embedded content by teachers. I think that we fit in perfectly with this trend, which is also directly reflected in the number of our users.
The current Covid-19 pandemic situation is also an interesting factor. On the one hand, remote teaching gives tools such as our many additional opportunities and should theoretically stimulate the EdTech industry. On the other hand, on the same scale, as it is now, it is quite a challenge for teachers, which unfortunately translates into a slowdown in the development of the entire education market. As PixBlocks, we try to actively support teachers and students in this difficult time, giving them new opportunities and showing how remote education can be improved.
So, as life shows us, technology can do a lot of good, but you have to approach it with care and responsibility. The human factor is still of great importance here and it will ultimately decide whether in a few years’ time we will be able to celebrate successes and marvel at the innovativeness of education.
More information about the PixBlocks platform can be found at https://pixblocks.com/
We encourage all those interested in the possibilities of using PixBlocks to contact Krzysztof Krzywdziński directly: krzysztof.krzywdzinski@edulab.io