Once they understand variables, the children move on to practicing through natural language programming 一 a way of programming in the style of human language. When the child has mastered that, they move on to the coding platform itself, where they get to code with Java Script.
After the self-learning process is complete, the children gather in the fourth week for a hackathon where they meet other LeapLearner users in person and compete in teams to create games of their own.
In Dror’s words: “It’s not a game 一 it’s an educational platform.”
Besides the offline aspect of learning, LeapLearner differs from existing players in the coding education space because of how it is tailor-made to sustain engagement among children.
Some platforms, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-developed Scratch — which uses blocks instead of words to allow users to program — make it easy to get kids involved in basic coding, but children stop using it when coding becomes more advanced, Dror said.
“It’s like learning engineering with Lego,” he added.
On the other hand, offerings from institutions like the Khan Academy can be too dull for younger users.
“The problem with Khan and Codeacademy is that the kids’ engagement is very low as both companies teach how to code with classroom-like tasks,” Dror said, adding that LeapLearner circumvents this by by teaching children through the process of developing video games.
For now, LeapLearner will only be launching in Shanghai, before being rolled out across greater China and Asia Pacific. Dror said the start-up will subsequently expand to the Middle East and South American markets as investments in education in those regions are high and demand for innovative, high quality educational products is strong.
The Beta version of LeapLearner will be available on April 25, while the platform opens to the public in Shanghai on June 1. Dror said that he is targeting 5,000 users in Shanghai before rolling LeapLearner out to the rest of China.
As for its pricing model, Dror said users would pay an annual “tuition” fee, of which there are several price levels to choose from. Pricing would be “more like school tuition … and less like buying an online service,” he added.
LeapLearner has currently secured $5 million in seed funding, of which 10 percent comes from Zaitoun Ventures, an Israeli-Palestinian investment firm that Dror co-founded.
While he preferred not to disclose LeapLearner’s target for its next round of funding, Dror noted that the start-up was looking at a “big round” for the end of the year.
