From prototype to platform: Revolutionising learning at kood/Jõhvi

innovation agile digitalization tarkvarakool

How prototyping, collaboration, and innovation transformed a unique coding school’s educational system

The beginnings

If you’re not familiar with kood/Jõhvi, it is a school that trains future developers without traditional set up - no teachers, no classes, or lessons. The school operates on a peer-to-peer learning model where students learn by doing, collaborating, and solving real-world problems. They had been using a platform that they weren’t 100% happy with and decided it was time to create their own to have better control of their study methods and program.

Prototyping

The project kicked off with a two-month prototyping phase, focusing on three critical areas:

Recruitment of kood/Jõhvi students
Improving the study experience for students
Desired improvements in functionality to the admin interface Prototyping allowed us to experiment with the logic and visuals for the new system without having to do any backend, database development. It helped us with testing out solutions to business problems and trying out new ideas.

Dark theme visuals from prototype — Prototype visuals for the project

Development

Building on the insights gained during prototyping, we moved into the development phase. Despite smoother and faster progress due to the prototyping work done, technical challenges emerged. One significant challenge was creating a system capable of automatically running and testing student code. This required innovative solutions to ensure the system could handle various programming languages and testing scenarios.

Main challenges we faced:

Developing a curriculum structure that was both comprehensive and flexible
Ensuring the system could run and test student code efficiently
Deciding what ideas to keep from the previous system and what to innovate

Light theme visuals from the actual project — Visuals of the platform - examinations and selection sprint progress

Going live

After 7 months of development, the system was ready for first use. The rollout was phased, starting with the application process, followed by the study process, exams, with admin features improving constantly. This phased approach allowed us to incorporate feedback and make continuous improvements. By the end of our collaboration, the platform supported the entire educational journey: from applying to school, studying, and taking exams, to administering students and creating curricula.

Collaboration

Firstly we gained insights and feedback from kood/Jõhvi students during the development of the new study system. Thanks to them it was easy to find the weak points and improve our system. Secondly, we developed the new study system together with kood/Jõhvi developers who had studied there using the previous system. Besides their development skills they shared valuable insights from the school and study practices.

Success

Today, students at kood/Jõhvi are actively using the platform to do their application and study on the program. A new school has opened up using our system as well in Finland called kood/Sisu. The success of this project is a testament to the power of collaborative innovation and the importance of prototyping and iterative development. The new system not only meets the unique needs of kood/Jõhvi but also sets a new standard for educational technology.