The Hour of Code started as a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify “code”, to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science. It has since become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, starting with 1-hour coding activities but expanding to all sorts of community efforts. Check out the tutorials and activities. This grassroots campaign is supported by over 400 partners and 200,000 educators worldwide.

The Hour of Code takes place each year during Computer Science Education Week. The 2017 Computer Science Education Week will be December, but you can host an Hour of Code all year round. Computer Science Education Week is held annually in recognition of the birthday of computing pioneer Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906).

Every student should have the opportunity to learn computer science. It helps nurture problem-solving skills, logic and creativity. By starting early, students will have a foundation for success in any 21st-century career path. See more stats here.

The Hour of Code is driven by the Hour of Code and Computer Science Education Week Advisory and Review Committees as well as an unprecedented coalition of partners that have come together to support the Hour of Code — including Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the College Board.

No. Absolutely no signup or login is required for students to try the Hour of Code. Most of the follow-on courses require account creation to save student progress. Also, signing up for the Hour of Code does NOT automatically create a Code Studio account. If you do want to create accounts for your students, please follow these instructions.

The Hour of Code tracker isn’t an exact measurement of usage. We do not count unique student IDs perfectly when tracking participation in the Hour of Code, especially because we don’t require students to log in or register. As a result, we both over-count and under-count participants at the same time. Read all the details here.

The goal of the Hour of Code is not to teach anybody to become an expert computer scientist in one hour. One hour is only enough to learn that computer science is fun and creative, that it is accessible at all ages, for all students, regardless of background. The measure of success of this campaign is not in how much CS students learn – the success is reflected in broad participation across gender and ethnic and socioeconomic groups, and the resulting increase in enrollment and participation we see in CS courses at all grade levels. Millions of the participating teachers and students have decided to go beyond one hour – to learn for a whole day or a whole week or longer, and many students have decided to enroll in a whole course (or even a college major) as a result. 

Besides the students, another “learner” is the educator who gains the confidence after one hour that they can teach computer science even though they may not have a college degree as a computer scientist. Tens of thousands of teachers decide to pursue computer science further, either attending PD or offering follow-on online courses, or both. And this applies to school administrators too, who realize that computer science is something their students want and their teachers are capable of. 

Above all, what all participants can learn in an hour is that we can do this.

Anyone can host an Hour of Code at any time. The tutorials stay up year round. You can expect all our tutorials and curriculum to be available on our site in perpetuity. Please go to our resources for event how-to guides and other resources to help make your Hour of Code event a success.