GitHub Global Campus adds Codespaces

Whether you’re a teacher frustrated with managing local machine-based developer environments, tired of troubleshooting your students’ tools rather than focusing on their code or looking to reduce technical and cost barriers for your Computer Science Classroom, GitHub’s Codespaces hits many of those pain points on the head.

Codespaces, GitHub’s, browser-based integrated development environment (IDE) allows users to use a Visual Studio Code-backed editor, terminal, and debugger along with GitHub version control in the browser or on a desktop. Integrating Codespaces into GitHub Classroom  can provide a scalable solution for quickly getting CS students started using virtually any device, including Chromebooks and iPads. If it’s got a browser, it’s now a development environment for your students.

Codespaces cuts down on pesky variations between student devices, allowing you to standardise environments, runtime requirements, hardware specs, extensions, and editor settings so that all students have the exact same setup with less troubleshooting, no matter where they work.

And by joining Global Campus, teachers using GitHub Classroom get access to Codespaces at no cost.

While GitHub Team and GitHub Enterprise users are billed for Codespaces in a pay-as-you-go model, a Global Campus teacher status with GitHub gives you a free monthly allowance of Codespaces hours to use in your classroom. The free allowance is estimated to be enough for a class of 50 with 5 assignments per month, on a 2 core machine with 1 codespace stored per student, which is more than enough to get your students coding like pros.

This no-cost plan is enough for a class of 50 students completing five assignments per month on a 2-core machine with one Codespace stored per student, which is more than enough to get your students coding like pros.

Global Campus allows teachers to utilise a single dashboard to take advantage of all GitHub Education’s full suite of coding tools and teachers can easily view the class’ most recent assignments and get information on their progress at a glance.

GitHub Team boosts collaboration with easy repository management and automation, coupled with increased GitHub Action minutes, which can be used for autograding on GitHub Classroom.

You can connect with colleagues using GitHub Discussions and leverage the collective GitHub teacher community to improve practice and collaborate with colleagues.

There’s lots happening on GitHub, and teachers can access student events curated by GitHub Education and student leaders and get into virtual events with your students which range from local hackathons to online tech talks covering everything from DevRel, cybersecurity, to sharpening skill sets for post-graduation.

And there is swag, GitHub Education provides teachers with stickers, cheat-sheets, and other motivators.

If you’re a teacher, you can join Global Campus by completing a short application for teacher benefits. Once accepted, you will be officially welcomed as a Global Campus teacher.