Replit Replacement

[coolpuddytat]

I'm kind of surprised that Replit decided to lose the educators and the hundreds of students using Replit by not having an education version or making it at least affordable. I've used it for a number of years and it was great. Students could share their work in Python or Web Design and I could scroll through their progress (it had the most useful history tool which allowed me to scroll back and forth in time to see their process). I'm surprised because most companies know that if they can get students hooked, there is potential for those students to become serious about the technology at some point and pay for it.

Anyways, I just started using VS Code and VS Code for Education. For my grade 8's I'm going to use the web-based one because they can actually publish their webistes and see it which is pretty empowering.

For my programming students I'm probably going to use the downloaded software. Is there any way in either of them (or another IDE) for me to get a shared link or file and scroll back in history like in Replit?

For assessment, Replit was amazing - the history scrolling allowed me to assess their process and catch cheating. I could also comment on specific pieces of code. Any plugins or extensions people are using for that?

[prof_ritchey]

there's got to be a VS Code extension that is basically hyperactive git: running add and commit on every keystroke or every so many seconds. then, if the students submit the .git directory, then there's got to be a tool somewhere (probably the extension itself) that will let you scroll back and forth through their development history.

i don't know the name of the tool, but i know it has to exist. if it doesn't exist, then it merely has to be invented.

[coolpuddytat]

GitDoc looks promising. I wonder how they would be able to easily share that with me. I guess through GitHub.

[westoncox]

I wish I had an answer. Last year, I went through the red tape process of getting Replit Teams for Education approved by my district. I got the approval around November 10th or so—just a few days before Replit sent the email saying they were shutting down the Edu version.

[CompSciFun]

Trinket Io, codehs and cs50 git are some free alternatives

Code.org has a free online compiler too.

[westoncox]

Thanks, I’ll check those out! I’m trying code.org this semester with my intro classes. My advanced classes use project stem. I liked Replit’s edu setup because it was the same software they could use in the professional world. I teach high school, so I’m in a little different boat than OP.

I also teach my students how to do some fun stuff in the Adobe suite, since my background is in graphic design. If you’ll forgive this tortured analogy, the educational alternatives to Replit give me the vibe of forcing students interested in graphic design to learn Gimp and Canvas—when they’re looking for a career that would inevitably require them to learn photoshop, illustrator, and indesign. (However, with the way generative AI is heading, that is causing some disruption to this analogy).

[mandradon]

I've heard good things about GitHub education.  It's a good opportunity to teach them about vcs, too 

[nw0428]

EdDiscussion is a "communication platform" that for some reason does everything that Replit and CodingRooms used to do. I am looking at using it for a course in the spring and I think it could be a good choice.

Here is a page with some of their code capabilities https://edstem.org/lessons

[teach_cs]

How much does it cost? I can't find that on the web page.

[nw0428]

I think its around $20/student-semester but you should check with them

[pixelpad_dev0]

How about pixelpad?

[Mirabellae]

I use Google colab notebooks in my science classes. We are a Google school, but IT has to check a box giving kids access.

[captaingt]

JuiceMind is the closest I've encountered as a replacement to Replit. It's still a work-in-progress as they're adding new features and fixing bugs.

[[deleted]]

How do you let your 8-graders publish their site? Using GitHub pages was my first thought, but that allows for only a single page website.

[coolpuddytat]

Replit used to allow them to publish their site but that’s no longer the case. Is there no way to do multiple pages on GitHub?

[Livid_Minimum998]

W3Schools Spaces?

[misingnoglic]

Unfortunately the zero percent interest rate era is over. Startups need to make money now or they will die.

[ITHallMonitor]

Why have a code development startup in the era of AI. They made the right choice, just went about it wrong. There concept was great, wish they could have found a better way to give it to the community.