If you’re an instructor considering using PyFlo for your course, you’re in the right place. PyFlo can be used in a number of ways to support the curriculum of your introductory programming class.
For many intro courses, PyFlo has enough content to be a sufficient replacement for a traditional or e-textbook. It contains plenty of content, and of course has embedded interactivity - all available for free. There are some intro courses that may include some topics not included by PyFlo, such as Python classes or TKinter. If this describes your class, you could still use PyFlo, but augment the missing bits with other material. Or, perhaps there will be more lessons added in the future (!).
PyFlo could also be added to an existing course with minimal other changes. Whatever textbook is currently being used can remain, and this tool can be a helpful augmentation for the students. When struggling to understand a particular set of topics, these lessons can be given as reference and additional practice material.
PyFlo has been organized into many separate lessons, each focusing on different topics for beginner programmers to learn.
Each lesson also has a short, easily-shareable URL.
Thus, these lessons could be used as a quick reference when answering student questions via email, Piazza, or other help platforms.
At times, students will ask a question regarding an assignment, but clearly have misunderstanding of the required underlying topics as well.
In these scenarios, it is helpful to have easily-accessible reference material to send along with your reply.
Linking to PyFlo lessons is an easy way to do this.
For example, if a student is struggling to understand how if-statements work, you can include the short link to pyflo.net/if/, which works well on both desktop and mobile devices.
If you choose to use this material, please drop me a line! I’m interested to know who is using it, why, and how it is helping you and your students.
-Ben