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Reflecting on the first Coda Doctorate

Learning in community

Maria Marquis

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21 makers⁠

just graduated with our inaugural class, and I can’t stop smiling.

The

Coda Doctorate⁠

is a five-week, asynchronous learning program with live elements—a blend of self-paced learning through video lessons, workbook exercises, weekly virtual office hours, and an active community Slack channel for conversations and support.

Here at Coda, we love to reflect, and all the time, energy, and work poured into the Doctorate deserves that consideration. Here are a few things our first Doctorate cohort taught me.

Technology is only as powerful as the people who use it.

Coda’s most powerful feature is the people who use it. The cohort was filled with people from all walks of life and experiences. We had students, teachers, theologians, product managers, singers, designers, marketers, parents, entrepreneurs, and people from all over the world.

We already see teams use Coda effectively for project management and wikis; the diversity of our Doctorate participates highlighted new ways to use Coda and provided invaluable feedback that is grounded in those unique experiences. A Coda doc can be a living thing—the physical representation of its maker’s mind. And, while I love a good project management tracker, I love seeing a person solve a unique problem (no matter how small!) for themselves, their family, their team, or the world.

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We learn so much more when we do it together.

When we designed the program, we thought long and hard about structure. We wanted to ensure everyone could complete work on their own schedule (after all, we’ve got jobs, families, and hobbies!). The community Slack channel ended up being great for learning and asking questions, but the real benefit was making real human connections with our students and watching them step up to support each other. Our Slack channel had brilliant compassionate feedback, authentic cheerleading, and support when life crept in.

There’s no one right way to make.

I use Coda ALL THE TIME, and I’ve developed an approach that works for me, but Coda is what we all make of it. In every office hours session, we explored all the ways to solve a problem. This process helped me expand my skills but also ended up being inspiring for folks. Since there’s no one right way to make, there’s always more to try.

I also found that this allowed us to appreciate the variety of approaches in the room and made learning Coda less intimidating.

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You don’t have to be a programmer to be a great Coda maker.

Sure, programmers can be great Coda makers. But that’s not a requirement. This cohort of Coda makers is full of amazing doc builders who’ve never touched C++ or Javascript in their life. Being a great Coda maker only requires 3 things:

A problem you are passionate about solving.

Empathy for the people who will use your doc.

Openness to explore and tinker.

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Join the next Coda Doctorate cohort.

We have another cohort starting October 11, and if you would like to be notified of the application deadline, fill out this

form⁠

. We would love to have you join the

movement⁠

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