Mod Design 1 - Online Course for MAC/PC

It's OK for ages 11 - 13 or so but a bit simplistic for High School Kids. Lots of copy and paste with very little real coding. It works to create mods but only with the system and software. They set up Eclipse to work with their own system and then provide templates to copy and paste to create various objects, mobs, and biomes. It is a good way to introduce coding to younger kids but definitely you would want to have a bit more hands on system for older students.

My son is 12. He loved the idea of this product. After about 2 weeks he was bored of it. Sometimes i can get him excited about it. I am really hoping he finishes the course.

This is a video based learning program. my son is 11 and said he didn't enjoy the videos too much. He only made it through Lesson 1 and lost interest.

We had to struggle to register the product as the instructions included did not match the reality. Also downloading the product was hassle, as it has a huge download and fail several times over wireless. ... i had to finally hard wire and download.After those initial hurdles it was a breeze.My Son absolutely loved it. The cool instruction video is amazing and the support is amazing. even though it is email based, the response is very prompt and friendly.I would Highly Recommend this to anyone. My son completed this in less than 2 months and we bought the next in series, the Server Design, which i hope is equally good

This course does not work on Macs--if you are running a Mac, do not buy this. They say in their advertising that it works on Macs, but it doesn't, and they do not provide adequate support to address the issues. Once they figure out that you are on a Mac, they simply stop responding to your Tech Support inquiries. We bought this for my 11 year old son for his main Christmas gift. We also bought a new iMac computer from the Apple Store so we could do the Youth Digital course. Despite working with the Youth Digital Tech Support for nearly two months, the course would not even install correctly enough to do the course. After multiple chats with tech support as well as live screen shares, they said my computer was too unique and they did not have a quick fix. By. It was a stock purchase from Apple -- nothing unique and I had not installed any other software. We also tried the course on our older iMac, which was running the Lion operating system. It didn't work on that one either. It is really disappointing and my son is crushed.

I bought this for my 11 year old son based on a facebook post when it went on sale for $49.99. We homeschool, and this was an addition to regular curriculum. I'm so glad I purchased it! You should know that there is no software in the box, you simply receive a web address and a code to download the software. We have a Macbook and our son was able to follow the online directions and install everything himself. He's a bright boy, but not necessarily a computer nerd, so a child who can listen and follow directions will be successful with this. He has had a little bit of programming instruction through the free online Khan Academy, so the first few lessons were a wonderful review for him. That was yesterday. Today, he started to make a sword. He ran into a few little problems with his code, so he sent a message through the help feature and received timely answers that helped him sort out his mistakes on his own. I was copied on all of those messages, too! (Great feature, there!) After a bit of trial and error, he was able to import the sword (sorry, light saber) and use it in his Minecraft kingdom. My husband and I didn't have to do a thing to help. What a relief to find a product like this that doesn't require hours of tech support and troubleshooting just to make it work for your kid!

My daughter continue to have issues with the software. For now she is emailing the support on a daily basis without success. She is using a Macbook and we are having many problems with integration with the actual game

I only have good things to say about this company, they are creating fun interactive training courses for kids to learn by doing what they love, playing! I got my 11 year old son the Mod Design 1 course, and he is literally programming in Java to make his ideas come to life in Minecraft. I have watched a couple of the videos with him, and the trainer is a total goofball, but my son is laughing and learning, so don't let that turn you off; the goofy + serious training totally works... You might think it is expensive, but it is a true training class, and I think it is a good value for what you get out of it. Having been a programmer for almost 20 years, I can say that it is really good stuff, and critical concepts that kids are going to be required to know at some point. They have other courses too, such as fashion design, 3D Game Design, 3D Animation, App Design (you actually build and install an app on an iPhone or iPad!), and others. It would make a great Christmas present! ... ok, done with my product advertising... no I don't get paid for this, I just want them to make more of these!