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Due to the current global pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus, Germany has introduced a nationwide school closure and therefore several weeks of home schooling. Teachers, students, and parents were faced with a new challenge of online teaching using exclusively digital media. This situation makes it possible to investigate how digital learning works under completely new conditions. The Snap! self-learning course "Smart City", originally developed for independent learning in the classroom, has been further developed for online lessons. Therefore, students implement a simplified energy supply model as a simulation in Snap!. The learning course is designed for autonomous learning with the involvement of the teacher as tutor. The central learning objective is the introduction to the basics of programming for beginners in the middle and high School. The course includes a learning script, numerous videos and exercises that can be worked on independently. Accompanying conferences and consultation sessions are offered instead of classroom teaching. To complete the course, students work on additional programming tasks. Finally, students have to create their own projects in Snap!.

Current practice shows that the simplicity of Snap! installation and operation allows quick access for students, even from home. The use of Snap! is intended to make it easier for beginners to get started in programming.

The development and implementation of the course was already tested and partially evaluated in the first half of the 2019/20 school year with two female groups in the middle school. Currently the course takes place in online computer technology lessons of the vocational school.

The following workshop shows how the teachers can introduce Snap! and offers some possible expansion stages.

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