Three years ago, I began the process of searching for a meaningful initiative to recommend to a client - a technology association undergoing mission transition. After much research, meetings, emails, and calls, I chose CoderDojo and led a junket to the nearest chapter to see one in action. This could be a much longer post if I shared more extensive thoughts about our experience since then. instead, this is one of the more comprehensive articles to cover it. Another good one can be found here.
Fast forward to now for my thoughts and observations...
Fast forward to now for my thoughts and observations...
When we attended DojoCon 2016 in Dun Laoghaire (Dublin, Ireland), we were floored by the level of community engagement the other non-USA dojos exhibited (only one other USA dojo attended - I think from Indiana). In their dojos parents were mentoring, doing marketing and social media, coming up with projects and tutorials, handling registration and check-in, bringing snacks, volunteering to speak at Rotaries, schools, and clubs to raise funds or expand across their territories. Just phenomenal. I described the difficulty of achieving that with ours, and how the majority of parents just see it as something we host, and they either show up or don't. Very little engagement beyond that.
The feedback we received is this might be because CoderDojo launched in Europe, although we were hearing from dojos in Africa and Asia who were engaging at that level, even in remote areas where they were meeting in huts. The co-founders of CoderDojo suggested we talk to the largest dojo in our state to see if they were experiencing what we were. The champion has some help through the mentors and project or tutorial development, but the bulk of the outreach and engagement we see still has him front and centre.
One of my conclusions is we're in affluent areas with an exploding tech economy, and many believe computer programming or coding is an inevitability. We also live in an environment where food can be grabbed on the go or through drive up. The art of planting seeds, harvesting crops, then preparing a meal together is more difficult to achieve, although the farm-to-table movement is on the rise. Most who have attended our coderdojo say they love it, but the idea of actively shaping and growing it isn't a cause many take up no matter how often we attempt to recruit them. Instead, it's more of a drive up, where the meal is prepared by a handful of dedicated champions and mentors...and everyone else just shows up to eat or grabs a bag at the window on the way to the next stop. Even those who want more legacy teaching structure, different tutorials or projects, a quieter place to code, better snacks -- instead of harvesting and bringing those crops (ideas) and incorporating them into the feast at the table, the response is more along the lines of what 'we don't provide' at the drive-up window.
Growing pains. Lessons learned. Regroup...and well worth mentioning that the overwhelming majority of this experience has been positive and immensely rewarding.
One of my conclusions is we're in affluent areas with an exploding tech economy, and many believe computer programming or coding is an inevitability. We also live in an environment where food can be grabbed on the go or through drive up. The art of planting seeds, harvesting crops, then preparing a meal together is more difficult to achieve, although the farm-to-table movement is on the rise. Most who have attended our coderdojo say they love it, but the idea of actively shaping and growing it isn't a cause many take up no matter how often we attempt to recruit them. Instead, it's more of a drive up, where the meal is prepared by a handful of dedicated champions and mentors...and everyone else just shows up to eat or grabs a bag at the window on the way to the next stop. Even those who want more legacy teaching structure, different tutorials or projects, a quieter place to code, better snacks -- instead of harvesting and bringing those crops (ideas) and incorporating them into the feast at the table, the response is more along the lines of what 'we don't provide' at the drive-up window.
Growing pains. Lessons learned. Regroup...and well worth mentioning that the overwhelming majority of this experience has been positive and immensely rewarding.
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2018 will be an important year for sharing the virtues of heightened 'roll up your sleeves' engagement as we recruit other communities to launch their own dojos -- Bainbridge Island, Bremerton, and something in Port Orchard or Manchester. After all, farmers markets are brilliant. And anything worth doing is worth the effort.
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