This document outlines plans for hosting coding workshops at a library. It discusses the need for such workshops to provide a welcoming space for self-taught coders to learn without feeling judged. Potential workshop topics are suggested that could tie into STEM events. Guidelines are provided for assembling an effective workshop team and structuring different levels of workshops. Considerations for advertising, scheduling, and obtaining feedback are also presented to help ensure the success of the coding workshop series.
The Input aims to show the implications of Cloud Computing for learning and working and will discuss how schools’ ICT concepts and media competences might look like. But local, affordable solutions will be considered as well. Particularly in the absence of the financial means necessary to purchase expensive hardware and networks, local solutions could be favoured. For these purposes the School for Teacher Education at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland has developed the "Lernstick".
IT in Education: A View through the Lenses of Diffusion of Innovation Theory ...IT Arena
Lviv IT Arena is a conference specially designed for programmers, designers, developers, top managers, inverstors, entrepreneur and startuppers. Annually it takes place on 2-4 of October in Lviv at the Arena Lviv stadium. In 2015 conference gathered more than 1400 participants and over 100 speakers from companies like Facebook. FitBit, Mail.ru, HP, Epson and IBM. More details about conference at itarene.lviv.ua.
Library I.T.: Information Technologists or Information Thought-leadersWhitni Watkins
Talk given at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Orlando June, 2016. Scope of the talk: Library staff employed in information technology (I.T.) departments are often seen as support staff, only providing services when something breaks. But what more can library IT staff do to support the mission of their libraries? In this presentation we will explore why library IT staff should maximize their ability to work across various library departments to collaboratively design new library services rather than being relegated to support staff. We will also explore how library IT staff may challenge traditional bureaucratic organization structures to lead change efforts.
A keynote talk delivered at EBSCO presents 2016. The talk is focused on how we can leverage social capital to better used technology to solve library problems.
The Input aims to show the implications of Cloud Computing for learning and working and will discuss how schools’ ICT concepts and media competences might look like. But local, affordable solutions will be considered as well. Particularly in the absence of the financial means necessary to purchase expensive hardware and networks, local solutions could be favoured. For these purposes the School for Teacher Education at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland has developed the "Lernstick".
IT in Education: A View through the Lenses of Diffusion of Innovation Theory ...IT Arena
Lviv IT Arena is a conference specially designed for programmers, designers, developers, top managers, inverstors, entrepreneur and startuppers. Annually it takes place on 2-4 of October in Lviv at the Arena Lviv stadium. In 2015 conference gathered more than 1400 participants and over 100 speakers from companies like Facebook. FitBit, Mail.ru, HP, Epson and IBM. More details about conference at itarene.lviv.ua.
Library I.T.: Information Technologists or Information Thought-leadersWhitni Watkins
Talk given at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Orlando June, 2016. Scope of the talk: Library staff employed in information technology (I.T.) departments are often seen as support staff, only providing services when something breaks. But what more can library IT staff do to support the mission of their libraries? In this presentation we will explore why library IT staff should maximize their ability to work across various library departments to collaboratively design new library services rather than being relegated to support staff. We will also explore how library IT staff may challenge traditional bureaucratic organization structures to lead change efforts.
A keynote talk delivered at EBSCO presents 2016. The talk is focused on how we can leverage social capital to better used technology to solve library problems.
Designing new online support services for woman that have experience violenc...Mariana Salgado
Designing new online support services for
woman that have experience violence or threat
of violence. This is the presentation for the day 1 of a one week workshop to design New Media concepts for the Third Sector. February 2015
New Media for the Third Sector/ Case: Naisten Linja/ Last presentationsMariana Salgado
This is the final presentation for the one week workshop on New Media for the Third Sector. The case study was Naisten Linja (Women's line). In Media Lab, ARTS, Aalto University. February 2015.
Unit 1: Teaching in Virtual Environments Theoretical foundation of virtual environments, learning and teaching in virtual environments and learning and teaching in virtual environments
Individual activity.
Presented by:
Nataly Cotes Díaz ID 1065862548
Presented to:
Cristian Quintero
Course:
6
Open and Distance National University
Bachelor of Arts in English as a Foreign Language
Materials Design for Virtual Environments
March 21st, 2017.
Design Thinking for the Masses: Creating a Culture of Empathy Across a Librar...Rebecca Blakiston
Design thinking puts users at the forefront. It encourages us to practice empathy, observe our surroundings, question assumptions, and identify big problems. It then asks us to prototype and iterate on solutions. Inspired by the power of these concepts, University of Arizona Libraries initiated a library-wide design thinking project. This inclusive, collaborative effort guided strategic initiatives and put user experience in the minds of library employees at all levels.
Presentation at Designing for Digital 2018 in Austin, Texas.
This presentation was delivered by Fayetteville Free Library's Executive Director, Susan Considine, and Director of Community Engagement and Experience, Leah Kraus, at the Computers in Libraries conference in March 2016.
Building an engagement toolkit: How you can understand your customers, evalua...Kate Davis
Slide deck for workshop at the Asia Pacific Library and Information Conference #aplic18, presented with Kathleen Smeaton and Lyndelle Gunton.
Unicorn digital papers and clipart from ClipArtisan on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/shop/ClipArtisan
If you've ever been at a conference and don't know anyone, learn simple techniques for meeting people to make sure you never eat alone and develop new friendships, collaborations, and even jobs. Topics covered are: why you should talk first and what to say, developing a coherent statement about what you do that leads to "tell me more", how to meet people in advance using social media, and, finally, the advantages of presenting over attending a conference without a talk
Presentation by Jennie Burroughs (University of Montana) and Kirsten Clark (University of Minnesota) at the Fall 2009 Federal Depository Library Program Conference, October 20, 2009
When we don’t negotiate, what do we lose? There’s a systemic reluctance to negotiate for a higher salary or benefits package especially as a woman in tech, but this is not confined to just women. There is a pay gap; helping to close it requires negotiating with employers to compensate us for our actual worth. If we do not negotiate and we undersell ourselves, we allow that wage gap to remain.
Salary negotiation is intimidating and difficult to navigate if you don’t have the right tools and knowledge to do so. You need to know how to assess your value, identify target salaries, ask the right way, respond to red flags, and evaluate a total benefits package. Negotiating takes having a strategy in place and knowing tactics to be successful. Of course, success isn’t always the outcome and you may choose to walk away from a job offer. Knowing your breaking point is also important.
We’ve had our fair share of successes and failures in past negotiations at a variety of institution types (public and academic libraries, state government, and private corporations). This talk will present what we’ve learned and share tools and tactics that helped us along the way.
Designing new online support services for woman that have experience violenc...Mariana Salgado
Designing new online support services for
woman that have experience violence or threat
of violence. This is the presentation for the day 1 of a one week workshop to design New Media concepts for the Third Sector. February 2015
New Media for the Third Sector/ Case: Naisten Linja/ Last presentationsMariana Salgado
This is the final presentation for the one week workshop on New Media for the Third Sector. The case study was Naisten Linja (Women's line). In Media Lab, ARTS, Aalto University. February 2015.
Unit 1: Teaching in Virtual Environments Theoretical foundation of virtual environments, learning and teaching in virtual environments and learning and teaching in virtual environments
Individual activity.
Presented by:
Nataly Cotes Díaz ID 1065862548
Presented to:
Cristian Quintero
Course:
6
Open and Distance National University
Bachelor of Arts in English as a Foreign Language
Materials Design for Virtual Environments
March 21st, 2017.
Design Thinking for the Masses: Creating a Culture of Empathy Across a Librar...Rebecca Blakiston
Design thinking puts users at the forefront. It encourages us to practice empathy, observe our surroundings, question assumptions, and identify big problems. It then asks us to prototype and iterate on solutions. Inspired by the power of these concepts, University of Arizona Libraries initiated a library-wide design thinking project. This inclusive, collaborative effort guided strategic initiatives and put user experience in the minds of library employees at all levels.
Presentation at Designing for Digital 2018 in Austin, Texas.
This presentation was delivered by Fayetteville Free Library's Executive Director, Susan Considine, and Director of Community Engagement and Experience, Leah Kraus, at the Computers in Libraries conference in March 2016.
Building an engagement toolkit: How you can understand your customers, evalua...Kate Davis
Slide deck for workshop at the Asia Pacific Library and Information Conference #aplic18, presented with Kathleen Smeaton and Lyndelle Gunton.
Unicorn digital papers and clipart from ClipArtisan on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/shop/ClipArtisan
If you've ever been at a conference and don't know anyone, learn simple techniques for meeting people to make sure you never eat alone and develop new friendships, collaborations, and even jobs. Topics covered are: why you should talk first and what to say, developing a coherent statement about what you do that leads to "tell me more", how to meet people in advance using social media, and, finally, the advantages of presenting over attending a conference without a talk
Presentation by Jennie Burroughs (University of Montana) and Kirsten Clark (University of Minnesota) at the Fall 2009 Federal Depository Library Program Conference, October 20, 2009
When we don’t negotiate, what do we lose? There’s a systemic reluctance to negotiate for a higher salary or benefits package especially as a woman in tech, but this is not confined to just women. There is a pay gap; helping to close it requires negotiating with employers to compensate us for our actual worth. If we do not negotiate and we undersell ourselves, we allow that wage gap to remain.
Salary negotiation is intimidating and difficult to navigate if you don’t have the right tools and knowledge to do so. You need to know how to assess your value, identify target salaries, ask the right way, respond to red flags, and evaluate a total benefits package. Negotiating takes having a strategy in place and knowing tactics to be successful. Of course, success isn’t always the outcome and you may choose to walk away from a job offer. Knowing your breaking point is also important.
We’ve had our fair share of successes and failures in past negotiations at a variety of institution types (public and academic libraries, state government, and private corporations). This talk will present what we’ve learned and share tools and tactics that helped us along the way.
The future of the integrated library systemWhitni Watkins
The traditional ILS as we know it will only die out because it will evolve. It will not disappear. More now than ever do libraries need automation and resource management. The thing is, our collections are becoming more and more heavily electronic, we need a system that will handle digital content in an efficient manner. The current ILS does not.
Current ILSs are built around the traditional library practice of print collections and services
designed around these collections, but the last ten to fifteen years have seen great shifts in both
library collections and services. Print and physical materials are no longer the dominant resources.
Actually, in many libraries, especially in academic and research libraries, the building of electronic
and digital collections have taken a larger role in library collection development.
As libraries have moved increasingly to accommodate digital collections, they’ve found the ILS products unable to be reconfigured well enough to smoothly and efficiently handle the integration of all the workflows that are different, yet, necessary, for both print and digital.
The current ILS serves the purpose for an academic library but instead of one system with seamless interaction we have one system with add on components to do some of the now necessary functions like electronic resource management and the discovery layer.
there are three trends that will lead to the change in the traditional ILS: “1. Increased digital collections; 2. Changed expectations regarding interfaces; 3. Shifted attitudes toward data and software.”
There are four distinguishing characteristics of the next-generation ILS we believe are critical. They are comprehensive library resources management; a system based on service-oriented architecture; the ability to meet the challenge of new library workflow; and a next-generation discovery layer.
Up until recently, libraries developed collections to serve the communities that they were located in. And that's going to shift because the collections that they create will define the communities they serve, which is the exact opposite of the way it used to be in the physical world. In the electronic world it will be completely opposite. (VINOD CHACHRA, VTLS)
Our collections are now booming with digital content and a very inept way to serve it. The traditional ILS wasn’t created to handle digital content. The new ILS, will serve as a library service platform where digital content will be a the forethought instead of an afterthought.
Breeding writes that “the next generation of library automation systems needs to be designed to match the workflows of today’s libraries,
which manage both digital and print resources.”
There are four distinguishing characteristics of the next-generation ILS we believe are critical. They are comprehensive library resources management; a system based on service-oriented architecture; the ability to meet the challenge of new library w
Slides from IUG 2015 on using Open Refine to grab your permissions from Sierra Passwords and Authorizations.
Demo http://screencast.com/t/YMgY404F
GitHub with JSON code: https://github.com/whitni/IUG2015
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 3DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 3. In this session, we will cover desktop automation along with UI automation.
Topics covered:
UI automation Introduction,
UI automation Sample
Desktop automation flow
Pradeep Chinnala, Senior Consultant Automation Developer @WonderBotz and UiPath MVP
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
State of ICS and IoT Cyber Threat Landscape Report 2024 previewPrayukth K V
The IoT and OT threat landscape report has been prepared by the Threat Research Team at Sectrio using data from Sectrio, cyber threat intelligence farming facilities spread across over 85 cities around the world. In addition, Sectrio also runs AI-based advanced threat and payload engagement facilities that serve as sinks to attract and engage sophisticated threat actors, and newer malware including new variants and latent threats that are at an earlier stage of development.
The latest edition of the OT/ICS and IoT security Threat Landscape Report 2024 also covers:
State of global ICS asset and network exposure
Sectoral targets and attacks as well as the cost of ransom
Global APT activity, AI usage, actor and tactic profiles, and implications
Rise in volumes of AI-powered cyberattacks
Major cyber events in 2024
Malware and malicious payload trends
Cyberattack types and targets
Vulnerability exploit attempts on CVEs
Attacks on counties – USA
Expansion of bot farms – how, where, and why
In-depth analysis of the cyber threat landscape across North America, South America, Europe, APAC, and the Middle East
Why are attacks on smart factories rising?
Cyber risk predictions
Axis of attacks – Europe
Systemic attacks in the Middle East
Download the full report from here:
https://sectrio.com/resources/ot-threat-landscape-reports/sectrio-releases-ot-ics-and-iot-security-threat-landscape-report-2024/
"Impact of front-end architecture on development cost", Viktor TurskyiFwdays
I have heard many times that architecture is not important for the front-end. Also, many times I have seen how developers implement features on the front-end just following the standard rules for a framework and think that this is enough to successfully launch the project, and then the project fails. How to prevent this and what approach to choose? I have launched dozens of complex projects and during the talk we will analyze which approaches have worked for me and which have not.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
Software Delivery At the Speed of AI: Inflectra Invests In AI-Powered QualityInflectra
In this insightful webinar, Inflectra explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming software development and testing. Discover how AI-powered tools are revolutionizing every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), from design and prototyping to testing, deployment, and monitoring.
Learn about:
• The Future of Testing: How AI is shifting testing towards verification, analysis, and higher-level skills, while reducing repetitive tasks.
• Test Automation: How AI-powered test case generation, optimization, and self-healing tests are making testing more efficient and effective.
• Visual Testing: Explore the emerging capabilities of AI in visual testing and how it's set to revolutionize UI verification.
• Inflectra's AI Solutions: See demonstrations of Inflectra's cutting-edge AI tools like the ChatGPT plugin and Azure Open AI platform, designed to streamline your testing process.
Whether you're a developer, tester, or QA professional, this webinar will give you valuable insights into how AI is shaping the future of software delivery.
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
Accelerate your Kubernetes clusters with Varnish CachingThijs Feryn
A presentation about the usage and availability of Varnish on Kubernetes. This talk explores the capabilities of Varnish caching and shows how to use the Varnish Helm chart to deploy it to Kubernetes.
This presentation was delivered at K8SUG Singapore. See https://feryn.eu/presentations/accelerate-your-kubernetes-clusters-with-varnish-caching-k8sug-singapore-28-2024 for more details.
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
Effective Application Security in Software Delivery lifecycle using Deployment Firewall and DBOM
The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
3. As a self taught coder, not having a neutral & welcoming
ground to come learn without feeling like I was “asking dumb
questions” made it a lonely & discouraging road for learning
how to code. Now there is also a major drive to teach coding,
to encourage the youth to get involved in STEM related
projects through movements like Hour of Code, but what
about those who, like me, didn't get that encouragement but
have an interest? Where can they go?
5. Minimal risk involved
Teach 1 or more workshops
BYODevice allows for little to no out of pocket
cost.
Greater awareness of the Librari*s and
Resources
Library as safe space
Tie workshops to national STEM events/dates
Ada Lovelace Day (mid October)
Computer Science Education Week (mid December)
Pi Day (March 14)
7. -Your team SHOULD include someone who is
familiar teaching code.
-Your team SHOULD include members of groups
who have interest in these types of workshops
-Your team SHOULD include library user (who’s
willing and interested) that is not library staff
-Your team SHOULD NOT be 100% librarians, but it
should have librarians
-Your team SHOULD NOT be 50/50 librarians & IT
but it should have both.
Credit: dodgers.topbuzz.com
Photo
11. Map it out and give yourself a view of the big picture
12.
13. STEM/CompSci Clubs on Campus (or
local community)
Computer Science dept. (local school
teachers)
Other librarians
Community center for advertising
Local Public Library or Academic
Library
Student workers, library staff, IT staff
Local news boards
Let others get involved.
Invite them even!
17. Always have at least 2 teachers to
provide one-on-one help
Have resources attendees can continue
to learn
Always schedule time for discussion
Shy away from Q/A formation
Pair up with events that involve Library
resources (helps with buy in)
Have a Code of Conduct in place
before first workshop
20. Advertising – no unified spot
students/staff/faculty looked
Scheduling was difficult
Look at main event calendar
Know holidays & days off
Know academic schedule – when are
busy times in the semester
Be flexible
Be adaptable.
Be flexible.
Be imperturbable.
22. Develop strong social media presence before
first event
More community involvement (reaching out
for more student involvement in helping out
with the actual workshops)
Feedback opportunities from both attendees
and no-comp sci faculty.
Set aside time during the week to plan & do
outreach
Developed a strong or formal team, that met
frequently
23.
24. Workshop Resources
Hour of Code https://hourofcode.com/us/how-to
Code.org https://studio.code.org/
Code of Conduct example https://github.com/whitni/codeofconduct
Template & Ideas http://www.slideshare.net/nimblelibrarian/teaching-
coding-workshops
Attendee Resources (free to use)
CodeCamp https://www.freecodecamp.com/
CodeCademy https://www.codecademy.com/
Twitter: @_Whitni | Email: whitni.watkins@gmail.com
Editor's Notes
I’m Whitni Watkins, currently the Web Systems Engineer for Analog Devices. Welcome to this session.
A bit of background information. These workshops stemmed from doing a local Hour of Code Event I organized while I was working as the Systems Librarian at St. Lawrence University.
We did a one off workshop based on the Hour of Code national event and had a learn at your own pace selection of programs to work on, ranging from beginner to advanced intermediate knowledge level of coding.
We had 35 in attendance, which was surprising given that we had 10 days to plan and advertise for the workshop.
The main question at the end of the day by attendees was “this is awesome, but now what? How do I continue this? Where can I go for help? How is this applicable to me?”
This feedback is what told us that maybe this would be helpful to offer as more than just a one off workshop.
Before planning the workshops, we asked ourselves what problem does this solve? Is putting on these workshops going to solve it and most importantly, is it worth solving? This answer will be different for everyone in the room, and may not always be sufficient to go ahead with teaching the workshops however my answer to the why was:
As a self taught coder, not having this neutral ground to come learn without feeling like I was “asking dumb questions” made it a lonely road. There is also a major drive to teach coding, to encourage the youth to get involved in STEM related projects through movements like Hour of Code, but what about those who didn't get that encouragement but have an interest? Where can they go?
This was enough drive for us to move forward to teach coding workshops. Followed with the feedback from the Hour of Code event, we had enough feedback to hold our case for why we should do this and why it should happen in the library.
When you’re working to get the buy in, things to think about –
Teaching the workshops has minimal risk on the library. You can teach 1 or more workshops, if you do one and it doesn’t
Work, you don’t’ have to do another one.
We did a mix of BYOdevices and providing a few we checked out from our library. Doing BYODevice really allows for little to no out of pocket cost. If you don’t have laptops/tablets to check out but have a computer lab, look to book the courses in the computer lab.
Librari*s become a new resource and serve patrons in a new (and needed) fashion. When I asked CS students if they felt they could go to the library for help on their programming homework, they almost always, and emphatically, said No, I’d go to my professor, I didn’t think the librarians would be able to answer my questions.
If you need a reason on why or how this helps the library – holding the workshops in the library, brings greater awareness of the library and resources but
These workshops can also feed over into providing reference on technology/coding/programming as such.
The library is a safe space and often viewed as a neutral ground for learning, hosting the workshops there was a great way to emphasize this safe space.
Tying workshops to national STEM and Education Technology events can always be tied into the library in a positive spin. For us, it encouraged outreach to student clubs and the computer science department faculty.
Building our team took the longest. We wanted to make sure we were getting the right input, the right expertise, the right energy, and a solid number of people to work together.
Our team could have gone a myriad of ways, and overall, the people we coordinated with was a great and helpful mix.
Who do we need on our team? Why?
-someone from the library, workshops will be hosted in the library and the library had a massive chunk of resources we needed.
-someone from IT
-groups that would have interest to help give input & promote the word
-identifying those who have already faced the challenges of teaching technology to those new to it
Student organizations (Quantitative Club (Math, Computer Science, and Statistics talks) and The Hub (St. Lawrence University Theme house focused on embracing technology))
-Include circulation – if you are going to check out items or if a student might come check out a laptop/tablet and location details if someone needs help navigating the library.
The topics we selected at to meet four criteria –
Teaching the app IFTTT to teach basic understanding of programming (If Then statements)
used IFTTT intro tutorial & intro to what IFTTT is
went through setting up the channels
chose 6 channel connections that were easy to test and should the power of this tool
provided 10min of Q/A and discussion.
attendees walk away with a new tool & intro understanding of how programming works and how we use it in our daily lives to make things easier on ourselves, less work.
Using Google Sites to teach basic HTML/CSS -- (Can use WordPress too!)
attendees walk away with a tool to build their own website
Editing wikipedia pages -- not exactly coding but focusing on not using the WSYWIG editor and using the wiki tags
walk away with knowledge of how to edit wikipedia pages & a simple understanding of using wikis
Raspberry Pi workshop (on Pi Day) --
When we decided to teach the workshops in the library, we chose to teach movable skills. Skills that could be used outside the library for real life things, like setting up a WordPress site and customizing the HTML or writing scripts that could move files from one folder to another or using apps like IFTTT to create recipes for automation for ones life.
This helped focus on what topics we were going to offer, when we thought of a topic we were interested in teaching, we had to ask our selves – can this be used in the real world or is it just something interesting?
Mapping everything on a marker board really helped give us the big picture of how and when we wanted to teach these workshops.
ProTip – take photos in case someone decides to clean the board. We learned the hard way.
Outreach was a major part in planning the workshops.
When we were brainstorming outreach for the workshops we thought of as many angles as possible to get people involved and bring awareness to the workshops.
With the Ada Lovelace workshop, we reached out to a few clubs that were focused on women in tech or women in history for volunteers and to ask for help spreading the word about that specific workshop and also volunteering to submit women to research and edit their Wikipedia pages.
Your outreach can change for every workshop, but I do recommend having a core set in place.
We did a lot of work with students with advertising outreach, learning where they looked for events so we knew where to post information.
We paired up with the CS dept and reference librarians in a Wikipedia edit-a-thon since both groups were already doing events around that day.
We worked with the CS faculty to help get insight on the topics and approaches we were taking in teaching them, but also to get word out to students & to encourage their volunteering to present or help teach one of the workshops.
Don’t reinvent the wheel every time. Use templates, style the workshops in similar fashions, same locations, same places for advertising (you can add to it but don’t change).
Don’t be afraid to repeat topics especially if they were successful.
60minute workshop (IFTTT, follow up sessions from Hour of Code 2hr event in December)
5-10min Intro
30-40 minute of teaching & hands on work
5-10min Q/A discussion
90minute workshop (Google Sites, Wikipedia edit a thon)
5-10min Intro
60 minute workshop
10-15min Q/A discussion
2hr “Hour of Code Event” (end of each semester)
10min Intro
Hour of Code -- focus on python programming, presentations from students/faculty, longer workshops focused on beg -- adv intermediate levels
30min of CS faculty selected student presentations
60min of hands on workshops - beginner - adv. Intermediate
3 levels of programming, taught in 30min workshops. (attendees could check out multiple workshops or attend an hour of one)
-unplugged
-mobile friendly
20min for Q/A and demos
Give attendees something to continue the development of their knowledge – this could mean providing access to free coding courses
Be available for questions – the biggest thing to foster the engagement and the learning is to continue to be a lifeline for those who have questions.
Provide the option for one on one help in workshops, you want attendees to feel comfortable in asking questions and getting help. The goal of these workshops is to create that safe space to learn.
Schedule in time for Q&A after the coding portion, this Q&A should be informal but have a question or two to start the energy, for example –The aim is to open up the space for discussion and less question and answer. We learn best when we learn from each other.
Pair up with events that involve library resources
Have a Code of Conduct in place and available, iterate that code before starting the workshop.
Have a list of specified contacts for certain parts of the workshops.
Internal contact list for the team listing all parties involved and what parts.
Contact list for attendees – if they want to get involved, have questions, etc.
One of the biggest challenges was Scheduling! WOW! when you want to schedule an event, it seems like it always conflicts with something else. This was a major challenge, not only determining the dates but also making sure the time of day was most accommodating to allow for more attendees. (examples)
Another challenge was:
We had a team of 5, and we needed to delegate responsibilities better – we worked well together but there wasn’t anyone delegated to do certain tasks and where parts of the workshops were directly overseen by an assigned team member. It was more of an idea team and that put a lot of work on my plate.
There wasn’t a unified place for events so it was difficult to pinpoint an effective advertising strategy, we more or less tried to do them all.
Develop strong social media presence before first event (that includes follow up material)
More community involvement (reaching out for more student involvement in helping out with the actual workshops)
Feedback opportunities from both attendees and no-comp sci faculty.
Set aside time during the week to plan & do outreach
Developed a strong or formal team, that met frequently
[NOTE] put together a checklist on GitHub and share link
Add links for hour of code resources & extra free courses where people can learn more outside of the workshop
Workshop Resources
Hour of Code https://hourofcode.com/us/how-to
Code.org https://studio.code.org/
Code of Conduct (Boston Meet-Up git-up repo) - https://github.com/whitni/codeofconduct
Template & Ideas http://www.slideshare.net/nimblelibrarian/teaching-coding-workshops
Attendee Resources
CodeCamp https://www.freecodecamp.com/
CodeCademy https://www.codecademy.com/