September workshop, plans

[Angus Gratton]

Hi all,

September is fast approaching! Shall we run a September workshop?

--> First question - what workshop?

Easy options (almost no work required):

* Python for Beginners
* Introduction to data Processing with Python
* Basic Websites with Python Flask
* Some combination of the above

Moderate options (some work required to get up to speed on material,
maybe copy edit)

* JavaScript for Beginners (4 hour version)[1]

Harder options (need workshops written or adapted)

* Ruby
* HTML & CSS
* Arduino/Physical Computing
* ???

My September is already busy so I'm only able to commit enough time
for an "Easy" choice. However if someone or someone(s) wants to go for
something more ambitious then I am all for that, and I will help out
if I can. What do you think?


--> Second question - When?

Electron Workshop is already booked September 7 & 14. Our weekend
options are September 8, 15, 21, 22, 28 & 29. I'm available 15, 21 or
22 (but obviously that doesn't rule the other days out.)

How about you all?


--> Third question - Future Plans?

Is there anything you would like to work towards with OTS Melbourne?

I've had some good discussions with CCHS (Hackerspace) folk about the
prospect of co-running some kind of Arduino workshop or similar. I'd
like to work towards some Arduino workshop content, but I won't be
available to start/join that effort until some time in October. :(

There's also been some discussion about other possible directions:

* Having regular "Learner Hangouts" like Berlin do.
* All-day beginners workshops or trying a multi-day "Web Programmer" epic workshop
* Reaching out to some other tech teaching communities in Melbourne and co-running something.

I am keen to support anyone in our community who wants to develop any
other new workshops or structures.

Please let me know what you think about these questions, and anything
else. :)


- Angus

[1] http://opentechschool.github.io/js-beginners-4h-workshop-1/
[2] http://www.meetup.com/opentechschool-berlin/events/134314562/

[Lilly Ryan]

Hi!

I am available to be at workshops on Sept 8, 21, and 22, so my preference is for one of those dates.

I'm in the preliminary stages of drafting a beginners' Ruby workshop, but it wouldn't be ready for September. Would be keen to help with the organisation of an Arduino workshop if there's anything I can contribute there. I'd also like to see about getting an OTS-backed RailsGirls event going for early 2014 - how do people feel about this?

My vote for September would be a combined Python workshop or JS (I can do the copy editing). If people have time to brush up on JS and we have enough coaches, my strongest vote is for JS just for the sake of variety. Do we have the resources to run two workshops this month - Python one day, JS another?

Can we also do after-work workshops on weeknights, or does our current venue prevent that? Might get a different audience there.

Might be worth having a meeting to draft a plan for the next six months so we have a broader vision for where we're going. Would be easier to get organised with new workshops that way/sort out partnerships with other tech groups if needed.

Lilly

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[Angus Gratton]

Hi Lilly,

Sounds great!

How about we consider September 21, as a Saturday that suits both of
us.

How does that suit everyone else? Please respond! If it looks suitable
then tomorrow evening I'll ask Electron Workshop to hold that day.

On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 02:04:10PM +1000, Lilly Ryan wrote:
> I'm in the preliminary stages of drafting a beginners' Ruby workshop

Awesome. :D. Melbourne rules at writing new workshops! (not that it's a
competition or anything :P.)

> Would be keen to help with the
> organisation of an Arduino workshop if there's anything I can contribute
> there.

Absolutely. It's off my agenda until October at least, but will revisit then.

> I'd also like to see about getting an OTS-backed RailsGirls event
> going for early 2014 - how do people feel about this?

I feel like this would be a good thing to support, in whatever ways
OTS can.

> My vote for September would be a combined Python workshop or JS (I can do
> the copy editing). If people have time to brush up on JS and we have enough
> coaches, my strongest vote is for JS just for the sake of variety.

Going over the material again I have some reservations about the
content maybe being too much for a four hour beginner's session.

I've asked the global discuss list about their experiences with it:
https://groups.google.com/a/opentechschool.org/forum/#!topic/discuss.global/vrg_upSR-wk

> Do we
> have the resources to run two workshops this month - Python one day, JS
> another?

I don't personally have time in September. :( Maybe others do?

> Can we also do after-work workshops on weeknights, or does our current
> venue prevent that? Might get a different audience there.

I think it's problematic at Electron Workshop. May need to investigate
alternative venues first.

> Might be worth having a meeting to draft a plan for the next six months so
> we have a broader vision for where we're going. Would be easier to get
> organised with new workshops that way/sort out partnerships with other tech
> groups if needed.

Sure, I'm up for that. Tuesday afternoon again, or a different time?

Thanks for driving all this forward,


Angus

[Matthew Iversen]

I think a Sept 21 workshop should be good.

Either Python beginners (some content I want to work on for that) or JS beginners.

I have put in a booking for the same room we had last meetup, for tomorrow (Tues 27th) @ 12pm-1:30pm. I have a lecture after that. Swanston Library Level 6 Rooms 07-11.

Let me know if you'd like to come or can't. I can easily cancel the booking if it isn't possible for you guys. 

I met up with the dude that runs melbourne's node.js meetup, he would be very interested in helping out with anything to do with js. Also another guy who might like to help coach with html/css/js.

I looked over the JS 4h workshop, well put together, but the content is a bit crazy. It features recursive algorithms as a matter of course, hardly mentioning the fact. Has this been tought before? I'm cautious about the speed of the content presented, but I don't want to discount it if it still works.

One good progression for OTSMelb workshops might be beginner for our next, and then Data/Flask after. 

That's a splurge of some thoughts for the moment.

Let me know how you are for tomorrow, sorry for the short notice, no worries if you're busy, also promise not to be late! We could even meetup a bit earlier to grab a coffee beforehand...

Cheers,

Matt

[Angus Gratton]

Hi Matt,

On Sun, Aug 25, 2013 at 08:33:39PM -0700, Matthew Iversen wrote:
> I think a Sept 21 workshop should be good.
>
> Either Python beginners (some content I want to work on for that) or JS
> beginners.
>
> I have put in a booking for the same room we had last meetup, for tomorrow
> (Tues 27th) @ 12pm-1:30pm. I have a lecture after that. Swanston Library
> Level 6 Rooms 07-11.

I can't make it any more tomorrow, sorry. :(

If rescheduling is an option I can come this Wednesday, Friday, over
the weekend or next Tuesday.

Is there a need for a group study room this time, if we're not working
on anything in particular then maybe a coffee meeting would work just
as well?

> I looked over the JS 4h workshop, well put together, but the content is a
> bit crazy. It features recursive algorithms as a matter of course, hardly
> mentioning the fact. Has this been tought before? I'm cautious about the
> speed of the content presented, but I don't want to discount it if it still
> works.

That's roughly my impression too. I put a post out on discuss-global about it
https://groups.google.com/a/opentechschool.org/forum/#!topic/discuss.global/vrg_upSR-wk

From Martin's explanation I take it that it's only been run as part of
the 2 day intensive course so far.

> One good progression for OTSMelb workshops might be beginner for our next,
> and then Data/Flask after.

This sounds good to me, although I don't want to ignore JavaScript
entirely either. Lilly, do you have any preference?

- Angus

[Angus Gratton]

On Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 05:39:35PM +1000, Angus Gratton wrote:
> Is there a need for a group study room this time, if we're not working
> on anything in particular then maybe a coffee meeting would work just
> as well?

Sorry I had my head in 3 places at once and forgot Lilly's suggestion
we meet to talk about some long term big picture goals. Which I'm all
for, and a study room is probably a good idea for.

So forget this question.

- Angus

[Lilly Ryan]

Hey guys,

Extremely sorry I've been behind on this one. Have you had a meeting yet? (If not, I can provide you with some dates and times that I'm free.)

Having read through the JS workshop, I feel that there's even greater need for that glossary we were talking about, especially for extreme newcomers, as some of the language struck me as a little dense. It's also a pity that there are no solutions offered anywhere that might help people out while they waited for a coach/checked their own solutions, like there were in the Python workshop. And I'm not sure that a total newcomer could work their way through all of the Day One programme in four hours, although someone with experience of another language might find it easier. Should we trim it a little, or try for a five hour workshop?

The inclusion of the German elements at the start of the workshop might be a bit confusing for local participants, although I can see why keeping them in there would be useful for the workshop's universality. 

I do like the interactive editing aspect of it, though. It might still be worth running if the comments I made above could be addressed. Unfortunately, I don't know that my own skills are up to scratch enough to write solutions to everything (although if someone else gave them to me, I could certainly add them to a collapsed section of the page). And I enjoy the way it ends on the first day.

It would be nice to do something fresh this month if we can manage it, but for the sake of keeping a regular workshop running, if the Python Intro is what we can manage based on collective available time and energy, let's do that. I can coach that one, too! (My JS still needs work for coaching on the other one; I've been focusing too much on Ruby lately).

Lilly

- Angus

[Angus Gratton]

Hi Lilly,

On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 01:48:02PM +1000, Lilly Ryan wrote:
> Extremely sorry I've been behind on this one. Have you had a meeting yet?
> (If not, I can provide you with some dates and times that I'm free.)

No meetings yet. I'm off to NZ for a week on Wednesday but I can make
it tomorrow if that suits for doing some high level planning.

> Having read through the JS workshop, I feel that there's even greater need
> for that glossary we were talking about, especially for extreme newcomers,
> as some of the language struck me as a little dense.

OK. Maybe we can start taking some informal notes (adding terms as we
notice them), and then we can look into how we can expand/integrate
that into a bigger Glossary document? Would an EtherPad or Google Doc
perhaps be suitable as a jumping off point?

> It's also a pity that
> there are no solutions offered anywhere that might help people out while
> they waited for a coach/checked their own solutions, like there were in the
> Python workshop. And I'm not sure that a total newcomer could work their
> way through all of the Day One programme in four hours, although someone
> with experience of another language might find it easier. Should we trim it
> a little, or try for a five hour workshop?
> The inclusion of the German elements at the start of the workshop might be
> a bit confusing for local participants, although I can see why keeping them
> in there would be useful for the workshop's universality.
> I do like the interactive editing aspect of it, though. It might still be
> worth running if the comments I made above could be addressed.
> Unfortunately, I don't know that my own skills are up to scratch enough to
> write solutions to everything (although if someone else gave them to me, I
> could certainly add them to a collapsed section of the page). And I enjoy
> the way it ends on the first day.

Thanks for devoting the time to working through the material. I think these
are great comments. Maybe to keep track of them we could open an Issue
(or multiple Issues) on the github repo?

> It would be nice to do something fresh this month if we can manage it, but
> for the sake of keeping a regular workshop running, if the Python Intro is
> what we can manage based on collective available time and energy, let's do
> that. I can coach that one, too! (My JS still needs work for coaching on
> the other one; I've been focusing too much on Ruby lately).

OK, I think we're all agreed on that. Intro to Python it is for this
month. Will put up the Meetup event later this week and email EW to
promote it.

- Angus

[Lilly Ryan]

I'll be at work tomorrow, so the meeting going to have to wait until you get back from NZ. When will you return?

I think Google Docs would be a good place for the glossary to start!

Re: JS workshop- Agreed about adding Issue to the GitHub repo. If it's not too busy at work tomorrow, I'll see what I can do about that. If I don't, I'll let you know.

Okay, I'm fine with another Intro workshop. Would love to coach this time!

[Angus Gratton]

On Mon, Sep 02, 2013 at 02:55:43PM +1000, Angus Gratton wrote:
> OK, I think we're all agreed on that. Intro to Python it is for this
> month. Will put up the Meetup event later this week and email EW to
> promote it.

Created:
http://www.meetup.com/OpenTechSchool-Melbourne/events/138303102/

And should be in the new EW mailout as well.

RSVPs open at noon on Monday so that's probably the best time to
promote it some more.

- Angus