Python Education Summit 2014 initial planning

naomi.ceder

unread,

Oct 6, 2013, 1:32:40 PM10/6/13

to pycon-educa...@googlegroups.com

Since there are many out there who I don't have email addresses for, so please feel free to forward this to anyone who's interested.

Just as a quick recap, in 2013 we held the first ever national Python education summit in conjunction with PyCon. About 80 people spent the day discussing the teaching and learning of Python and programming in general. We had people from community programs like PyLadies and the Boston Python Workshops, from EdX and Udacity, from colleges and universities, and from schools as well as authors curriculum writers.

In brief, it was a success. From the morning keynote by Walter Bender to the last lightning talk people were engaged and excited to be talking about teaching Python. The only negative mentioned in any feedback I saw was that people wanted to have a more open set of open spaces, that is, rather than selecting one topic at a time for everyone to consider, they would have preferred to have several topics going at once with the freedom to move around as their interests dictated. I think I agree with that point and I strongly suggest we do that the next time.

So, building on last year's success, we have the go-ahead to repeat the summit at PyCon 2014 in Montreal. The summit will take place April 10, 2014 (a Thursday), and is again planned as a day long event.

Here's where you all come in... I will definitely need some help to do this. We have at least 3 areas that need attention fairly quickly:

assuming that we want a keynote speaker again, we need to get started in finding that speaker. Last year we covered transportation and lodging, but didn't give any honorarium - someon needs to work with the conference to see what we can do this year. OTOH, if there are reasons not to have keynote, we need to have that discussion fairly quickly. So if anyone is interested in working on this, please let me know.
We need to get the word out and make sure that everyone interested in Python and education knows about the summit. I'm open changing the way that invitations were handled (or even if they're required) if someone wants to discuss it. So if anyone is interested publicity/recruiting/etc, please let me know.
We need to figure out what the rest of the program will be. Personally I kind of liked the idea of open spaces in the afternoon and want to try more parallel discussions. For the morning, if we want panels, we'll need to figure out the panels and fill them. If we want to have individual papers we need to figure out a process for selecting them.

In addition, there are some reasons why it would be wonderful if we had a few people who wanted to form a core leadership group on this. First of all I'm somewhat out of the Python education business these days, so people a bit more plugged in to Python education would be good. Second, while everything is up in the air right now, there are some options on the horizon for me that would severely curtail the amount of time I have to devote to organizing this. At the very least I know I won't be able to do everything on my own again this year.

Finally, or maybe it should be first of all, we don't have a particular theme or focus or mission beyond just bringing everyone who is interested in teaching Python together. If anyone has a theme that they would like to suggest they should speak up.

I have also emailed most of the participants from last year. If we want we could use this list for organizing things or we can get a mailing list a number of other places.

So here's the call to action. Let me know if you'd be willing to help out, and with what.

Thanks!

Naomi

Jeff Elkner

unread,

Oct 7, 2013, 8:08:41 PM10/7/13

to pycon-educa...@googlegroups.com

Hi Naomi!

I've already registered for Pycon, and since it falls during my Spring
break, I can stay for the full sprints. I'm definitely interested in
helping out with the education summit. Please let me know what I can
do to help.

Talk to you soon...

jeff

> --
>
> ---
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "PyCon Education Summit" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> email to pycon-education-s...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

Chalmer Lowe

unread,

Oct 7, 2013, 9:44:41 PM10/7/13

to pycon-educa...@googlegroups.com

Naomi:

I am interested in assisting with the following items...

Figuring out what the rest of the program will be.
Forming a core leadership group.

I will start pulling together some ideas to post for the group's consideration.

Chalmer Lowe

Naomi Ceder

unread,

Oct 7, 2013, 9:54:08 PM10/7/13

to pycon-educa...@googlegroups.com

Thanks, Jeff!

Naomi

--
Naomi Ceder
https://plus.google.com/u/0/111396744045017339164/about

Naomi Ceder

unread,

Oct 7, 2013, 9:54:41 PM10/7/13

to pycon-educa...@googlegroups.com

Hi,

Thanks! Both of those will help.

Cheers,
Naomi

Leslie Hawthorn

unread,

Oct 8, 2013, 8:21:16 AM10/8/13

to pycon-educa...@googlegroups.com

Hi Naomi,

I would like to help with promotion and can do outreach via my blog and Twitter. Let me know when we're ready for that step and I'm happy to help.

Wish I could join you folks in Montreal!

Cheers,

LH

Leslie Hawthorn
http://hawthornlandings.org
http://identi.ca/lh
http://twitter.com/lhawthorn

Naomi Ceder

unread,

Oct 8, 2013, 9:21:15 AM10/8/13

to pycon-educa...@googlegroups.com

Thanks, Leslie!

Jessica Nickel

unread,

Oct 8, 2013, 6:53:36 PM10/8/13

to pycon-educa...@googlegroups.com

Hello all. I posted in another part of the group, but I am interested in helping with promotion and in forming the core leadership. I see that others here are interested in this as well. Perhaps we should plan a hangout, skype, or other type of conference call to informally meet and set direction? What are everybody's thoughts?

Thanks, Leslie!

Thanks, Jeff!

Naomi

> email to pycon-education-summit+unsub...@googlegroups.com.

> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PyCon Education Summit" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pycon-education-summit+unsub...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

--
Naomi Ceder
https://plus.google.com/u/0/111396744045017339164/about

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PyCon Education Summit" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pycon-education-summit+unsub...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

--

Leslie Hawthorn
http://hawthornlandings.org
http://identi.ca/lh
http://twitter.com/lhawthorn

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PyCon Education Summit" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pycon-education-summit+unsub...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.