CoderDojo belts - progression and criteria?

[Madden, Michael]

Hi all;

 

In CoderDojo Athenry, we are working towards our annual award of belts. We have young people who will be receiving their 4^th belt and have made progress every year.

 

There some information on kata but really only for early stages: http://kata.coderdojo.com/wiki/Belts

 

We have some information on our website about what we have done: https://cdathenry.wordpress.com/?s=belts

 

We would like our colour progressions and criteria to be in alignment with those of other dojos. Do any of you have links to sources of information on what you are doing?

 

Thanks,

Michael.

 

[Barry Kennedy]

Hi Michael,

Over at CoderDojo Limerick this year, we introduced the belt system and while its still a work in progress, its working well so far. We're constantly reviewing it at each iteratiton. I put together an over template for 4 stages (yellow, blue, green and orange). Each stage is progressive and the ninjas need to up their game each time. 

Using the template, the mentors in each of our groups put together track specific criteria for each level. We currently have criteria for Scratch (Yellow and Blue), Web Development (Yellow and Blue) and Java (Yellow). If a ninja is working on a project outside these tracks or their project doesn't quiet fit the requirements, he/she can agree a specific challenge with the mentor as per the standard template. The key concept is that is a personal challenge for the ninja so I've tried to make it as broad as possible. 

http://www.coderdojomidwest.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Belt-Criteria-document.pdf 

http://www.coderdojomidwest.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/belt-challenges-2014-2015.pdf

I've tried to avoid specific targets (eg attend 20 sessions, a thousand downloads) and focus on the learning and soft skills (presentation skills, mentoring, planning). We have two periods - one before christmas and then april/may (we held one today and have another on the 9th May to accomodate the number of projects) which leads up to the Coolest Projects. By the end of the term we should have presented 72 yellow belts and 20 Blue Belts. 

Again its not perfect and we have a lot to do. After we finish up this term, I'm hoping to get the mentors to come together to review the existing criteria, devise challenges for green/orange. I want to sort out a suitable white belt challenge (foundation level) and see how we can link up with Open Badges. I'll share the updated documents when we're done. If anyone has some suggestions

Regards

Baz

Limerick Dojo

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[John R Harrington]

Barry that second one on defining belt challenges is particularly good.

 

 

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[Stacy Cunningham]

Just to throw a different perspective out there, I am interested in implementing one kind of belt at our dojo as opposed to multiple belts of different colors and for different things.

I prefer the ideas of ranking of my favorite ninja story to belts, which includes more than skill and power, but things like leadership. Their one "belt" is more of a symbol of belonging than skill, it bearing a marking of their home. I like that.

I also like the idea of only having white belts as a symbol that we are always beginners. :) Always learning, always something to learn. Allowing a pick of whatever color might be another way to go as well.

But whether to allow anyone to get one or for someone to pass a sort of test first, still figuring that part out. All the same, I think a one-belt-setup is the way we're going. I have other ideas for handling accomplishments and challenges, which seems like something that might tie in well with Open Badges.

To each their own, of course. I thought I might just throw out what we're going for. :) Maybe it might be helpful, maybe not. Maybe it's helpful for someone else.


Enjoy your weekend,
Stacy Cunningham

[Bill Liao - European Venture Partner]

We had the kids in our dojo create the criteria for our belts

One thing we are looking to do is create notches or some other mark on the belts to indicate different Dans or levels in the higher belt Colors for really advanced ninjas 

Black belt first dan to 9th dan for instance 

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[Madden, Michael]

Thanks for all that, Baz.

 

From reviewing your documents, it looks like there is a good degree of alignment in our approaches, which is great. Like Baz’s approach, we have broad criteria that are individualised for each topic stream.

 

To give people a clearer picture of our criteria, I attach:

·        My notes on our belts process – a cobbled-together 2 page doc that I mainly keep for my own information, so not well laid out

·        A presentation from an intro session in 2013/14 in which I summarised criteria for our white, yellow & blue belts (focused on Scratch)

·        A presentation from last year to prep our Minecraft Modders group to start working towards belts – this includes the criteria there.

 

Michael.

 

 

From: coderd...@googlegroups.com [mailto:coderd...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Barry Kennedy
Sent: 18 April 2015 16:57
To: coderd...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [CoderDojo-Org] CoderDojo belts - progression and criteria?

 

Hi Michael,

[Madden, Michael]

Thanks, Stacy and Bill.

 

Bill, good idea to have the kids create the criteria. Are the criteria that they came up with posted online?

 

All the best,

Michael.

 

From: coderd...@googlegroups.com [mailto:coderd...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Bill Liao - European Venture Partner
Sent: 19 April 2015 00:53
To: coderd...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [CoderDojo-Org] CoderDojo belts - progression and criteria?

 

We had the kids in our dojo create the criteria for our belts

[Laura Ivers]

Hi all, 

Michael, thanks for starting this discussion. 

We would love to curate this discussion with the aim of standardising belts and having the information available for global Dojos to use. Of course should a Dojo wish they could use their own system but it would be great to have a globally accepted standard to work from that is fair and attainable for all CoderDojo attendees.

We could devise a sample progression based on information we already have and put it up on the blog and do a brief consultation through comments on the blog and allow the community to suggest changes for a period of time before setting the standard. 

We are also working this year to create a CoderDojo series of standard digital badges, with similar achievement levels to belts. These will be dissemintated through the platform. Dojos will also have the option of creating specific badges for their Dojo if they're like to. 

Looking forward to hearing any thoughts on this. 

Warm regards, 

Laura

Laura Ivers

Community Associate

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[Madden, Michael]

Hi Laura;

 

Excellent idea - it would be great if you could curate this discussion and have standardised information available for dojos globally.

 

Thanks!

Michael.

 

 

Hello World Foundation operating as CoderDojo Foundation is a company limited by guarantee not having a share capital with charitable status, CHY 20812. Registered in Dublin, Ireland, No 524255. Registered Office: Dogpatch Labs, 35 Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland.

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[Barry Kennedy]

Hi Laura

It'd be great to have a standard across the movement. I'd be happy to contribute in any way I can.

Barry

[Pavlo Fesenko]

Hi all,

I'm trying to create an alternative wrist belt system (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UTYTdPyjAEbnL86aAe_6IcthDA-srI6ZvIG2-G-PAvE) that could be used instead of the official CoderDojo wrist belt system (http://kata.coderdojo.com/wiki/Belts). The official system has 8 expensive belts (minimum 6-7 euros for each USB wrist belt) and focuses mostly on coding skills. In the alternative system I propose 5 cheap belts (around 1-2 euros for each silicone wrist belt) that encourage kids to develop soft skills and community spirit. I will be happy to hear your comments/remarks. Also feel free to share your CoderDojo experience using the wrist belts.

Best regards,

Pavlo