sign up - next steps

[coderdojo castleknock]

We will start the term proper on the 1st October. We will issuing tickets publicly via eventbrite ( example from last year click  here ) approximately a week after the planning meeting.

We run on Monday Evenings from 7:30 - 9:00. The reason for this is  our colleagues in CoderDojo D15 ( https://www.facebook.com/coderdojod15/ ) operate out of Institute of Technology Blanchardstown ( ITB ) on Saturday mornings. As this clashed with matches,training,dancing and other activities, we were asked to have an alternative time slot to provide options.

We have a welcome message on our email distribution list. This can be signed up to at;

http://www.coderdojocastleknock.com/contact/join-our-email-distributon-list

This distribution list is to provide information re CoderDojo Castleknock and is the central contact point.  Also please follow us on facebook and twitter as we update our website, twitter feed and facebook page on activity. 

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/coderdojocastle 
  
• Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/coderdojocastleknock/ 

Details of different ways  to contact us are here.

We generally run 2 terms. One in Autumn and one after Christmas. We run classes from 7:30 - 9:00 at Castleknock Community College.We do not run a summer term for a number of reasons;

1. No access to school ( we want to acknowledge their help ).

2. Weather is hopefully better ( Don't look out a window ! ), so the feeling is, its nice outside - be outside.

3. With holidays for mentors and ninjas (children), its very hard to arrange a set of dates that suits all.

CoderDojo Castleknock approach is to provide tickets for a block of classes - a term. The idea is two-fold;

- classes build on each other, i.e concepts covered earlier in the term are built on;

- We have finite resources re room space and for certain courses which depend on hardware, we have a limited number of kits which translate into tickets.

We make tickets available at the start of each term and then close tickets until the next term

We will provide updates to link to book free tickets when they are available at either

• mid/late September - for Autumn term
  
• January - for post Christmas term
  

in the following locations;

• Google groups - here
• Twitter 
  
• Facebook 
• www.coderdojocastleknock.com

Re used to get started. Typically, the starting areas are

• Scratch ( see https://scratch.mit.edu/ )
  
• HTML ( see https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming/html-css/intro-to-html/v/making-webpages-intro )
  
• Electronics Arduino ( see https://www.arduino.cc/ )
  
• App Inventor (Android) see ( http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/ )
  
• Python ( https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-python )
  
• Unity 3D ( https://unity3d.com/unity ) Just a quick comment here, a modern laptop is needed as otherwise its very frustrating as everything is slow
  
• Minecraft ( https://minecraft.net/en-us/ more of interest is writing 'mods', -  tools and modifications that extend or modify the original Minecraft game)
  
• Electronics Microbit ( see http://microbit.org/ )

Depending on the planning meeting, we will focus on up to 3 of the above

Of these I would divide into beginner/intermediate/advanced as

• Scratch beginner/intermediate
  
• HTML beginner/intermediate/advanced 
  
• Electronics Arduino intermediate/advanced 
  
• App Inventor (Android) beginner/intermediate/advanced 
  
• Python intermediate/advanced 
  
• Unity 3D intermediate/advanced 
  
• Minecraft beginner/intermediate/advanced 
  
• Electronics Microbit beginner/intermediate

Next steps.

• Sign  up to http://www.coderdojocastleknock.com/contact/join-our-email-distributon-list  if not done so alreay, so you get updates once we have had planning meeting on the 17th and created tickets to be got.
  
• Get tickets ( see above ) when they are released. They will be released publicly roughly a week before the new term starts. As they say in the ad's, "when they are gone, they are gone". Also please note, tickets cannot be reserved.
  
• Term proper will start on the  Monday 1st October 2018 and tickets will be released approx. a week earlier.

If I have not answered your questions, quiz me !

-Bob on behalf of Coder Dojo Castleknock Team