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Questions for parents 2022-05-28

Welcome

Richel always tries to have a short (?) talk with parents at the start and end of the course. At the start of the course, there is little time. Also, parents should be able to leave if they need to leave quickly.

  • Do parents feel free to avoid having to talk with Richel?
  • Do parents talked to by Richel enough?

Discuss about kids

When possible, Richel shares how kids did during lessons, shares his observations and asks questions. Richel tries to be short and to the point, at the risk of being blunt. The goal is to make the kid improve as a learner, not to bully the kids nor parent.

  • Does Richel do this in a good/respectful way?

Parents are encouraged to leave

Richel actively encourages parents to be absent during the lessons. This is to allow the kids to build up their own world, with ther own new friend and to prevent helicopter parenting. Richel does always offer to option to stay if needed, as long as the parent does not interfere too much.

  • Do parents understand/agree this encouragement?
  • Do parents indeed feel encouraged (i.e. not bullied) to leave?
  • Do parents that stay feel welcome?

Teaching philosophy

The philosophy in the course is to teach kids how to become independent learners (note: not 'programmers'). There have been no (5 minute max!) lectures for months. Kids teach one another, although they are no teachers themselves. Adults coach instead of answering questions directly.

  • How do the kids respond to this philosophy?
  • What do parents think about this philosophy?

Team

The team consists our of Christoffer, Claudio, Janne and Richel.

  • What kind of compliments and criticism do the team members get at home?

Note: Richel is always looking for non-parent volunteers. Wanting to coach kids is far more important than being able to program well!

  • Is the non-parent policy a good idea, or should Richel ease up on that?

Team: Richel

Richel coordinates the course, is end-responsible and is always there. Would only one team member improve, it should be him.

  • Is Richel strict enough, too strict or too mild?
  • Is Richel's Swedish good enough, is it a source of jokes and/or is it felt as annoying?
  • Are there other things he could improve upon?

Email policy

Richel creates temporary emails to use Codeberg, a programming website.

  • Is this a fine workaround that properly respects parents' choise to not let their kids use email?

Use of Discord

Most kids use Discord, a chat program similar to Slack, Trello, Matrix, and Microsoft Teams. For Discord one needs to be 13 years old. Kids have to lie about their age and Richel is clear that they indeed need to lie and that he thinks that is terrible as well. However, Discord is useful for team work and without Discord, kids will feel missing out.

For Discord, kids need an email address and Richel sometimes create temporary ones.

  • Is this policy good enough?

Communication

At the course, the kids get handed out flyers, as well as the website is updated frequently, to remove the need for emails. Richel does send out reminders per email, to parents he has the email address of.

  • Is the information good enough?
  • Should email reminders be sent at all?
  • Should there be an email list?

Amount of activities

Is the amount of activities right? Is it too much, fine, or would more be welcome as well?

This season/term/half-year, there are these activities (we'll go through these later):

  • Pi Day
  • Programmeringsdag
  • Hackathon
  • Slutpresentation
  • Eftermorsdag

In the Summer holiday, there will be:

  • Minecraft Quest
  • Arduino course
  • Pi Approximation Day

Next season/term/half-year, there will be:

  • Kulturnatten
  • Slutpresentation
  • Efterfarsdag
  • ?Tomtendag

How was Pi Day?

Pi Day is quite a weird activity. Richel did not press the kids to join.

  • For those that were present, was it worth it, both for kid and parent?
  • For those that were absent, was it felt it to be OK to be absent?

How was Programmeringsdag?

Programmeringsdag was an activity at Uppsala Stadsbiblioteket. It was about programming and pizza. It was, however, at the same time as the course.

  • What were the responses from the kids?
  • For those that were absent, how inconvenient was it?

How was Hackathon?

'Hackathon' is just a cooler word for 'working day' and was used to prepare for the final presentation. It was about programming and pizza. It was, however, on a Sunday.

  • What were the responses from the kids?
  • Was it worth the Sunday?

How was Slutpresentation?

  • Feeling welcome when entering?
  • Kids taking care of guests?
  • Adults giving guided tours through the Makerspace?
  • Or: is it felt compensated for that parents need to wait until all kids are ready to present?
  • Presentations: good length or too long or too short?

How will Eftermorsdag be?

Eftermorsdag is an experiment in which the kids teach their mom/aunt/grandmom/greatgrandmom. It is unknown how this will work out!

  • How many moms are expected to show up?
  • Idea is to learn how to program 45 mins, then 15 mins break, then work together on a presentation, and present at 11:30. Best mom wins a box of chocolate cookies :-) . Great idea?

Costs

The course costs 400 kr (members) or 600 kr (non-members) per half year, that is, before and after the summer holiday. There is an imbalance here: before the summer holiday there are 19 lessons, after the summer holiday only 13. The reason for keeping this, is pure practicality.

  • Is it OK to keep it like this?

Is Richel too strict? How is Christoffer? What could Christoffer do better? How is Claudio? (only for Team UFO) What could Claudio do better? (only for Team UFO) How is Janne? What could Janne do better?

Announcements Summer holiday

In the Summer holiday, there will be:

  • Saturdays 11:00-12:00: Minecraft Quest, 8-18 @ online or UMS
  • Saturdays 12:30-13:30: Arduino course, 8+
  • 2022-07-22 at 7:22: Pi Approximation Day, 6+ @ Uppsala Slott

Announcements after the Summer holiday

After the Summer holiday, there will be:

  • Saturdays 10:00-12:00: Programming course, 8+
  • Saturdays 10:00-12:00: Arduino course, 8+
  • ?First Saturday of the month 10:00-12:00: Space Cola Bike Club

Kids and adults can pick their course at the start of the day.