User:Prawsthorne/Scaffolding
Event Scaffolding
For success many of the WebMaker learning events will require scaffolding. The idea being that scripts, guidelines, etc. are provided to the participants beforehand so they can be better prepared. Much of the background of educational scaffolding recognized the importance of preparation for the participants. And the preparation greatly assisted the over all learning. Searches on Vygotsky and "scaffolding" will provide much background on this subject.
kitchen tables
Through the summer of 2012 Mozilla is promoting kitchen table events. These are an outstanding way of getting people together and learning the craft of webmaking. I particularly like this approach for it is a non-technical solution to learning. It builds on the community of learners idea, and puts friends and family in a safe social space to learn something technical (which sometimes comes with frustration and fear). I will be working with my kids (and others who want to join us) to participate in these kitchen table events. I am doing this for the following reasons;
- I really want to encourage Mozilla with this approach (Among other things, I have been teaching tech skills to kids and adults for over 15 years, and the safe social space approach is the way to go!)
- I've got three kids (5, 6 and 16) who I want to have 21st century literacy. So these kitchen tables will add to my toolkit.
- There beta testing of kitchen tables approach is a good idea, though I believe it needs more scaffolding.
- I want to learn as much as I can about Mozilla's work in learning webmaking and with their open badges initiative, because I want to work with their learning group.
hackasaurus
The first event in this theme is the hackasaurus kitchen table event scheduled for the summer 2012. Over the next month they are running a beta of this event and have made a call out for testers. I have volunteered. My plan is to work with my two sons (Lucas and Kai) for half a day or more hacking the web... One thing I have learned in teaching kids and parents technology and hacking is you can't prepare enough. Parents often have fear and lack confidence in their tech skills and the kids just want to run free and build, build, build... managing this takes solid scaffolding.
popcorn
This next event is similar to the hackasaurus event only using popcorn maker. Popcorn maker is an online video / film making "studio". The popcorn maker kitchen table has more technical complexity than the hackasaurus event, but I feel would fit very well for my daughter Ana Rose (16 years old). Ana Rose is an outstanding musician and composer for her age and she has been kicking around the idea of making a music video for a while... I figure this is an excellent way to help out.