What I’ve learned (so far) from launching the Learn Code for Journalism project
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When I came up with this idea, I was hoping to get nine people to join me in a Google+ hangout, together awkwardly hacking away at Code Year lessons. Well, there were considerably more people interested.
When the dust finally settled, 100 people signed up for this project… apparently there is strong interest among journalists to learn programming together using these two platforms.
So, it’s been a couple of months since this project launched. Here are some highlights:
- A total of 100 people signed up for this project through the application form. Not only from across the country, but also around the globe… including Korea and Sweden.
- The tech skill level was across the board, but more at the basic HTML level.
- Many participants had tried the Code Year lesson plan, but, like other New Year’s resolutions, gave up on it.
- Of those that signed up, about a quarter dropped out almost immediately. Why did they drop out? Well based on the responses, a few people signed up out of curiosity about the project… and really didn’t want to commit.
- After coordinating schedules with the remaining participants, we ended up with twelve timeslots, or cohorts, meeting throughout the week. The “class” sizes ranged from three to a maximum of nine.
- There were some tech glitches the first week, as people started to use Google+ and Hangouts for the first time. Some never got their camera to work, but were still able to participant. One person had to use their phone to participate in the Hangout.
- At this stage, a few wanted to change timeslots and yet others dropped out not being able to sustain the weekly commitment. But the majority stayed on.
- In the first week I asked people to share their experiences… did this meet their expectations? Where they still into the project? The responses were exactly what I’d hope: People enjoyed the concept.
- In terms of feedback, one participant wished there was a live coder/expert participating to help the cohort along. (One timeslot actually has this.) Also, while Code Year is a powerful platform, some of the lessons are a little clunky. They would benefit from an editor to make sure the wording flows and makes sense to a n00b.
Since the initial email, I have been too busy to check in. That said, my cohort, which meets Mondays at 3PM PT, has been meeting every week and has made progress. (We even met during a holiday week.)
In other words, it worked!
I’m committed to learn these lessons with a group of strangers that want to learn. While we have never met before this project, my cohort shows a sense of camaraderie as we stumble through but successfully figure out these lessons.
We help each other out. We feel safe enough to ask “stupid questions” (and believe me I’ve asked some). We dissect the lessons to help figure out what the heck it is asking. We review each other’s code to see what we’re missing.
In short, we’re learning together!
While I’m still collecting data – I plan to send out a survey soon – I have gained a lot of insight and learned some lessons on how to organize something like this.
And one thing is clear… there needs to be a second wave!
Stay tuned for details.
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