Okay, I don't think I have ever masked how much I really appreciate the CodeJoy team and the world of creative robotics that they have opened up for me. Yeah, I would say any time that I can hang with them, I am there. I am always learning something new. Kelsey makes me laugh with her humor and dynamic approach to teaching. Matt's seamless integration of the behind the scenes as well as tips and tricks always help me to push myself as a designer and a learner. | |
So this summer the team, which has now grown to 5 amazing individuals, is offering 3 free all day virtual making and learning opportunities called Make A Thons. I was fortunate enough to participate in most of the first Make A Thon and am looking forward to this Friday.
Morning Session
So the morning session was super cool because we got to meet the other members behind the scenes and learn about each of them. Of course, I was hoping to learn more about Kelsey and Matt too. Mike gave us a tour of the new location that is an old school house. It was super cool to learn more about how CodeJoy started and continues to grow in so many different ways. |
Evening Session
What I most appreciate about the Make A Thon is the flexible schedule and breakout rooms. I jumped into some of the other sessions but wasn't able to stay. Knowing the schedule, I could decide what was my best fit during the 12 hours. I knew that I wanted to learn more with Rudy Escobar so I set a reminder on my phone. Rudy is an amazing educator in the field of STEM and Computer Science and following him on twitter, I wanted the opportunity to learn more. |
| In the interview, he shared his journey to what is currently doing and some of the projects he is working on. His focus on leveraging the Micro:Bit as an equitable and accessible tool really resonated with me. He gave fantastic examples of different projects that he has done with teachers and designers. I loved his candor and honesty that even he gets nervous when presenting. I couldn't wait for the breakout room where I could learn even more in a smaller group with Rudy. |
Breakout Group
The breakout room was magical because for me it gave me a chance to ask questions and not feel like I was disrupting a presentation. Rudy had shared about different data logging projects as well as a data graphing resource that he uses called Codap. I really wanted to learn how to start to use our Micro:Bits even more with data logging projects. In 15 minutes, he shared step by step how to create the code in MakeCode (modeling it) as well as how to upload the data and manipulate it in Codap. | |