What to Expect at CoderDojoDSM

STEP 1: Register

View the list of upcoming Dojos and decide which meetup you’d like to attend. Parents must register each student to attend each Dojo. You’ll be asked some basic information about who is registering, who will be attending, who to contact in case of emergency, if you will be brining or need to borrow a computer (limited supply available) and then consent to our program policies. All registrations are managed through Eventbrite which has really cool integration with some popular calendaring and social media apps.

STEP 2: Show up

When you arrive at the Dojo, you will be greeted by our registration team and provided a computer if you registered with the option to borrow one of ours. Then you’ll find a seat, start your computer and connect to Wi-Fi. If you have a project you are working on, then great, get started! But if you’d like some ideas on where to start, you will visit our Student Launch Page and look for the Sushi Cards. Somebody will probably stand at the front of the room and say a few words and get you started.

If you are age 13 or under, a parent or guardian will stay with you at the Dojo. Should you need to create an account for using Scratch, Trinket, Codecademy or any other online site, a parent or guardian’s consent is necessary for compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA).

STEP 3: Have fun and learn

CoderDojoDSM is more of a club than a class. You don’t have to listen to someone up front telling you what, why and where to type. You take ownership of what you want to work on and mentors will be roaming around the room with a willingness to offer help. We’ve had students work on projects in Scratch, Blockly, HTML/CSS, JavaScript, Python, Arduino and C++.

You will have about 90 minutes to work. Again, visit our Student Launch Page and look for the Sushi Cards if you want some ideas or a project to work on. You can also chose to work through an online instructional course with Codecademy or find a game that helps you learn to code.

STEP 4: Show off

Did you create something awesome and want to share it with others? If so, you will have the opportunity to share your work at the Student Showcase which will take place during the last 20-30 minutes of the Dojo. Students will close their computers, grab a snack and drink and watch the awesome presentations by their fellow students.