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Selena Deckelmann
February 10, 2015
Technology
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code4lib - What beginners teach us
Keynote given on 2/10/2015 at the code4lib conference
Selena Deckelmann
February 10, 2015
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Transcript
What beginners teach us Selena Deckelmann @selenamarie Staff Data Architect,
Mozilla
photo by courthouselover
The adult section
None
I could go there.
Discovering what’s possible
None
http://bit.ly/1fQEXeF
http://github.com/mozilla/socorro
None
None
None
None
None
http://bit.ly/1fOgBSB
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the
expert’s mind, there are few.” -Shunryu Suzuki
I am a beginner teacher
full of possibility
the one thing... Next time you answer a beginner’s question
take a moment and consider... How will the beginner feel
when they hear your answer?
I’ve been involved in FOSS Since 1995
PyLadies Get women who code together In September 2012, I
joined...
our first project... A Coursera Class
Walk away or Figure out how to teach?
beginners: Open to possibility and overwhelmed by choice
TMTOWTDI the best part of beginners mind adventure, possibility, inclusive
but...
None
None
our job as teacher is to answer... “What do I
do next?”
And to consider: How do people feel while they’re taking
the next step?
What does learning how to program feel like?
None
When experience is a dead end
None
None
None
When PyLadies succeeds
None
None
None
Engineering experiences
“The unwritten first chapter” Big goals Early wins In-person connections
Cultivate a learning environment
Tools for engineering great beginner experiences
From Hacker School: No “Well, Actually...” No Feigning Surprise
pairing best instructors are those that just learned
1:3 ratio instruction to doing
listen carefully learn from how students rephrase and ask questions
PyLadiesPDX 412 women 1-2 meetings per week
• New skills • Peer support • Structure and routine
• Confidence What PyLadies say they get:
How have I benefited and what have I learned from
teaching?
write better code write better docs gain perspective
recruit diverse members to your communities
adainitiative.org openhatch.org pyladies.org
and...
an informed public
Julie Horvath’s blog post http://julieannhorvath.com/2013/07/09/a-different-perspective.html
“I didn’t grow up thinking I could do anything I
wanted to.”
I see this every day teaching adults.
People don’t know what’s possible.
Where I belong, where I can go
make a better world!
teach! <3
What beginners teach us Selena Deckelmann @selenamarie Staff Data Architect,
Mozilla
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike
3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA. All photos are © by owners. PyLadies photos shared with permission. Kalispell public library photo shared with permission, not for commercial reuse.