Info on Remote Mentoring at CoderDojo for IBMers

WHYs and HOWs of Remote Mentoring for CoderDojo
Free IT education should be available to every child who wants to learn.

Running on the principle of encouraging communities to empower themselves, CoderDojo has proved to be perfect model, enabling access to free IT education. Dojos are run by agents of change, these individuals realise that the route to a sustainable and prosperous community lies in educating its youth. These people are called CoderDojo Champions, they start a Dojo and reach out to their local community and inviting young people to learn about and explore technology at Coderdojo. Countries that are in development and where poverty and other global issues are often the most prominent, is where children need access to free IT education the most. In these regions, new potential CoderDojo Champions are finding it challenging to start a Dojo, mainly due due to the lack of local Mentors.

This is where remote Mentoring comes in!

To enable social equality world-wide CoderDojo and IBMers (people who work at IBM) are addressing this devastating gap in IT education access availability. In Summer 2014, IBMers from all over the world have connected with number of Dojos world-wide by piloting remote Mentoring sessions using IBM SmartCloud SameTime Meetings. From this pilot IBMers have developed simple instructions for everyone involved in the remote Mentoring model by defining a process to connect remote Mentors with CoderDojo Champions across the world - This is detailed in the sections below.

In October 2014 we have secured IBM funding for number of licenses that will enable us to provide IT education to the 50 locations where otherwise it wouldn't be possible, we had presented Remote Mentoring to wide Coderdojo community on DojoCon 2014. Now we need your help mentoring remotely at these 50 locations.

Currently only IBMers can sign up as remote mentors.

About Remote Mentoring with CoderDojo

 * Flexibility
 * You can contribute / Mentor whenever you have time, with whatever skills and knowledge you have.


 * It's Easy
 * You do not need to be 'super-knowledgable' in a specific technology to remote Mentor. Most of the time you will be instructing young people in the first steps / lines of code in a language or technology of your choice, you do not need to be a guru to make this happen!Once you share your knowledge on how to take this first step, you will be empowering them with the skills to create cool projects all by themselves.


 * Translation
 * As Remote Mentoring aims to reach out to every corner of the globe, we are looking for help in translating CoderDojo related learning materials! You can help if you know English and one other language.


 * Share your Knowledge
 * Whatever your skill set is, whatever your experience is - if you are interested in enabling free IT education for young people world-wide as a remote mentor for CoderDojo -

Becoming a Remote Mentor at CoderDojo
This section will tell you more about how you can play your part in enabling free IT education for young people world-wide, as a remote mentor.

Mentoring Tips - Remotely or Locally


 * CoderDojo focuses on peer-to-peer and self lead learning and in an informal and social education environment. It is very different from formal education structures, there is no curriculum, no expectations and no grades. Mentors are there to inspire and empower young people to develop their problem solving skills and learn to find answers for themselves.


 * A Mentor is not expected to have all the answers and in some cases Mentors end up mentoring young people in technologies that are just as new to them as they are to the pupil. At a Dojo a Mentor is there to help CoderDojo youth to build their problem solving skills and to show appreciation of the young persons progress empowering them with the drive to learn. This kind of environment encourages young peoples curiosity and creativity with technology at their Dojo.


 * If you are worried that your technical skills are not enough to Mentor a young person - don't. Sometimes it is even better not to have all the answers, in this case you can help young people to find these answers on their own. This can be more beneficial for young people learning, than giving them the answer removing the process of questioning, searching and evaluating new information.
 * When asked a question you do not know answer for - admit it, and suggest to find answer together. Then Mentor them via the process of finding the answer online for themselves.


 * You can explain that there is not much point to learning all language syntaxes by heart - they are always available online, besides, all IT knowledge is evolving all the time, and today popular technologies are quickly replaced by others. Hence, once you practice enough how to problem solve, and once you gain confidence in taking on board new, unfamiliar to you technology - you will be capable to program anything, using any language.

Problem Solving


 * Problem solving is the truly valuable skill, you can mention this to young people every time you are unable to answer their question. When you know the answer to the question - do not give it away, instead try to help them find it by themselves. Explaining the importance of problem solving as a skill. If they spent a good amount of time searching and did not find it - at least they practised a problem solving exercise! In this case then give them an answer rewarding their hard work and patience.

Role Models


 * Young people are great at figuring out problems for themselves and if your Dojo has Mentors that are regarded as role models, Mentors who spend time to time asking youth attendees what they're up to and who positively reinforce their efforts – you will see amazing creativity and progress in the knowledge and skill of the young people attending your Dojo! This is displayed annually at the Coolest Projects Event.


 * As for questions from kids - many times they will be repetitive, and you need to remember that CoderDojo heavily encourages peer learning, hence once you explain one child how to do something, you should forward all other kids with the same question to this child. It will generate a lot of positive collaboration among the kids locally and help them make friends, build their social and team-collaboration skills.

Sugata Mitra on Remote Mentoring


 * Sugata Mitra had tested this technique within child-driven learning environment in India - by mounting a PC into the wall (literally) and allowing young people using it freely, while Remote Mentors were interacting with young people to help them out on their learning journey. This is a 'how to' and 'why to' intro for every person who wants to be successful Remote Mentor, it is also an awesome talk, so check it out below:


 * Watch Sugata Mitra TED talk about Remote Mentoring.

When using Green House

 * Some Tips for IBMer Remote Mentors:
 * CoderDojo heavily encourages peer learning, hence once you explain to one young person how to do something, you should encourage the others to ask them how they figured it out - this will generate a lot of positive collaboration in the group locally.
 * Try to sign up for the Dojo events where there are no mentors currently signed up - these Dojos most likely won't be able to run a session if there will be NO remote mentors on the day, your participation is crucial.


 * Some Dojos will have information that they would like to share with Remote Mentors, so browse the activity dedicated to the Dojo that you plan to attend, prior to signing up for their events. Pay attention to time zone and native language used at that Dojo.