Tag Archives: P2PU

Help Mozilla craft their new learning challenges

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Mozilla is creating learning challenges that teach the basics of running webmaking events — and we need your help to make sure we’re getting it right.

We believe that the best way to learn is by making in collaboration with others – and these events are the perfect way to bring people together and help them do that.

Think of the challenges as fun mini missions, where you can dive into a specific  task, problem or design challenge to test skills and learn in a way that’s fun, project-based, and focused on getting your hands dirty quickly — instead of a dull, traditional curriculum.

Peer to Peer University (P2PU) — a free, online learning network powered by mentors and peers around the world — is piloting the Challenge framework. In parallel, Youpd.org, an educator, peer-led professional development community where teachers share, learn, and quest together for what works, has created a framework specifically for teachers.

As we soft launch the first phase of the project on February 27th, we’d like to ask for your help, by testing out the challenges we’ve created for running a Hackasaurus Hackjam and giving us some feedback and ideas on how we can make them better.

The challenges will make it easy for learners to understand the engagement and planning that goes in to running an event — and our goal is for them to lead to more webmaking events around the world.

Get started here: http://p2pu.org/en/groups/organize-a-hackasaurus-jam

For teachers: this version might be more tailored to you:  http://www.youpd.org/hackasaurus

Just create an account if you don’t already have one, and you’re off!

And once you’re done, please offer us your feedback through this simple form:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QSRDD6S

Mozilla is committed to creating a generation of webmakers, and getting this right is a big piece of that. Thanks for your help!

My experience at the Hive London Pop-Up

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My name is Helen and I am a graduate student at Teachers College Columbia University studying Instructional Technology & Media.  I have been interning with Hive NYC since September helping out Chris and Lainie with the Hive operations as well as contributing to the Hackasaurus project with Jess.

When I first joined the Hive, I had already heard a lot of good things about the Mozilla Festival, such as the birth of Hackasaurus last year in Barcelona.  Therefore, when Chris invited me to tag along with them to attend this year’s Mozilla Festival in London, I was ecstatic!

It was a great opportunity for me to meet more like-minded people who are also interested in educational technology.  I was especially happy that I had the chance to work closer with Hive NYC members including the Institute of Play, Radio Rookies and DreamYard, as well as Hive Chicago.  I was extremely impressed by the members’ energy as I saw them in action.  My previous encounters with the members have always been in a formal setting so it was not until this trip that I got to see the members work with kids directly.  Their positive energy quickly melted away the initial awkwardness of the first group of teenage boys as they hesitantly approached each table.

Cydney from DreamYard helps youth design their own digital hang-out space

Sanda from WNYC Radio Rookies showing youth how to create radio podcasts.

More photos from London!

Within minutes the students were roaming around collecting interviews for Radio Rookies, molding furniture in their creative space with DreamYard, redesigning board games with Institute of Play and hacking away using Hackasaurus X-ray Goggles.

This was also my first time facilitating Hackasaurus workshops with youth.  I was really impressed by how fast kids picked up hacking strategies.  Once they learned the power of hacking, their imagination had no limits!  Here are just a few sample Hacks that the kids have done to the Google Search bar.  Impressive, eh? (p.s. I am also Canadian)

Besides helping Chris and Lainie with holding down the fort at the Hive London Pop-Up, I still got to participate in a couple of learning sessions as a festival participant.  I learned how to “Hack the DJ” with awesome DJ/musician Ian Forrester @cubicgarden, brainstormed some wacky P2PU design challenges, and co-created a Storify page with Sanda from Radio Rookies when we attended the Storify Learning Lab together.

This Storify page pretty much sums up my experience at Mozilla Festival.  I am sad this year’s festival has come to an end but I know this is just the beginning of more wonderful collaborations to come.

That's me and the Mozilla Firefox!

–Helen Lee @heli_tomato