Organize a Hackasaurus Jam

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Choose your key theme and set learning objectives

  1. Choose your key theme. Finding a theme will help you design a compelling event. What are you passionate about? What will your participants enjoy?

    Here are some examples:

    • The Environment: At one jam, Hacking Citizen Science on Earth Day, participants collected data about their carbon footprint, compiled that info into webpages, and linked to them from an interactive game hosted by the New York Hall of Science.
    • Entrepreneurship: At an Entrepreneurship 101 jam, teen designers used the Hackasaurus tools to set up websites for their budding inventions and businesses.
       
  2. Set your learning objectives. Determine what you want participants to learn and/or make at your event. Setting goals helps participants and organizers alike prepare for the event. Here are some sample learning objectives from a Hackasaurus event that you can build on.
     

  3. Write or record a description. Take a first stab at a title and short description of your event. The description will change as you solidify your agenda, but having a first draft will help you define your strategy.

    Here are some examples:


Post your event title, description and a list of learning objectives in the Task Discussion. Give two of your peers feedback on their ideas and descriptions.

Alternatively, you can post your work for this challenge on your blog and link to it in the Task Discussion.

 

Task Discussion


  • JeanAustinR said:

    Summer Code Party 1 2 and 3 - Philippines

    Our goal is to teach people how to make the web using the tools Mozilla created. With the help of professional web developers, educators and IT practitioners, who are part of the Mozilla Philippines team, we held three Webmaker events beginning with the kick-off date last June 23 until the last week of September.

    Part of these parties are workshops were attendees get to make their own pages using Thimble, hack websites through Hackasaurus and learn how to create videos via Popcorn.

    Our Mozilla Philippines development team also shared about the basics of HTML5, CSS and jQuery and blogging techniques.

    The event is open for everyone. Our audiences were mostly students from universities in the province -- during the first meeting, there were about 10, then 20 in the second and a hundred plus on the last Summer Code Party. And every event we have different sets of students participating.

    These events were featured in articles in Yahoo! News Asia [1] , Tech In Asia [2] and Marketing Magazine Philippines [3].

    If you would like to learn more details and see the photos, visit my blog reports on my website at http://www.jeanaustinr.com/blog//?s=Summer+Code+Party

     

    Links

    [1] Mozilla Philippines Summer Code Party Take Two http://my.news.yahoo.com/mozilla-philippines-summer-code-party-121038419.html

    [2] Mozilla Philippines Summer Code Party Take Two http://www.techinasia.com/mozilla-philippines-summer-code-party-take-two/

    [3] Mozilla Spins a Bigger Web with Events
    http://marketing-interactive.com/news/34832

    on Oct. 31, 2012, 9:39 p.m.

  • rcitow said:

     

    2012 Summer Hackjam!  Learn to (legally) “hack” the Herald-Times or any other online newspaper or webpage. Create and publish news or stories about you and your friends, family, team, pets, superheroes—whatever youcare about.  Expert web designers, writers, and journalists will first help you create, write, edit, and design for the Internet.  Working individually or collaboratively, you will then find a newspaper or website to remix at Mozilla’sHackasaurus site after activating their X-Ray Goggles in any web browser.

    In this hackjam, you will learn to:

    • Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences. (Common Core State Standard 3)

    • Remix and create elements, which are the blocks of code that make up webpages

    • Impact the design of a webpage by changing compositional elements (i.e: header, footer, background, navigation)

     

    Details:  Open to all youth ages 12-20.  June 7, 2012 at the Monroe County Public Library, 11:00-5:00.  Complementary pizza lunch and snacks will be provided, along with all of the materials.  Sponsored by the Indiana University Center for Research on Learning and Technology and the Monroe County Public Library.  Please resister by June 6 at ____.  Space is limited; drop-ins welcome as space allows.  For information about this event, contact Christopher Hosler at ____  Visit www.hackasaurus.org to find more information and other hackjams, or to learn about hosting your own. 


    on May 14, 2012, 12:10 p.m.

  • Mark Surman said:

    Hive Toronto Youth Hack Jam: Changing the World through Technology

     

    Come help us run our first Mozilla Hive Hackjam in Toronto! This is what we mean by a Hack Jam!

    • Local events or “hack jams” make webmaking and digital literacy easy, social and fun
    • Hack jams are based on the premise that the web is a collaborative, open, co-building environment
    • We’ll be using tools that help make it easy for youth to explore, remix and redesign the web
    • Understanding how to tinker with code is a skill that’s in demand and makes youth more employable
    • Taking part in a hack jam helps teens to develop learning competencies, including critical thinking and interpersonal skills
    • Working as part of a group or managing a project are important soft skills that employers look for
    • All of the tools and curricular content are designed to be peer learning experiences that are constructed and evolved by community input and contribution
    • Youth will usually leave a hack jam event having made something - and this event will be no different!

    Learning goals for HackJam:

    • Show that technology is fun and hackable.
    • Get below the surface: teach basic skills beyond YouTube and Facebook, show that you can actually manipulate the technology.

    Learning goals for Hackasaurus section:

    • Basic: show that the web is changable using the Goggles exercises.
    • Advanced: if we get more advanced students, have the LoveBomb handy so they can learn a bit about styling and CSS.
    on Feb. 17, 2012, 10:55 a.m.

    rcitow said:

    This looks like a great event to introduce webmaking. Is this for teachers? Who is your target audience?

    on May 14, 2012, 12:13 p.m. in reply to Mark Surman

  • Jess Klein said:

    Title: Hacking the Holidays

    Description: Are you excited about the upcoming holidays, but haven't sent out your seasons greetings? Well, you're in luck! In this hack jam, we will work together using tools like Aviary and the Hackasaurus X-Ray Goggles to remix existing webpages and create one of a kind holiday themed webpages to share with friends and family.

    Learning Objectives:

    • Remixing and creating elements, which are blocks of code that make up webpages
    • Identifying and altering element tags, which surround content and apply meaning to it
    • Demonstrating the ability to write a paragraph using HTML and the <p> </p> tags
    • Identifying that writing for the web has unique qualities and potential (for ex. should be short, can take advantage of linking etc)
    on Feb. 16, 2012, 2:55 p.m.

    rcitow said:

    This looks like a really fuin event. Where will this take place, and what types of resources will you have?

    on May 14, 2012, 12:12 p.m. in reply to Jess Klein