This course will become read-only in the near future. Tell us at community.p2pu.org if that is a problem.
This professional development course pools resources on topics such as building your personal brand, running a team, and managing projects for mentors and teachers participating in Technovation Challenge.
Welcome to Technovation Challenge!
This course is a space for mentors and teachers everywhere to chat about their professional challenges, and to share experiences and best practices for working with your teams of Technovation girls. As part of the course, we included places where you can connect and post events and meetings ("meetups") in your area. You can also arrange virtual meetings ("hangouts") to connect with mentors and teachers from around the world.
We have included resources to help guide your personal development. These resources are optional and can be used to start conversations on P2PU, virtual hangouts, or meetups. They may also be helpful during your mentoring experience. Please share your own resources such as links to videos and articles. We will be adding a section for Technovation-specific tips and strategies.
Special thanks to the volunteer NYC-based professional women's group So What's On Your Plate for putting together the resources for this course.
“So What’s On Your Plate” (SWOYP) is a global community that focuses on bringing a diverse group of ambitious women together to foster friendships, build skills relevant to their lifestyles, and give them an avenue to make an impact in their local communities.
You can connect with SWOYP on Facebook and Twitter.
Introduce yourself to other mentors and teachers by adding a comment to this task.
Note: Please be sure to review and follow our P2PU posting guidelines.
Hello All,
My name is Elizabeth (Betty) James. I am a Program Assistant at Berkeley High School and I'll be coaching a team. I'm still looking for girls to recruit. I'm very exicted about the challenge and hope I get enough students interested. I look forward to learning all about tech.
Cheers!
Betty
Hi, my name is Theresa Russell - I am an ICT and Computing teacher in the UK. The is the first we have entered anything like this and we are very excited!
I have been teaching App Inventor to my year 10 GCSE Computing Group (2 of my girls are from this group)
Just need a mentor now - any help will be gratefully received!
Thanks
Theresa
Welcome, Theresa! It's great to hear that you have already been teaching App Inventor, it sounds like you'll be a wonderful coach.
Have you tried reaching out to any local technology companies or women in tech groups? On the resources page of our website, you can find email templates for reaching out to tech companies as well as a mentor flier you could circulate. Or perhaps you could post something to the App Inventor forum?
I know we have another school participating in Nottingham, is that anywhere near you?
AnnaLise
Thanks AnnaLise, I am going to investigate local companies and universties to see if we can find a mentor.
Unfortunately Nottingham is about 140 miles from our school - which is a shame.
I have managed to recruit a team of 5 girls and have just about get their forms in - will be emailing them early next week.
If I have any problems, I will let you know
Thanks again - Theresa
Hello Everyone!
My name is Jackie Blizzard, and I'll be teaching a group of 35 rockstar 6th and 7th grade girls in Denver for the Technovation Challenge. We will be using our afternoon enrichment engineering class to work on the project with extra days outside of school as needed. We should have 7 teams of 5, but may shrink it to 6 teams since a few girls aren't always in class. I'm in the process of setting up potential mentors, but if you are in the Denver area and want to get involved please don't hesitate to talk to me. I live in Boulder, CO but commute so students near CU Boulder could carpool with me!
I'm really excited for my students to have the opportunity to participate in this great challenge!
Thanks, and looking forward to getting started!
Welcome, Jackie! I'm thrilled to hear you recruited so many girls! Very impressive :) Good luck recruiting mentors!
Hi Annalise! So I was wondering if there are versions of the consent forms in Spanish? A lot of my students live in homes where English is not their first language and the parents would have difficulty reading the forms in English. Thanks so much!
Hello!
I am an Industrial Designer for Oblong Industries. I am based out of Los Angeles and am looking forward to collaborating on this venture with a team of girls in the area.
Best regards to all,
Barbara
Welcome, Barbara! Thanks for posting. I think Foshay Learning Academy would be a good fit for you. Marina is the teacher there, and you can connect with her here: http://p2pu.org/mvergara. Good luck!
AnnaLise
Hi AnnaLise and Marina and thanks for the warm welcome.
Do let me know what I can do to help the recruiting process and/or what events we need to start preparing for. This is my first year too and I am very excited about the opportunity to work with you and your students.
Barbara
Barbara,
It would be wonderful if you could actually visit Foshay and speak to the girls. Often, meeting their mentor face-to-face is very helpful in engaging girls to join. Just an idea!
AnnaLise
Good idea!
I will arrange a visit with Marina.
bb.
Hi everyone,
My name is Rebecca and I'm an android/iOS developer at Xtreme Labs based in Toronto. I look forward to mentoring a group of enthusiastic young women at a local school start in the winter term :)
-Rebecca
Hi Rebecca,
Lots of Toronto teams have signed up, so I think you will be able find a team soon.
Best,
Angélica
Hello!
My name is Marisa Brown. I am a science teacher at Ralph Bunche High School in Oakland, CA. This is the first year that we are participating in Technovation. I am very excited and looking for a mentor in the bay area to help us.
Thank you!
Marisa
Teacher:Mentor ratio
What is the idea teacher:mentor ratio? How many students will be at each site? Like previous years, will there by multiple teams led my mentors mapped to one teacher?
Thanks for your response!
So how do we know how many teams are at each school and correspondingly, how many mentors are needed? From what I read on the forum, once a mentor has been paired with a teacher, the pairing stops. Is my understanding incorrect?
Nidhi,
Each teacher is responsible for finding the correct # of mentors for her teams. So if she has 4 teams, she would keep looking for mentors until she finds 4 and then she would meet with them to begin recruiting girls. Does that make sense?
AnnaLise
Greetings Technovation Mentors! Jenna from the Technovation team will be hosting an informal Google Hangout on 12/5 at 5pm EST. During the hangout we can exchange expereinces regarding Technovation Challenge thus far. Jenna will also be available to answer questions and help brainstorm.
The link to the hangout will be posted on this thread 20min before we will start. If you are interested just click and join. If you have any questions e-mail Jenna@iridescentlearning.org.
*You need a microphone and a webcam to participate. Limit to hangouts typically exceeds at 10. We will host more sessions throughout the season.
See you soon!
-Technovation Team
Hi everyone! Here is the link!
https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_/37ff3a08474535df18ef687ee7fe1f8ec0b0ee48?authuser=0&hl=en-US
Hey guys,
I'll be a mentor up here in Toronto. I'm an Android developer at Xtreme Labs although right now I'm finishing up my Computer Engineering degree at the University of Toronto.
Prettyyyyy excited.
Hi I am Elaine Mistretta
I am a math and Computer Science teacher at Haverhill High School in Haverhill MA. This is our second year as participants in the Technovation Challenge. We are located North of Boston and have not yet been matched with a mentor. We have a great team of 5 girls, 2 returning from last year. We are running a bootcamp to learn app inventor this week for CS week. The girls have met with me informally and are excited about the challenge!
Personally, this is my seventh year teaching math and CS- I changed careers from the Biotechnology device industry concentrating in regulatory consulting for Over-the-counter devices, point-of-care and those in hospital laboratories. My experience as an analyst for a marketing consultant in this industry allows me a unique perspective in encouraging and inspiring young women and all students in both STEM fields and in pursuing their interests and career paths.
I look forward to learning more and helping them be successful in this challenge.
Welcome Elaine!
We're thrilled to have you in Technovation for the second time. Elaine was a teacher at the Boston site last year, and I had the pleasure of working with her and her students. We are lucky to have you again!
Tahani
Hi. I am Joan Tracy. I am Director of Digital Learning and Library Services at Carondelet High School in Concord, CA. I am helping to organize a group at my school, and am sharing the coaching duties with several other teachers This will be our first year participating.
We are looking for a mentor. We are willing to do virtual coaching.
Thank you.
Hi all,
My name is Sara Spiegel and I am a mathematics teacher at James Madison High School in Brooklyn, NY. I am helping to organize a group at my school, and then the coaching reponsibilities will be shared with an English teacher. This will be our first year participating.
At this point, I have a group of excited girls but we still need a mentor. We are willing to do virtual coaching, if need be. Or better yet, a combination of virtual and site. If any one has any contacts, please message me directly. It would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Sara
Ananya,
I tried messaging you directly but I don't think you recieved my message. I am very interested in having you mentor one of my teams. If you still can, please message me directly at:
sspiege3@schools.nyc.gov
Thanks, Sara Spiegel
Hi!
I'm Margaret Butler, a mentor in the SF Bay Area. I'll be mentoring at Sequoia High School in Redwood City this year. I've been involved in the Technovation Challenge since the first year. I actually taught the first program which was amazing and inspirational. It inspired me to start my own company. At Innovaspire, we build mobile applications that enable people to study by playing games with their friends.
I am very pasionate about working with teens and inspiring them to live out their dreams. Each summer, I invite participants from Technovation Challenege to intern at my company.
Enjoy the experience!
-Margaret
Hi Margaret,
It's a pleasure to meet you! What an inspiring story, thank you for sharing with us.
Tahani
Hello;
I'm a member of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Regina in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada and I'm also our CSTA (Computer Science Teachers Association) chapter president.
After being inspired by Angélica, we have planned a Hack Day for Thursday, December 6 at the University of Regina. We have no registered teams or mentors in the area yet (but a few possibilities). We hope that the Hack Day will encourage girls to register.
Please visit the following links for more information about our event:
http://www.uregina.ca/futurestudents/quicklinks/special-events/Technovcation_Challenge.html
http://www2.uregina.ca/yourblog/?p=6965
Best regards,
Daryl Hepting
hepting@cs.uregina.ca
Daryl, It is great to see Canadian Universities getting involved in high school CS outreach.
Hi everyone,
I just realized I haven't actually introduced myself! My name is Tahani and I am on the Technovation team. I am looking forward to hopefully getting to know you all better. Just like my colleagues, I am happy to help, so feel free to reach out 
I am making a similar request as AnnaLise. We have several teachers and students in Boston, MA that are excited about Technovation, but we need more mentors! If you have any connections around this area, it would be great if you can help us spread the word!
Thanks!
Tahani
Hi Everyone,
This is my first year particpating in Technovation and would love to find a team to mentor either in LA (I am in the Santa Monica area or be a remote mento if a team is interested and can't find a local mentor). I am director of business development and partnerships for a mobile start-up and would love to participate as I wish this were around when I was in school.
Karen
Hi Karen!
Have you checked the map with teachers? http://mapalist.com/Public/pm.aspx?mapid=293955
I see a couple of teachers in the LA area, not sure if they are close enough to you, but you can reach out and see if they still need mentors. Let us know if you need more help.
Good luck!
Tahani
Welcome, Karen! There is a teacher in Downtown LA at the Foshay Learning Center. Her name is Marina, and here is her profile: http://p2pu.org/mvergara
Would that be too far for you to travel? If so, have you considered reaching out to a school close by you?
AnnaLise
Hi everyone!
We are currently in Toronto, Canada and we are searching for a mentor!! If it's someone around here that we can actually meet face-to-face, we would like that. However, we can also use skype, msn, facebook, viber, facetime, kakaotalk, textplus, oovoo, etc.
We hope to meet our new mentor soon =D
From Lester B. Pearson's technovation team.
Have a nice day! ^.^
Hi everyone,
I am happy to see matches happening between mentors and teachers. Thank you for sharing the opportunity with your networks.
Although it is a wonderful bonus that I encourage you to explore, teams do not need a woman in tech to complete the 12-week Challenge. Our curriculum does not assume any background knowledge and can be led by anyone (e.g. teacher, parent, teen advisor) who is willing to learn along with their team. As an example, my background is in anthropology and I co-taught last year. Self-driven students can also complete the course on their own using the resources in the course (videos, slides, articles) and by reaching out to the Technovation P2PU community.
I updated our Technovation website with this information. I also changed the Starter Kit to reflect the December 15 deadline to register.
http://iridescentlearning.org/programs/technovation-challenge/involved/start-a-team/
NYC teams: We have women in tech interested in mentoring, some have yet to register. Please post here about your teams, where you are located, and the easiest way to get there. I am happy to share your request with potential mentors at the NYTechWomen event on Monday and through other connections. You can also email me your information if you prefer.
Hello All,
I hadn't heard of technovation until my friend Jo told me about it today. So I signed up and am excited to help my community as a mentor.
I'm a Software Development Engineer in Test and work in San Francisco. I've done a tiny bit of Android mobile app development a few years ago. I've been doing testing since. Making a mobile app sounds like a lot of fun and helping youngsters find their way into technology a double bonus.
I live in Oakland and would love to find a teacher near me in the East Bay.
Thanks,
Anna
Welcome, Anna! As Jo may have mentioned, we are short on East Bay mentors, so it's great to have you on board. Do you by any chance have any friends or colleagues in the East Bay who could mentor teams in Oakland?
Thank you, Jo, for spreading the word!
Anna,
I just heard from Emmanuel that he would like to reconnect with you! Are you still able to mentor his team? His email address is emmanuel.onyeador@ousd.k12.ca.us, so go ahead and follow up with him if you're able to mentor his girls. Thanks!
AnnaLise
Hi:
My name is Emmanuel Onyeador and glad for the opportunity to bring this again to our girls here at Tech. We are still in need of mentors for Oakland Technical High School. Contact us if available.
Thanks
Emmanuel Onyeador
Oakland Technical High School
