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What do we know about how novices learn webcraft and programming, and how can we apply that knowledge to teaching free-range learners?

Right now, people all over the world are learning how to write programs and create web sites, but for every one who is doing it in a classroom there are a dozen free-range learners. This group will explore how we, as mentors, can best help them. Topics will include:

What does research tell us about how people learn? Why are the demographics of programming so unbalanced? What best practices in instructional design are relevant to free-range learners? What skills do people need in order to bake their own web? How are grassroots groups trying to teach these things now? What's working and what isn't?

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Runs Jan. 16, 2012 to April 20, 2012
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Greg Wilson at How to Teach Webcraft and Programming to Free-Rang

posted message: Catherynne Valente's article has me thinking about the motivating examples we choose when we teach programming: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2012/02/life-with-and-without-animated.html.

08 Mar 2012 via courses.p2pu.org

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MrSteve March 14, 2012, 12:10 a.m.

Okay being male, my first reaction was way cool (to the water repelling, self cleaning stuff).

But to Greg's point, what activites/projects/examples would be more motivating to girls/women?

One thing we are looking to add to Etoys (through a hopefully funded GSoC project) is lilypad. So you can create "computational textiles". Besides being of more interest to girls, I think it will add a cool fashion factor, which may make programming and technology more culturally acceptable to female students.

Nice article here on lilypad

Here is a youtube example