Hello. Welcome. I'm going to start off this talk in a minute, so I'll just give you a
second to finish up your chats and everything else. But while we're getting started, it
would be great if you could reach out to the person sitting closest to you and just say
hi and get their name off them. Because Kododojo is all about connecting with people, being
social, and collaborating. So I want to encourage a bit of that collaboration in the session
today. And if you're online in the chat, you can say hi to each other and we'll get a bit
of Kododojo energy in the session. So first off, if we can get some hands raised, who
has heard of Kododojo before? Very popular, great. Great to have so many people who've
already heard of Kododojo here. And welcome to everyone who hasn't heard of Kododojo before.
We're delighted to show you a bit about what it is and explain about it in this next one-hour
session. So Kododojo is a volunteer-led movement of coding clubs for young people aged 7 to
17. We call the clubs dojo. Dojo means temple of learning in Japanese. And the idea from
the co-founders was that Kododojo was a place for young people to be able to come and learn
about coding in a free and open environment. So I'm going to play a little video for you
now where we're going to hear from some of the volunteers involved in Kododojo. And I hope.
Kododojo is a free volunteer-led coding club where our children can just come in and basically
they can learn about anything in technology, whether it be games or web development.
If you're not that technical, that's not a problem because there are usually a lot of
technical people that can help you start. It's actually surprising how many friends you make
through doing coding. You can get into groups and work with each other. It's actually really fun.
It's really fun making all the projects and then like it's really cool seeing that you can actually
learn things and it's really fun.
Great. So now that you've got a brief overview of what Kododojo is, I wanted to highlight
the history of Kododojo because it's really important to the itas and philosophy of where it
came from. So it began in Ireland in 2011. A young student, James Welton, was 17 years old. He was
a self-taught coder. He taught himself to code at home on his own and one of the things that he found
was that it was a bit isolating. It was quite lonely. Not many other people in his area were
as interested in coding or knew that much about it and that's something that he wanted to change.
And he gained a little bit of notoriety because he hacked the iPod Nano and then other students in
his school were interested and they said how did you do that? They wanted to learn how to build
websites and how to code like he was able to. So he set up a coding club in his school and Bill Lau,
who is an entrepreneur and a philanthropist, he heard about this idea from James and he thought
it was great. At the time there was no coding being taught in schools. There was a big demand for
software engineers but there was no opportunities developing those skills for young people in
Ireland but also internationally as well. And together the pair founded Kododojo. Now Kododojo,
you can see the influence there of a 17 year old boy on the name. They wanted something cool and edgy.
James's other idea I think was super fun Saturday morning coding class. So we're kind of happy
that Kododojo was the name that they went with in the end. And yeah, it was really successful. They
started this club off in Cork, which is in the southern tip of Ireland and within a few months
people were traveling for hours to come to this free coding club. There was nothing else in the
area or even in the wider island for people to attend. So parents were bringing their children
two hours to come to the coding club and two hours back. And because of that they seen how
important it was to people and how much of an impact it could have. They decided to make the
model open source and that encouraged growth across Ireland, then in the UK, then in the US and now
globally. And this is the mission of Kododojo and the reason why clubs run right around the world
and how it's been so successful even though it's a volunteer led movement. So a world where every
child has the opportunity to learn and create with technology in a safe and social environment.
And that's something that's still very important and true to the movement today.
I wanted to highlight some of the key ethasses and the key philosophies of Kododojo. This one is
One Rule, Be Cool. I've seen even the Kododojo Belgium volunteers. They have adapted a version
of this as well. And this is a poster from the very first dojo where they had made up their own
basically version of this philosophy. And we've since adapted it to a more modern poster. But the
idea is to encourage young people to help and support each other, to share, to encourage and all
those things are cool. And then things like bullying, lying or being disruptive or uncool. So that's
the key rule in Kododojo. And then these are some of our other philosophies. So being inclusive and
free. The idea that Kododojos are free is integral to the movement. So that young people,
regardless of their background, can participate. They can come to sessions. There's no pressure
on parents, even for donations or anything like that. The idea is it's open to anyone.
Young people can give it a try. It also makes it a lot more accessible for people that might think
it's not something for them. The idea that the sessions are free means that they'll give it a
go even if they think it might be for them. Informal and fun, dojos should have a social
atmosphere. So there's a lot of mixing, meeting each other, connecting with other people,
sharing what each other are working on. And usually they can be a bit loud, but that's okay as well.
And then open source. So the movement is open and the members are encouraged to share their
resources and tools that they use and their ideas. So volunteers often develop resources and then they
share them with other dojos. We have a lot of resources on our side and we encourage people
to adapt and use them, how they see fit in their clubs and share their learnings. Because there's,
now there's 1,700 dojos around the world and some of those have been running for over 10 years. So
there's so much learning in the community already and we want to make sure that that is shared.
Tying in with that, we have collaboration and teamwork. So we encourage young people to work
together in teams, particularly when they're developing bigger projects and change making. So
young people are encouraged to think about the social problems in their area or think about
things that they can use their skills to improve. And this is a really important thing that the
co-founders really focused on in terms of using your skills and using your coding skills for good.
And then this is a poster of from dojos that we encourage young people to think about, to ask
three than me. So ask yourself, think about the problem in front of you. This is when they come
across a challenger, an issue or a bug in their code. Look over the code, see if they can debug
it themselves. Ask a search engine, so check on Google if there's any solution to the issue they've
come across. Ask your peers, so the other young people in the club and then ask a mentor. And the
idea of this is really to encourage independence, encourage them to come up with solutions to the
problems themselves. And also through that, asking their peers if one of the other ninjas in the
club has come across this issue before, they can help each other out. And that also helps build
confidence amongst the young people as well. Great. And I just wanted to highlight this quote
because creativity is really important in Coder dojo. It's not just about coding. There's so
many other skills that they develop, teamwork, presentation, and also creativity, because
they're being encouraged to create things with code about the things that they care about. And that
allows them to really get creative. This isn't a school type environment where they're being sat down
and they're told exactly what to do. The idea is it's open and that really encourages them to
expand how they think and also, yeah, to think about things a bit differently as well, which
sometimes can be a bit challenging for young people who've been very, got very accustomed to a
structured educational style, but it's something that we really encourage to really bring them out
of themselves and allow them to explore things with technology. So our global community, there's
over 1,700 dojos across 94 countries. And this is just some of the stats on the amount of young
people being regularly impacted through Coder dojo clubs. And that's really thanks to the volunteers
that are involved in Coder dojo. All these clubs are volunteer led and they really are the backbone
of Coder dojo. If there was no people volunteering their time, there will be no clubs. There will be
no Coder dojo. So I just want to highlight that stat for you all here today. And as mentioned,
we have an open source model. You can see here how different clubs and communities have created
and adapted their own logo. Here's the Belgium one over here. Here's Coder dojo Netherlands. And
the map also gives you an idea of the spread of dojos right around the world. But the idea that
clubs can really take on the model and run it how they see fish, they can adapt the logo. But also,
once they follow the charter of being inclusive, being free, it's kind of like one volunteer
described it as like a public park. Once you abide by the rules of the park, you can do whatever
you want in the park. You can play soccer in the park, you can do yoga in the park, and Coder dojos
a lot like that. Once you abide by the Coder dojo charter, you can adapt the sessions depending on
the skills of the mentors and the young people and their interests. And also the circumstances of
where the clubs are running in as well. So I was talking there about volunteers and how they're so
important to Coder dojo. So I'm going to play this little video now just to give you an idea of why
volunteers help out at Coder dojo. I went along to become a mentor because like a lot of mentors,
my kids were interested at that point in becoming, I don't know, coders. They were interested in
finding out more about coding. I'm involved with 11 which is a Bulgarian accelerator program.
And they said, oh, you know, there is Coder dojo do want to help. And I always wanted to help
to teach something. There wasn't one in the area at the time. I kept looking on Google,
see what was starting that I could maybe volunteer in or something, but there wasn't one.
So six months later I decided to start it. It means to me more than anything, being able to
help kids to see possibilities that they have never and probably would never see otherwise.
When I see them do things on their own, getting their ideas out there and seeing creativity
which is spur out in the moment really gives me so much enjoyment.
It's like a journey in the sense that, you know, you feel that you're going somewhere.
It's also just a community and it's fun and exciting and every time you meet people from
other dojos, you learn something new. Do you need to be an IT person? Do you need to be technically
skilled or technically savvy? The answer, absolutely not. There are usually a lot of technical people
that can help you start. Just go there, just get involved, see the vibe and see if it's something
that might fit you. When people ask us, like, I'm not sure if I should get involved, we always
send them to the nearest dojo they have and just go in and have a look and once they see how a dojo
really runs, mostly they'll be addicted straight away, just like me were actually. We have a motto
in Kododojo or, I don't know if it's called a motto, which is be cool and that's something that we
say to the kids that turn up. I would have a similar motto for mentors, which would be just turn up.
Great. So we did a survey a few years back with over 500 volunteers from right around the world
and we asked them why do you volunteer and why do you keep coming back every session
to volunteer and these were some of the reasons that they gave us, these were the top ones. So
to be part of a global movement, to learn team building leadership and mentoring skills,
they found it was a great way to give back to their local community. They also really enjoyed
the fact that they got to meet like-minded people who were also passionate about technology
and giving this creative opportunity to young people. They found it was a great way to share
their experience and knowledge so they have all these technical skills and experiences and it's
a great way to be able to impart those with others and they also felt empowered by helping
young people develop skills for the future. So in terms of options for people here today who
haven't heard of Kododojo, this is your first time hearing about it, you might be wondering
how can I get involved, what's a good way for me to connect with this global movement,
see is there any clubs in my area, that kind of thing. Well you have two options, so you can
volunteer at a club that already exists, so you can go to the Kododojo website, see on our search
if there is a dojo in your area and ask to volunteer with that dojo, they'd be delighted to have you.
And then the other option is if there isn't a club already in your local area, you might decide
today to start one up. You're here with, you've connected with a few other people around you,
you've all got technical skills, so you might decide that starting a club in your local area
is what you're interested in. So there are your options.
So I have a little poll here, if people can jump on with their mobiles,
I'll make the QR code a bit bigger. So I have a feeling I know what way this poll is going to go,
but let's test it out. I was going to do a hands up, but I was like who's going to say
they're not a Kodor if I get people to put their hands up. Are people able to connect if there's
any issues, we can do a hands up. Oh we have a vote, that means it's working.
Okay, who's going to win? Oh no.
Thank you. See it's already helping each other out. I love it. It's great.
Okay, great. And if there's anyone joining from online, you can use the chat feel free. You can
also join using the link if you can see the link on the slides. But so this gives you an idea.
There's just a, there's a mix of people, some people with coding skills, some people with,
have done some coding, but maybe don't feel like they're a skill coder. Well, the important thing is
there is a role for you in Kodor Dojo, regardless of your skill level. So if you are a skilled coder,
you're in very high demand, you can develop additional skills in the Dojo, you can learn about
how to use the skills you have and how to communicate those with the younger audience.
It can be really rewarding to be able to share those skills that you have. And also you get to
learn about other maybe coding languages or ways of approaching things and even about project
building and things like that. If you've done some coding, this is also hugely useful to us in Kodor
Dojo. Volunteers can help beginners and they can also learn alongside young people. There's also a
lot of tools and resources that even experienced coders mightn't be as experienced with in terms
of supporting Kodor Dojo clubs, including Scratch. So there's lots of things you can also learn about
there and not a coder. So I want you to know whoever you were, person who voted that said they were
not a coder, that you are very important in Kodor Dojo clubs as well, because we need people and
volunteers with a wide array of tasks and experiences and being able to help the Dojo in lots of
different ways. So there's going to be ways and roles where we need people to help out, even organizing
volunteers, preparing the space, checking people in, helping out with promoting the club and outreach
as well. So here are four of the primary roles that we have in Kodor Dojo clubs. So we have
champions or co-champions. These are the people who are passionate about Kodor Dojo and want to
start a club in their area. So they're people who are organized, they're passionate and they might
have some experience managing groups of people or managing time. I remember a volunteer said to us
before, or a champion actually told us before that if you can organize a child's birthday party,
you can organize a Kodor Dojo, which I thought was quite a nice way to think about it. They can
have technical skills, it's not necessary at all. We also have technical mentors, so these would
usually be volunteers with technical skills. They are encouraged to be helpful, they're enthusiastic
and they have knowledge in their specific areas. Then we have guidance mentors, so these can have
youth experience, they might be parents, librarians, a wide range of roles, youth workers,
and also they are enthusiastic about it and interested in helping young people.
And then we also have support volunteers who have practical skills and experience, they might have
some administration skills and prefer to help outside of the session, so they're less mentoring
young people and more helping out in other roles to do with the dojo.
And I really want to highlight this, roles are very flexible. I give you those examples there just
to highlight the kinds of roles that people can have, but there's so much overlap. People who are
champions often start helping mentoring in technical areas, support volunteers often jump in and mentor,
providing encouragement to young people, so there is so much overlap in these roles.
And they can adapt over time depending on your skills and interests as well. If you started out as
a support volunteer and then you want to get more involved in mentoring, all those options are open
as well. And then in terms of time commitment, because this is something we get asked about a lot,
it depends on your role. If you're the champion, you'll be volunteering more of your time because
you'll be organising the events and if you, it also depends on the session regularity as well. So
some people run weekly sessions, some run them once every two weeks or once a month. So depending
on how often the sessions are run, you might be asked for a greater time commitment, but roughly
it's around three to four hours per month. Here are just some quotes from volunteers who've been
involved in Kododojo around and highlighting that their skill sets and growth has been helped through
volunteering and also that they're getting to make a real difference in the lives of those
involved, which I thought was a lovely, a lovely note. Okay, now I want to show you what a dojo
looks like in action. So I've given you a brief overview of what Kododojo is. I've also highlighted
how you can get involved as a volunteer, but you might be wondering what the clubs look like. So this
is an example.
Great, so that kind of highlighted the key areas when running a dojo, but as I said before, all
dojos are different. They might adapt depending on when they're running and also the types of
events at different times of the year as well. But usually clubs start off with an icebreaker or
some way of encouraging young people to connect with each other and get into the sessions. This is
particularly useful if you're running an evening session, if young people have been at school all
day and you want to kind of get them up out of their chairs and moving around before they start
coding. These can be really helpful. And then we get into the coding itself. So I have another poll
here for you guys. So what technologies do you think are used in Kododojo clubs? So this is taken
from last year's annual survey where we asked Kododojo clubs right around the world and we asked
them what are the most popular technologies that they use in their sessions. So you can hear an
example of some of them. There was much more on the list, but I just highlighted some of the top ones.
Interesting.
Yeah.
Yeah, which ones do you think is the most popular?
The competition between Microgrid and Raspberry Pi.
Oh, Scratch is jumping up.
How many people think of its unity?
You're happy.
Okay. I think we've got most people's votes there. I'll do a little drum roll.
And then this is what the results actually are in terms of this is the proportion of clubs
using each of those. It's going to keep doing that jump and just to keep you on your toes. Don't
worry. It's meant to do that. If you thought it was a glitch, don't worry. So Scratch is up there
with almost over 90% of clubs using Scratch in their sessions, followed by Microbit, Python,
HTML, CSS, JavaScript, then Unity, Raspberry Pi, and then App Inventor. So you see, and this isn't
all of the languages or technologies. I've just tried to do a little summary for you all, but
just to give you an idea, some of the technologies used and how they're spread across dojos. And
bear in mind, this is from our annual service. So there's lots of other technologies and clubs
doing different things as well. Great. So I just wanted to give a brief overview of Scratch,
because I thought people might have heard of it, but it's a block-based programming language
created at MIT, and it's really designed to be beginner-friendly. So young people don't need to
worry about writing things with text, because it's a block-based coding language, and it's really
helpful, particularly for younger children, those who are starting at Kododojo are seven years of age,
and if they have no experience typing or even their reading and writing skills mightn't be as
developed, this is a really great way to be able to give them an opportunity to create something
quickly with code without them worrying about typos and those kind of errors, and it really allows
them to experiment and try out different things without worrying too much about breaking any very
valuable hardware or anything like that as well. So here are some of the resources available to
Kododojos that are involved in Kododojo, so we have a how-to-mentor course, this is really useful,
even if people have technical skills, they mightn't be sure how to mentor the kinds of approaches
you can take, and even for group management, that kind of thing. So there's lots of guidance in there
of different approaches you can use, and that's available on our website. We have a champions
handbook for those starting a club, which goes through all the steps, all the organizational
resources, and all the things you'd need to know for starting up a club. We have a help desk, which
has hundreds of articles on all things from fundraising to safeguarding, everything's in there.
We run regular community calls, so these are opportunities to connect with volunteers right
around the world and learn something together with those. We have a Slack instance, so you can also,
if you have any queries, you can write to other volunteers around the world and get their feedback.
People also share resources that they've created for their dojos in there, or even different tools
that they've developed, and things like that as well. Then you have the Kododojo team, which includes
me, hello, and there's also, I have colleagues for different areas around the world, so yeah,
get in touch with us if you have any questions. Then we have the Kododojo platform, so here's
a little screenshot, but it's an event management tool, and also for volunteer management and
communications as well. That's a free platform we provide to allow champions to create events for
young people, help volunteers connect with dojos, so a really useful resource.
I wanted to highlight some of the projects that we have available for young people. You can scan
this, oh no, it's that slide thing going to get in the way. There we go. You can scan this QR code
if you want to see what our project site is like. Basically, we have step-by-step projects for young
people that they can use, but these are completely free for anyone right around the world to use,
and you're interested in learning Unity, Python, Web Designer, any of the projects on there,
feel free to use it as well. We've developed these new paths to help young people develop their
skills and not only develop their coding skills, but also develop their independence over time.
The format of our projects is in this three-to-one make format, so the first three projects are
Explorer projects where they learn a particular skill or coding concepts. In the second two,
they take the skills that they've learned in those first three projects and then they get
a bit more creative, so they're able to adapt the projects a bit more, add their own design choices to
it, and then in the final project, they're just given a brief for the project, and then they use
all the skills that they've developed over the five projects to create something completely
original, so two children could do that, invent project, and they'd end up with two completely
different books made with code. That's really to encourage young people to
explore the technology, get to know it, and also develop their skills so that they're more comfortable
with less structure as well, so it eases them into it. All our projects are also available in a lot
of different languages here. The top languages we have projects translated into, but we also have
them translated into many more as well. Some of the useful features on our new project paths
include these, so there's digital badges. When young people complete projects, there's info cards to
explain different concepts to them. You can upgrade your project, so this is really helpful if you
have a young person that's kind of racing ahead of the group or anything like that, there's additional
things that they can add on to their project as well. We also have debugging tips, so the most
common urge that young people come across, and we give them tips on how they can debug the projects
themselves. We have quizzes that check that they understand the different concepts that they're
learning through the projects as well as box-outs with more info. And then I also want to highlight
another opportunity that young people can participate in, in a dojo.
We're located on the International Space Station. In the Mission Zero Challenge for Beginners, you can collect environmental measurements and create your own pixel art image for the astronauts on board.
In the more advanced Mission Space Lab, you're challenged to program and experiment. This year, calculate as accurately as possible the speed of the ISS using
AstroPy's camera and sensors. All valid projects will receive a participation certificate and will have their programs run on the ISS.
Mission Space Lab teams will join a webinar with an ESA astronaut.
Great. So I just wanted to highlight, so that AstroPy mission is available to any young person in an ESA member state. A lot of our dojos do it. It's a great way to introduce young people to Python, and they get the added bonus of being able to have their code run on the International Space Station, which is amazing.
So I also want to highlight this very last aspect of our dojo session. So we covered ice breakers or unplugged activities at the start. We did the main coding section that they do at the event.
And then towards the end of the session, when things are wrapping up, we encourage young people to showcase what they've made during the event.
So this doesn't need to be big. It can just be young people all gathering around a laptop and talking about what they've made, highlighting what they've learned, if they overcame any specific challenges, and really discussing about the kind of projects they've made so they can inspire other young people in the group as well.
And tying into that, years and years ago, Kododojo volunteers, as they were encouraging young people to showcase in their individual dojos, they came together and said,
I want to be great if we could share the projects that we've made across dojos, across Ireland and around the world. And so they developed this thing called Coolest Projects, and now it's grown exponentially from there.
So we have an online showcase where I think last year there was five or six thousand projects entered into it from right around the world, and they include Scratch Projects, Web Development, Games, Hardware, Advanced Programming, and I'm missing one but I can't think what it is.
Anyway, but it's a great opportunity and there's in-person events as well, so we encourage young people to develop those skills, sharing their project ideas and what they've created with each other.
So we have events in Ireland and the UK, but also Kododojo Belgium are running Coolest Projects Belgium in April, and here are some of the other ones we have in Ghana, Serbia, and Sri Lanka as well.
And there's more dates to be announced, those are just the ones we have at the minute, and then we have our online showcase as well.
And any young person, even if they're not involved in a Kododojo, can participate in Coolest Projects.
So if there is a young person you know who's interested in making things with technology, be sure to let them know about that as well.
And finally, I wanted to just highlight the steps for starting a dojo.
If you attended today's session and you're interested in Kododojo and how you could start a club in your local area, there's five simple steps to follow.
So becoming a champion, this is just you saying to yourself, I'm going to do this, I'm going to start a club in my local area.
You can come to our website, you can register your interest and we'll send you on some more information.
You can gather your team, so if there's some of your friends that are with you today, or if you have colleagues, local people in your area that are interested in encouraging young people to Kododojo as well,
there could be staff in the venue that you're going to run it in, they can help you out as well.
Finding a venue, it could be a community centre, your local library, it could also be your office if you run a company in the local area that you can have one evening a week for example to run a dojo session,
then plan your dojo.
So chat with your team that you've gathered, what kind of things you can do during the session and also use our website and resources as well.
And then promote your dojo, so you might set up a social media channel, but it also might be just reaching out to your local school, reaching out to your local library and encourage young people to attend.
So that's been me, I'm Nula McHale, thank you very much for listening to the talk.
If you're interested in registering a Kododojo club, please scan the QR code and you can also learn more at Kododojo.com.
I'm just going to check the chat now in case there was any questions.
No, there doesn't seem to be any questions. Is there any questions in the group? Yes, go for it.
How to start?
How to start? I just give you a beautiful diagram.
So the easiest thing actually is to go to our website and if you scan here and fill in that form, we'll email you more information on resources that are helpful and things like that.
But once you're interested, it's great to hear that you're interested because that is the key thing, being passionate about helping young people learn to code.
And we also have volunteers here from Belgium and Peter, a champion who's already started and running a club who I'm sure would be happy to chat about his experience as well. Yes.
I work with students with special education.
Do you get any support from the department like this?
Yes.
Do you get any support from the department?
Yes, so during the pandemic, some clubs ran online and we did. There's some clubs still doing a hybrid model.
I know for some young people with special educational needs, in particular autism and things like that, they actually find that these clubs really useful.
It also helps them come out of themselves a lot because sometimes technology can be a special topic of interest and so it's a way for them to use their skills, use and focus on something they're really interested.
Meet other young people that also have that interest and then they're allowed to code.
They might code with their headphones on or however they prefer to work.
Often you can have the setup of the coding session changed or adapted.
We have an accessibility guide which talks to champions and volunteers about how they can adapt sessions to differing needs of young people to help make reasonable adjustments to the room and things like that.
So there definitely is a place in the space and a lot of young people really benefit from being able to use technology and coding as a way to encourage them to connect with their peers as well.
I have a question a lot.
I think I've done a lot of special needs.
How can it be that in your dojo we have more than one room so it has to be quiet.
We can have a separate room setup.
We can make rooms of children with the same needs.
Yeah.
No, that doesn't mean anything for me.
And he's just working and after that he's presenting his project and then he's done.
He's seen him again in another two weeks.
And that's it.
So you can ask yourself why he doesn't come.
There is something that makes him come to us.
Even if he doesn't need us.
Yeah, sometimes it's less about needing a mentor and just having a space where they feel comfortable and be able to do what they're interested in doing in that environment.
So yeah, that's a great example.
On the privileged environments is there an arrangement to co-ordra dojo to obtain hardware or dash 3 at the discount or something like that?
So a lot of clubs, what they do is they work with companies in their area to get like pro bono or donations of refurbished laptops, things like that.
Some dojos will have like five laptops held to the side and when people are booking tickets they can reserve a laptop if they need one, things like that.
But there is opportunities for like grants and things like that, but not specifically like across all clubs everywhere because the needs are so different to specific dojos.
Yep, sorry, with the cap.
No, I got you.
No, you first.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, like I was saying, clubs are completely adaptable to the interests and also the skills of volunteers.
So if they're interested in talking about UX design or things like that or like project management tools and highlighting and young people really like that, particularly slightly older teenagers, they're really interested in the tools and the languages that real professional coders are using.
So you being able to show them stuff on Figma and how they can create with it. And Figma is a really good example because it's such a usable tool that young people could see how user design works and how they can even like do things like testing stuff out with other young people in the dojo,
getting their feedback, being able to adapt it. That's all user experience and learning from their users needs. So I think yeah, that's a great thing you could bring to a club, definitely. Yeah, sorry.
So where is the funding platform?
Yes, great question. So Kododojo is part of a merger with the Raspberry Pi Foundation. So the Raspberry Pi Foundation kind of sits over Kododojo and they fund and support the work for creating resources, keeping and maintaining the platform, all that.
So yeah, that's where the Raspberry Pi Foundation.
Great question.
Oh yeah.
So all of our resources are on the website, but we have on each of the like top of the projects paths, there's like short links. So in a session you can be like go to the short link to pull up a path. Is that what you mean?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, there is guidelines in the projects. One thing I will say is we have our own code editor so young people can use that code editor, it can be opened in the browser. They can create an account if they want, but they don't have to.
So that's a tool that we provide for young people to be able to code straight away. Yeah, there's a Raspberry Pi code editor that we've developed. Yeah, go for it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, definitely.
So all our project resources are translated into different languages, including Arabic, but the code editor isn't available in Arabic at this time, but it is a great question and it is something but you want to.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, and definitely and Hedy is something that is like more than welcome for like Kododojo clubs to use. We're completely software and hardware agnostic. So if you see a tool that you think is useful for young people in your community, feel free to use it in a Kododojo.
Great. Okay, I'll, I don't know if I've, okay, I'll take you up. Go for it.
Yeah, I was curious. Are the dojos sort of typically bring your own device for most of the kids?
Yes, yeah, so it is. Yeah, bring your own device predominantly. Yeah.
I was curious about was just about how do you decide what to teach, do you have a bunch of resources on your website? Clearly, is that sort of the direction they're encouraged to go or is it a bit more up to them?
It's really up to them. Some I think it's roughly a third of clubs rarely use our resources. So it's really is up to them. But a lot of people use it because they're volunteers, they're volunteering their time already.
And the idea is we're providing these resources so they have something to go to, they have things to fall back on. We have some like printable resources that are helpful for young people that might struggle to have like two tabs open at once.
But yeah, the majority of them would use the projects on the project site. Yeah. Question?
I don't exactly the same. Do we have to provide them a computer to help them? But you said that, you know...
Yeah, no, no, no, you want me.
You have some guidance on how to, let's say, run the first session?
Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I would like to start something that is in my area, but I think how we can start yet.
I know there is a form I already said.
Yeah, great. But yeah, no, I think that's definitely it's useful to hear the kind of questions people have when they're wondering about starting.
But yeah, we have guidance and tips and examples of icebreakers and unplugged activities you can do with young people.
We have a website filled with projects and also we have guidance on which projects and which languages can be useful for different age groups,
just to give you some guidance on that if you weren't sure.
And then also tips on how to encourage showcasing among Shire children or things like that and giving young people the opportunity to do that.
Great.
Gio.
What's the plan for the foundation?
Ooh, great question.
Yeah, we've lots of plans. We're developing, I know, we're developing out.
The platform is the key thing that we're working on at the minute.
Previously, the last year, we've been winding down the old platform we've had.
We've been able to release a new platform with event management.
We're just launching all the email systems within that, which are going to be translated into the key languages that our volunteer communities use,
which is amazing as well to be able to do those translations.
And that's actually if anyone is interested in translating, we have all our resources that are translated.
It's translated by volunteers as well.
We have two members of staff that support the volunteers, but the majority of the the translations of our projects of the platform of our website is all done by volunteers.
So if that's something you're interested in, do check out the website and offer to support that way because it is so useful, particularly for young people to be able to learn coding in their own language.
Great. Okay. I think that's it. Is that okay?