Young Rewired State had their first hackathon in the US at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens this past weekend. This was their first event so there were some challenges. Some of the students were from Coder Dojo and were basically full-fledged developers while others had no coding experience whatsoever. This was my fourth or fifth hackathon and my first as a mentor so the experience was a change of pace for me.
- Wifi Connection. We were having constant issues with wifi.
- Create teams of 3-4 students (1 with a lot of coding experience, 1 with a moderate amount, and 1 with none.) Peers can teach each other better than mentors can. When the organizers sent the more advanced kids to the other room, they basically created a digital divide and some kids were left behind.
- More structure. An open-ended free for all only benefits students with a lot of coding experience. Beginners need a template, a specific idea, or a standardized toolkit (ex: livecoding.io, Thimble, etc). Students with experience really don't need a lot of mentoring while students who are complete beginners need a lot more hands-on mentoring.