VOLUNTEER OR MENTOR

 

Both the West Sound CoderDojo and WSTA are volunteer organizations and we have limited resources, so if you see a problem you can solve, please volunteer to solve it. CoderDojos are community-based and community-run. The best way to get started is to grab a ticket, sign up as a mentor or volunteer, and show up.

 

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VOLUNTEERING OPTION 1: Event Volunteers

Mentors, Teachers, Check-in helpers, IT help for loaner laptops

TIME REQUIREMENT: 2.5-3 hours per event (mostly on Saturday mornings)

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For this, you sign up for a volunteer ticket to an event, then come to the event. Here you’ll meet other volunteers and get a chance to see how we do things. Then we can talk about where you feel you’ll be able to contribute the most value.

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Mentors usually float in the room and help families with programming questions upon request. They also take on the responsibility of creating or explaining the day’s unit for that room.

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Check-in volunteering is a way for non-technical people to help out. We usually need 2 people per event to help check-in others, direct people to where they need to go, point them to the bathrooms, and help us shepherd them out at the end.

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IT helpers take care of donated loaner laptops. We only have one for now, but maintaining or managing at or between Dojos will still be needed.

We need marketing/PR and social media savvy volunteers to help us with outreach.

Volunteers who have participated in a coderdojo meet via Google Hangouts and conduct discussions via invitation-only Google Groups mailing lists. Members discuss new and ongoing initiatives, then take away action items to work on.

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VOLUNTEERING OPTION 2: Committees

Organizing (ops), Outreach (marketing/social media), Curriculum (projects/tutorials)

TIME REQUIREMENT: 2-3 hours per week ongoing

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Our committees haven't really taken off yet and they are aspirational. If they did, we'd have three:

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​​ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: This is CoderDojo Operations, handling the tasks necessary to make sure we have space, sponsors, loaner laptops, and more.

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CURRICULUM COMMITTEE: Our goal is to get kids to a point where they can build an app. We need people to evaluate and rate online sites and resources, as well as creating projects that we can use. We also need people to formulate projects where we can give the kids a break from the weekly grind with something new or a cool way to use things they’re learning. For example… a 90-minute workshop on creating Minecraft mods with ScriptCraft, or a 90-minute workshop on making game art.

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OUTREACH COMMITTEE: These are the folks who put together and staff our tables at events, design our flyers and postcards, connect with schools and libraries, and generally help make sure that people get the best CoderDojo experience when they’re interacting with us outside of the Saturday meetups.

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Let us know where you’d like to help, then engage! We don't have the bandwidth to keep pinging or begging you to attend a meeting or Hangout, so be ready to commit if you sign up.

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check out this cool video about mentoring>>>