Day 35: More reflections from Girls Make IT Day preparations

February 4, 2014

Jill's very thoughtful post about Girls Make It Day lead me to some additional thoughts about the day.  It seems that no matter how well prepared you feel for a big day like this,  the first time through always leaves you with a list of things you might do to make the event even better.  Since the purpose of this blog is to "LEARN TOGETHER"  here are a couple of things that come to mind after reading Jill's blog and thinking through the preparations for the day.

Jill preparing packets for Gils Make IT Day

 I totally agree with Jill's comments that we had an overly ambitious agenda.  Yes we  did we have an ambitious agenda, but we were also very well prepared for it.   The supplies we put together  included supplies for both the day's activities and for followup activities back at their school.  We wanted this to be more than a one time learning opportunity.  Jill's hard work on creating custom printed instruction material was invaluable.  Yet despite our attempt to think of everything,  we've come up with some ways to be even better prepared.

Nance and Lucie welcoming teams at registration table 

Next time we will include the wifi password in the packets and have a computer set up at the registration desk for students to complete the ONLINE sign in (which was key to generating the certificates of completion). We understand that in a school setting,  events happen that result in last minute changes in who can and cannot attend an event.   Our use of Google forms as a sign in coupled with an Autocrat script that would create certificates for everyone who showed up worked well.

I love Jill's idea that we should include an inventory list of what was in our packet, and would like to add a list of places where they can buy more supplies.  As a matter of fact,  I think it would also good to have a LIST Of  other supplies needed to replicate the workshop (i.e. felt, paper, glue, hot glue gun, etc)  And I love Jill's idea of adding a glossary of key terms in the form of a handout.


Jill's suggestion of adding video tutorials  to the handout might be a good next step to involve the girls in.  It would also help the girls when they are teaching others in their school.  Perhaps the girls could create the video tutorials as a way to pay forward.   We could then add QR codes on the instruction sheets.

A little more time for the icebreaker in the beginning and a more formal wrap-up and more opportunities for the girls to share their process is one thing we all agree needs to be part of our revised agenda.