Day 38 Extending the Day with Online Spaces

Our Girls Make IT Day included two ways to extend the day using online spaces space.  One public space using Blogger and one private space using Google Classroom.

These two methods provided the girls with a CHOICE of how they could  posting images of what they were creating/making during the event and after the event.  Using the Stream in a Google Classroom gave the girls a private place to share images and thought, while our post by email workflow  on the Girls Make IT Blog (hosted by Blogger) provided a quick easy public space to show the world their process and products.

About midday we shared a POST by email address with the girls and their advisor and showed them how to share pictures to the Girls Make IT Blog using our 'secret' post by email address.  (Here are instructions on how to set up a post by email address for blogger).  This gave them the opportunity to focus on making in the morning and provided an opportunity for us to talk about safety and choice when posting on line.

We gave them options for posting images of ARTIFACTS only  or of posting images of their making artifacts.  The choice was there.  We also asked them to be respectful of each others preferences when posting images that had others in them.  Even though we had the required media releases we felt it was important for them to be making thoughtful decisions about the images they wanted in our public space.

 

We also had a great discussion about the value of seeing women engaged in high tech.  Not only does it provide an opportunity for other girls to see themselves in the picture,  it sends a message to the community at large that girls are important stakeholders when planning for the future.

The girls enjoyed using this method  (posting by email) to share their experiences on the Girls Make IT Blog  We felt good that they were empowered with the choice of which images they wanted to post.  And of course it pleased us to see the images of making continue to appear on the Girls Make it blog as they continue to MAKE back in their schools.