Creative Coding PD Workshop
Creative coding is a playful, collaborative, and open-ended approach to exploring and creating with digital tools. In partnership with Wonderful Idea Co. (WICO), I co-crafted a creative coding professional development workshop (CCPD) with WICO co-founder Ryan Jenkins that supports a friendly, approachable introduction to tinkering with code combined with real world materials.
With so much emphasis on coding and computer science, we wanted to explore what these ideas look like an a creative context. What does it mean to play, experiment, and create with code? How might educators, facilitators, and artists bring these ideas into their practice? In our workshop, participants explored these ideas together through creating, collaborating, and reflecting with materials and tools like Scratch, Microsoft Make Code, micro:bit, and Chibitronics.
1.
CCPD @ Brightworks Annex (Summer 2018)
Our inaugural 2-day workshop hosted 15 educators from schools, museums, libraries, and maker spaces.
Read a detailed recap of the workshop weekend on the WICO blog or explore interviews we conducted with creative coders like Ricarose Roque, Nettrice Gaskins, and Paulina Haduong.
2.
CCPD @ Maker Ed Community Space (Spring 2019)
This workshop, co-designed with Leah Buechley, centered on “crafting computational identities”. Participants explored their computational identities by creating interactive nametags with micro:bits, exploring sensor inputs in “sensor gardens”, creating Turtle Art with Processing, and experimenting with physical outputs of digital tools, like printing coded designs on tattoo paper. Read a full recap on the WICO blog here.
3.
CCPD @ NTSEC: National Taiwan Science Education Center (Winter 2019)
Our team traveled to Taipei, Taiwan share experimental activities and organize discussions with a group of educators, designers, and advocates from NTSEC. Jaleesa Trapp co-facilitated the three-day exploration, which included animating a shared value using Scratch and Makey Makey, creating a sensor garden with MakeCode, and experimenting with computational chain reaction. (And also eating a LOT of incredible food in great company!)
