Introducing #dojochat

There is lots to write about the amazing DojoCon 2013 which was held at Slane Castle, Co. Meath this weekend. One of the most obvious things was the need for Coderdojo mentors and members to share information and ideas and connect with each other to continue to help Coderdojo grow and sustain itself as a movement. So like all the best hackers, we are borrowing a concept that works really well on Twitter for teachers in Ireland and going to start #dojochat. This is only one way that we can stay connected across Coderdojo and we hope it helps to keep mentors and members talking and sharing ideas and stories. There are lots of other plans within Coderdojo, some of them we heard about at the conference and others in the pipeline, to improve the support for dojos and those looking to start.

What is it?
The first Thursday of the month at 9pm GMT/10pm CET/4pm EST/2pm PST, we will spend an hour on Twitter discussing one topic relevant to Coderdojo. So the very first #dojochat will be at 9pm GMT May 2nd 2013. All relevant tweets should be tagged with #dojochat and the topics will cover anything and everything related to starting, running, participating in, and supporting a dojo whether it’s admin, mentoring, technology, logistics….

How does it work?
One week before #dojochat, a brief survey of potential topics will be released so you can vote for what you would like to discuss. You can submit topics at any time to Karen (@karenboconnell) via Twitter or email. The day before #dojochat, the topic will be confirmed based on the survey and you can start tweeting. Karen will be online between 9 and 10pm GMT to open the topic and prompt discussion between participants.

Who can join in?
Anybody interested in Coderdojo – mentors, members, parents, supporters! We’d love to hear what you have to say and how we can help each other out.

I missed this week’s chat – can I catch up?
Hop on the #dojochat hashtag at any time and the conversations will be archived to Storify so you can look back along any chats you missed or want to revisit.

Tell me if you think this is a good idea or a bad idea or even a terrible idea – comment below or tweet @karenboconnell.