It started with an idea of teaching a group of housewives. Later, two engineering students were added with a thought that it could help them build something to showcase in their resume. A young working professional also added in view of an upcoming assignment in the company she works with. Three high school kids were added with an assumption that this may help them understand, visualize and create something early in their education. And, with a bit of reluctance and for fun, added four 6th grade kids!
A heterogeneous group formed unexpectedly representing age groups 10 – 12, 13 – 15, 18 – 22 and 35 – 45. And the topic was “Website Designing using WordPress“. The participants were from families i know and are in my close circles.
The day one of the program kick started yesterday. To my surprise, it clicked with all the age group instantly! A special note of thanks to the extremely simple and engaging content from www.code.org.
I witnessed a rare opportunity where all participants are relatively new to a topic and displayed the same enthusiasm! The young people seem to have loved it and connected really well. While my expectation is “all learn something new” and “get a direction in pursing their interest in this area”, the pressure is now on me to retain the momentum and the interest levels throughout the program, I see a potential opportunity to establish a terrific foundation for their future and could be a game changer!
I would like to thank all the families for readily participating in this program and giving me an opportunity to learn and witness this event.
Experiment Results:
The program completed today and all participants came out with flying colors! Here are some interesting outcome:
- The new generation clicks with a technology topic, especially the ones they can practice and visualize.
- Housewives managed to find some time in their tight schedule and made sure they learn something new. They completed their day task before the class. Immense dedication and a set a great example!
- Children between 10 to 12 years were too good but needed someone to ensure infrastructure issues are taken care. The kids were curious and asked many great questions and finished all practice assignments on time. At this age, i would have hesitated to ask any questions! They surely the future of this country.
- The young people (between 13 to 22) did not have any questions, as they were on auto pilot. Show them once and they understand and do it! They speak less but do more!
- The success to this program is dedicated to the parents as well as they were the backbone! All a kid need is trust in the child and parent’s support to learn.
- The participants were punctual! All on time. None missed a single class.
- Practice make the learning interesting. All participants had their individual lab to practice what was taught. Participants took the online test as well and completed the learning in all aspects.
- The participants said they are able to understand behind the scenes of “how websites work“. They are motivated to explore more! Few have already planned to have their own websites (couple of them making it an eCommerce enabled)
- To summarize, all seem to have learnt something new and have received a direction if they wish to pursue further. Objective accomplished!
I conclude by saying, this program could work and I am now ready to reach corners of India teach the underprivileged & underexposed a new IT skill that could help in their self development!
Author: Raghuraman Kadambi
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/unexpected-experiment-underway-raghuraman-kadambi/
Image credit: Lucélia Ribeiro / CC BY-SA