Host Your Own Workshop

Overview

The following materials were used to plan this IAP course in January 2017.

Github

We were sponsored by GitHub Education with free private repos.

For the course we created a single repo and gave every student access to it. We populated it with simple html templates and folders for each student and group. The single repo of 2016 IAP provides additional archived information for the workshop in 2016.

Promotion

This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.2017 Workshop Flyer (PDF — 1.1MB)

This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.2016 Workshop Flyer (PDF)

Hardware

In general, every one to two students need an arduino, a small breadboard, some jumper wires, an LED, a resistor, and a push button. With those supplies the students can learn all about the Arduino programming environment, the concept of circuits, and mircocontrollers as voltage senders and checkers. On top of that it is nice to have a collection of different input and output sensors so students can form small groups to explore other components beyond buttons and LEDs. Then groups will select their own components to be ordered for their projects depending on the budget you have.

Each new year, we need to replenish our supply of hardware before the start of class.

Kyle first sent out an email to all the instructors:

"Here is the list of supplies that we need to restock for the Arduino class, Amazon/Ebay/Microcenter links appreciated for me to order things (easy tax free orders for me). We should try to keep this under $1000. Also, feel free to add things if there is something else you think of.

  • jumper wires with cute end caps
  • 10–20 breadboards (medium)
  • labeled resistors, variety pack + a bunch for LEDs (100–200 ohm)
  • 30 USB 2.0 type-A cables
  • 15–20 Arduino boards
  • 5–10 multimeters
  • servos (general supply for curious students)
  • buzzers (general supply for curious students)
  • 2 sunfounder sensor kits."

Then we all collaborated on a shared online spreadsheet to add supplies and links.

Hardware for Student Projects

Hardware ordering. Student teams filled in a shared online spreadsheet for all the parts they wanted us to order over the weekend.

Email

We setup a mailing list for the course and signed up students for the list. This allowed us to communicate to the class as a whole, and allowed students to communicate with each other during the course.

Confirming registration

"Just confirming that you are enrolled in the IAP course collaborative design with Arduino class for IAP. (You can unsubscribe yourself from this list if you can no longer participate)."

A Few Days Before the Class

"This is the email list for our IAP collaborative design with Arduino class.

We are looking forward to meeting everyone.

Before arriving on the first day please download and install the Arduino IDE on the laptop computer you will be using for the class.

We will do a brief intro to Github as one option for collaborating with others on your projects, so please also download the GitHub client and setup a github account if you do not already have one.

We will walk you through an introductory Arduino tutorial about building a digitally-controlled flashlight the first few days, then you will break out into teams for a small two day project meant to help you learn through collaboration. We'll present the course outline in more detail during the first day."

Supply lists

"Please add a new tab for your team and add links to all of your parts to a shared online spreadsheet.

You can order from either Amazon or Microcenter (in stock in Boston/Cambridge in Massachusetts, USA only).

Your budget is $40/person. So a larger team has a larger budget. You can also share parts between teams if you have to buy more than you need.

Also, please add all of your Arduino code for the mini-projects to your team folder on GitHub.

Feel free to document your circuits using Fritzing, and/or photograph your breadboard.

And upload to Github."

After Short Project

"If you borrowed equipment and brought anything home with you from the class, then please return it before Friday. We use this equipment to teach other free workshops through the year for college, high school, middle school, and elementary school students. We run these workshops on a very small budget and will not be able to replace all the fundamental equipment like sensors, breadboards, and arduinos if they are not returned after each workshop. Please allow us to continue running workshops by returning anything that you borrow from the class."

Registration Forms

We published links to our online registration forms on our marketing posters and the IAP courses website. This allowed us to get an accurate count of students and get their email addresses for the mailing list.

Below provides a summary of the information collected from the online registration forms:

  • Name
  • Email
  • How much previous experience do you have with Arduino programming?
    • I have no previous experience (70%)
    • I have built projects with a team (21%)
    • I have built projects on my own (8%)
    • I am experienced and can help others (1%)
  • How much previous experience do you have with computer programming?
    • I have no previous experience (18%)
    • I have done some online courses (23%)
    • I have completed class projects with guidance (47%)
    • I have coded a complete project without guidance (12%)
  • How much previous experience do you have with electronics?
    • I have no previous experience (20%)
    • I have learned about resistors,batteries, and simple circuits (40%)
    • I have constructed simple circuitsusing wires and breadboards (30%)
    • I have used advance components like shift registers and op-amps (10%)
  • How did you hear about the session?
    • Browsing the IAP website
    • A SUTD representative told me
    • A friend told me
    • I saw a poster on campus
  • What is your status
    • Undergraduate student (52%)
    • Graduate student (32%)
    • Faculty (3%)
    • Staff (3%)
    • Other (10%)