[Linux-aus] Request for Grant from Linux Australia for Ubertweak

[Elspeth Thorne]

Kylie Willison wrote:

>On Tue, 2006-09-12 at 12:41 +1000, Elspeth Thorne wrote:
>  
>
>>Date: 2006-09-12
>>
>>Project Name: Ubertweak, http://ubertweak.org.au
>>
>>
>>    
>>
>Hi Elspeth
>This is a great concept, I would like to see more of these camps around
>Australia!  Do you get many girls going to them?  How many students go
>to the camps?  What sort of activities do you do with the students?
>What level of experience is needed?  Is there any follow up or support
>for students after the camp.  Do the students bring their own computers
>or laptops?  Do they learn to install an operating system?  These
>questions are just for my own interest and curiosity.
>
>I would like to see Linux Australia support this grant request because
>the project's equipping young people and helping them realise their
>potential.  
>
>Kylie
>
>
>  
>
Hi Kyle,

I'm happy to answer your questions :) Please, if there is anything you 
want to know, feel free to ask!

We do get a few girls coming along; I believe we had 5 last year. One of 
which is coming along to the spring camp this year, which is good to 
see. Last year we had 42 students total, and in the Winter camp we had 
33 students. Currently we're looking at about 30 students for Spring as 
well, which is good to see. We are trying to raise female participation 
in camp, but it's a bit challenging.

We do a fairly wide range of activities. 3D game design, 3D modelling, 
Music Looping, Programming (Python this year), Computer Innards, Network 
basics, Video Editing, Web Design, Photo Manipulation, Lego Mindstorms 
amongst others. We don't assume that the students have been taught 
anything before, but we do get a wide range of experience, so we try to 
provide enough expertise so that students recieve the attention they 
need to either learn the basics or extend their abilities. In addition, 
the leaders spend hundreds of hours ahead of camp preparing the camp 
manual, which is currently clocking in at around 155 pages.

The students all recieve the leaders' contact details - due to policy 
regarding childcare we are unable to actively follow them up after camp 
unless they request it. That said, I keep in regular contact (mostly via 
IM) with a few past campers, as do other leaders.

We used to allow students to bring their own hardware, but after a few 
issues with thefts and breakages and the like, we no longer do this. 
However, we do give out Knoppix CDs (and perhaps Ubuntu CDs in the 
future) with clear instructions on how to install the software. The 
students are familiar with the knoppix desktop that we have created for 
them, because they use it for most of the week on camp. Also, this year 
there are plans to inform them of HUMBUG (http://humbug.org.au) so that 
if they run into trouble, they can come in and get help :)

With luck, if this camp is successful, we will be able to look into 
expanding into a third camp some time in the next couple of years, 
targeted at upper primary school kids.  We have also recieved some 
interest in possibly running an interstate camp, but don't yet have the 
resources (especially leaders) to run this.

I hope this answers your questions :)

Regards,

Elspeth.