This afternoon I gave a very short introduction to computer programming at Trade School. I focused on JavaScript as a language to start with, mainly because there’s essentially nothing to install and there are many practical uses to knowing a little JS.
Here is my slide deck. I’ve also posted some example code and the original Keynote file to GitHub.
Incidentally, it looks like the last presentation I posted here was for last year’s Trade School workshop on WordPress.
This weekend is going to be busy! I’m participating in Bushwick Open Studios (with two shows!) and I’m also teaching a session at ITP Camp.
Patrick Winston is a professor at Harvard who gave a great lecture on how to give a great lecture.
He emphasizes how to start a lecture, cycling in on the material, using verbal punctuation to indicate transitions, describing “near misses” that strengthen the intended concept, and asking questions. He also talks about using the blackboard, overhead projections, props, and “how to stop.”
I was reminded of this after seeing some 404 errors in my server logs to a podcast version of the videos I put together, but forgot to transfer to my new server. To download these into iTunes (and onto your video-enabled iPod), go to the Advanced menu, choose Subscribe to Podcast and enter: http://phiffer.org/etc/how-to-speak.xml
Tonight I’ll be giving an introductory presentation on using WordPress as part of the Trade School workshop series. Unfortunately my session is already full, but I’d like to do this again in the future (perhaps for The Public School?). In any case, here are my presentation slides (pdf).
Trade School has an interesting model: students bring an item or perform a task in exchange for the teacher’s time. In my case these objects (no tasks in my case) fall into two categories: personal enjoyment and materials for my projects. They range in “material value,” but the point for me isn’t so much that I get a fair exchange. Besides, our society is really bad at arriving at a reliable price on education.