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Ask Slashdot: Setting Up a Summer Camp Tech Center?
First time accepted submitter michaelknauf writes "I'm running a large summer camp that's primarily concerned with performing arts: music, dance, circus, magic, theater, art, and I want to add some more tech into the program. We already do some iOS game design with Stencyl. We also have an extensive model railroad and remote control car program and a pretty big computer lab (about 100 Apple machines). Our program provides all materials as part of tuition, so I've stayed away from robotics as a matter of cost, but I'd love to buy a 3D printer and do classes with that and the Arduino is cheap enough to make some small electronics projects sensible... where do I find the sort of people who could teach such a program as a summer gig? What projects make sense without spending too much cash on a per project basis but would be cool fun for kids and would teach them?"
The little bastards already spend too much time hunched over keyboards and phones as it is. Get them outside. They'll have their whole lives to spend in cubes.
Contact some ham radio clubs in the area. Its a good place to find people who like to experiment with electronics.
I recommend at least one computer. Also, computers these days require electricity and display monitors.
Furthermore, keyboards are very handy for interfacing with the computer.
Also you will need at least five dogs to ward off attackers who might come on the internet or the LAN to virus you. Big, scary barky dogs.
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wait, you have 100 apple systems and one of your main requirements is "without spending too much cash" ? :D
Rich
find a job/calling that suits you
allow the camp to flourish under a person who embraces it for what it is
maybe return as a camper one day
quadrocopters
Once again, Betteridge has the answer: No.
My non-nerdy daughter learned to make a website at summer camp. They used some WYSIWYG tools so the learning curve was shallow. They learned some Photoshop to prepare images. She loved it. She made a website about how to grow flowers.
My very-nerdy son did robotics at summer camp using Lego Mindstorms. He loved it, but it costs $$$, and may not appeal to the "music, dance, theater" crowd.
A 3D printer is a good idea and lots of fun for both nerds and artists. Since it is just for a few weeks, you might look at borrowing or renting the machine instead of buying.
where do I find the sort of people who could teach such a program as a summer gig?
This seems as if it answers itself, since the people who are most reliably available during the summer are students and teachers. You should probably look for contact info for higher-ups in the relevant departments (CS, CE, EE, etc.) at a couple of the local universities and ask them to circulate an e-mail with whatever you're looking for to their undergrad students (grad students are busy during summer, as are the professors). Such e-mails are fairly standard and a lot of students wouldn't mind having something —anything — that they can put on their resume as work experience if they didn't manage to line up an internship. And since it's a summer gig and it looks like you're providing housing, you can probably reach out a bit further, since college students will be willing to travel a bit.
You may always want to try local high schools as well, honestly. College students may be doing internships or traveling around, but high schoolers tend to stay more local, and for the level of stuff you're teaching, they can probably be trained pretty easily. Get in touch with the computer science or technology teachers from a few of the local high schools and ask them to check and see if any of their top students are interested in helping out kids over the summer. If the pay is right, you can probably expect a decent turnout.
Why do you want to add tech into fairly diverse offering? Is the camp trying to get more campers? Are you wanting to experiment? Why?
If you want to get more campers, why not teach programming on the 100 computers you already have?
If you want to experiment, I'd say speak to the other counselers and see where tech could help them (playwriting for drama, notation tools for music, etc.) and if you really want to get adventurous, pick up some Aurdinos and copies of one of the intro books and have the various existing disciplines adopt tech into their offerings.
Maybe a micro controller that runs the lights for a play, maybe they create an instrument in music lass, maybe they construct an interactive ate installation in art class.
Tech is not a destination, it is a tool to solve problems - find out what problems/opportunities the programs have and address them.
Robotics camps lready exist, why turn your camp into another one?
Ken
As in it can easily take 20 hours for a decent sized print on a Makerbot/Solidoodle/etc. Add in the fact that these printers are not perfect -- you will likely make about five 2 hour prints that end up cancelled before you get your object tuned correctly. Realistically, the kids may be out of the class each day before the printer bed heats up.
So a 3d printer in a class might work if the class works together on designing a single object, but the concept of each student being able to print their own objects is probably not going to work.
Keep in mind making a printable model, and getting it to print correctly, is a non-trivial task. Folks that own these popular low cost printers invest hundreds of hours in tuning and modifying them to get decent prints.
You might be better served by outsourcing the printing to a place that can print on a commercial machine and mail the parts back.
You're an arts summer camp... why are you making it tech?
Video editing and post-production
Audio/video encoding
Posting stuff online (though you kids probably know more about this than you already)
Sound composition
Lighting controls
Animation
I parents wanted their kids to go to tech camp, they would send them to tech camp.
A 3D printer requires making 3D models, which can require considerable take time and skill to create. The printers are also very slow and good for only very small objects in a reasonable time frame. As an alternate, I suggest you consider a laser cutter. These act as "printers" for 2D vector files, which are easy to create in drawing programs like Corel. The user's complex shapes cut from plastic by the machine can be glued together to make many interesting and fascinating art projects. The laser cutter is fast enough so many people can use it what seems to be nearly the same time. You can get a good one for $10 to $15k. An Epilog Legend Mini 24 ( http://www.epiloglaser.com/legend_mini24.htm ) would be a good choice. We bought one two years ago at the Institute and it became an instant hit, busy all the time, with everyone using it.
Try looking for a local maker community, you might find some people that if they are not willing to donate their time, might know of people that would.
The teach basic animation, stop motion animation, video game design, basic video editing, and probably some other stuff. They use all freeware tools on Windows laptops. Looking at their website, they seem to be actively exporting their stuff to other countries. Definitely worth a look.
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So your camp charges almost $12000 for the summer and you still don't have any money?
Don't dilute your camp's offerings with excessive technology. If parents are sending their kids to summer camp, it's because they want them to get OFF the computer, get active, and learn about the arts. Video game design is not an "art".
I believe today's generation of children needs even greater exposure to the real arts like music (orchestral and choral, not the shit they hear on the radio), dance (ballet and tap, not that "high school cheerleader dance team" bullshit), theater, etc. I'd understand if you wanted to add a very in-depth Photoshop/graphic design program as that's moreso art than it is technology, but iOS game design is hardly something a parent would consider "art" when camp registration rolls around.
As a theater tech, have you considered technical theater? Lighting design, sound design, set design.... All of which go with your seemingly arts based camp? There is plenty in that frame work that translates back into real world usefulness....
A good summer camp plans for all contingencies, and spending a quiet day working on tech stuff is a good option during a downpour. Save the hiking and backpacking for when it's sunny whenever possible.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
The NRA recommends you arm all councillers with at least carbine-sized assult rifles and flack jackets. Make sure they all have radios too. Arm the kids over 16 with handguns. And keep at least half a dozen anti-tank missiles in ready storage. All glass should be bulletproof, all doors and walls should be 5" thick steel, a full suite of motion detectors must be in place, panic buttons wired into the local DHS and Police circuits need to be on a 20' grid throughout the campus.. I think that about covers it. Oh, and get some PCs, too.
Bootstrap [http://www.BootstrapWorld.org] is a soup-to-nuts curriculum and software package, which teaches children the principles of programming and algebra by having them program their own videogames using an algebraic language (Racket). It's been around for years, has been successful with thousands of students in summer programs, afterschool settings, and is TOTALLY FREE. Apparently a bunch of schools are using it too, in both math classrooms and CS classrooms. It's more hardcore than the drag-and-drop stuff, but it definitely gets kids into the design aspect of programming.
There's a huge crossover (i've found) between circus geeks and tech geeks.
Igniting a passion for both in kids is no bad thing.
Why not have them try creating some basic props.
LED powered juggling balls, poi, that kind of thing.
Then you can draw on product design, tech and all kindsa other interesting angles.
The first LED poi I made for myself are still a much treasured possession (if looking a bit the worse for wear now)
Look at the list of hackerspaces, visit as many as you can find in the local area, and talk to as many people as you can. Most spaces don't have a spokesperson or overarching organization except what's necessary to keep the lights on, so making contact with individuals is important.
Seems like there's a lack of focus. I would pick a topic or three and just work on those.
Hi.
I think it is great that you have a camp that is well rounded in the arts and soon to be technology. I studied both music and physics in college, so I really appreciate that balance. Also, I ran a Technology Center at a Boy Scout Camp for 6 years, and am still involved in it today.
My personal philosophy was to introduce campers to aspects of technology that they probably wouldn't see at home or at school. My specialty is ham radio, so my center had was heavily bent toward that. Ham radio gave me a way to provide a hands on activity to scouts while teaching the basics of electronics, communications, history, ionospheric and space physics, just to name a few.
Other classes focused on electronics and soldering, astronomy, weather, nuclear science, space exploration, and computers. I'm pretty sure that many of the scouts walking through the door did not have the opportunity to use soldering irons, telescopes, and build and launch rockets at home or school. Many young people don't understand computers much beyond word processing and e-mail, so by providing any introduction into hardware fundamentals, operating systems, programming, and servers is also useful and interesting.
This is mostly a laundry list of different technology subjects, but maybe it will give you some good ideas as to what you might want to focus on.
Also, scouting makes building a curriculum easy... they have pre-defined requirements for all of their merit badges, along with very nice "pamphlets" which provide an excellent guide for completing the requirements and introducing the new topic. You can read the BSA requirements here: http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Merit_Badges. That and the pamphlets may be a useful resource.
One nice thing about technology is that there are often hobby organizations for each of the different subjects with people who are both skilled and willing to share time. For ham radio, visit http://www.arrl.org/ to find local clubs. Amateur astronomers and rocketeers also have similar clubs which can provide support. At my summer camp, I was able to bring in outside volunteers to provide ham radio license exams on a weekly basis, host star parties with large telescopes, and launch 6 to 8 ft tall rockets that required FAA clearance.
You may want to focus on one or two subjects to start off with. Hire the best person you can to serve as the main teacher. Hopefully this person is an excellent teacher and an expert in at least one of the subjects you are trying to focus on. Then, have them coordinate with local volunteers to enhance the program.
I hope that helps... best of luck with your camp!!!
...if you had purchased PCs, you would have saved a boatload of money compared to the Crapples you have, and perhaps you could have afforded robotics stuff.
Check out the School of Visual Arts, www.sva.edu. They have undergraduate and graduate programs that use these tools and systems.