Chapter 1: My Webinar Journey

In this section, I will share my experience conducting a programming webinar for children, detailing both the challenges faced and the outcomes achieved.

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Section 1.1: Overview of the Webinar

While I don’t consider myself a traditional teacher or mentor, I felt compelled to share the knowledge I’ve accumulated throughout my programming career. The webinar wasn’t heavily advertised; instead, I reached out to students I already knew who were interested in learning programming.

The classes were conducted at a local library where we focused on C++. We developed an application named "test," which posed various questions and humorously determined whether a participant was a "unicorn" or "schizophrenic."

Subsection 1.1.1: Key Considerations

The course was designed for intermediate learners, meaning the participants were already familiar with me. If this was their first encounter, I anticipated that out of ten interested students, eight might drop out. Thus, having a large pool of potential attendees was essential.

The pricing was slightly lower than typical classes, and I promised prompt answers to questions in our group chat. We held four sessions, each lasting about two hours on Thursday evenings, and luckily, all participants were local, eliminating timezone conflicts.

Chapter 2: Platform Requirements for a Successful Webinar

The first video titled "Coding in the Elementary Classroom" explores effective strategies for teaching coding to young learners. It highlights engaging methods and resources that can make learning enjoyable and accessible for kids.

The second video, "Scratch Hour of Code Webinar for Educators," offers insights into using Scratch for teaching programming concepts. It provides useful tips for educators looking to integrate coding into their classrooms.

To ensure the webinar ran smoothly, the platform needed several key features:

• Desktop sharing capability (essential for showing code in real-time).
• A chat function (to facilitate interaction, as listening alone is insufficient).
• Video recording (this was crucial since internet connectivity can be unreliable, allowing students to catch up on missed content).
• A simple registration process (students should be able to quickly log back in if needed).
• The option for students to activate their microphones and share their screens (sometimes, explaining issues via chat can be challenging).
• A free trial period (this helped students assess their internet capability and compatibility with the platform).

With these requirements in mind, it was feasible to rent a platform for about $149.90 per month. While free options like YouTube exist, they posed difficulties in controlling access, which I found problematic.

Chapter 3: Outcomes and Reflections

From the four participants, one experienced internet issues, but all sessions were recorded for later viewing. Responding to questions through social media took nearly as long as the webinars themselves, as students needed guidance while engaging in hands-on programming tasks.

Interestingly, participants were more interactive compared to traditional classes, likely due to the absence of distractions among the small group. Midway through the course, one student faced a technical issue when their laptop charger malfunctioned, leading them to switch tasks from coding to drafting project requirements.

Despite having only four students, there was still a small profit, as the cost of the webinar platform was significantly lower than renting a physical classroom.

These experiences illustrate that online teaching can be rewarding and offers substantial learning opportunities.

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