WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?
We’re experimenting with teaching a free 6-week workshop in Minecraft modding with JavaScript. It will run Feb 21 – Mar 28. Because there has been so much interest, we’re running a lottery for seats. See the official rules.
IMPORTANT: While CoderDojo is always free to attend and we do our best to provide loaner equipment for kids in need, this workshop will require kids to bring their own equipment and software to the party.
INSTRUCTIONS
1: Enter your e-mail address in the form below and click the “Check my address” button, so we can check it against a list of past “buyer” addresses we compiled from the free Eventbrite orders.
2: If the address checks out, you’ll get 3 slots to enter the names of kids.
• You can only enter each child once.
• You can only enter children you are related to or have guardianship of.
(son, daughter, grandchild, cousin, niece, nephew, younger sibling)
• So if you only have one child to enter, just enter their name in the first slot.
3: Click the “Enter my kid(s)” button and wait for a confirmation it’s done.
4: We’ll notify you at the email address you entered with if your child wins a seat.
Sign-ups are closed. We will draw the names on Feb 2 and notify parents.
Requirements, Frequent Questions, Troubleshooting, and Rules
REQUIREMENTS
This workshop requires the following:
• a basic command of JavaScript
(variables, operators, loops, functions, object methods and properties)
• a Mojang account with a license for Minecraft for the PC
• a laptop to run it on with administrator priveleges (or a parent on hand who can temporarily provide them)
We will not provide loaner laptops or free copies of Minecraft.
This is a six-week workshop and your child will be required to attend each week.
Frequently Asked Questions
About the process
Since there are three slots, can I enter my child’s name three times?
Nope. That would be cheating. We take a dim view of cheating.
If I enter multiple kids will they all win or lose together?
No. Each child has an individual shot. But the one who gets to be in the workshop can come home and teach the others what he/she learned.
What if I forget to reserve tickets one week during the workshop and my winning child ends up on the waiting list?
Each child who is admitted to the workshop will have tickets pre-reserved for them, a parent, and up to one sibling (who would attend a different room). The pre-reservation will last for the duration of the workshop, so long as you meet the attendance requirement.
In simpler English: If your child wins, you don’t have to worry about reserving tickets for the 6 weeks the workshop runs, so long as you show up each week.
What’s the attendance requirement?
This is a six-week workshop and every child is expected to attend all 6 weeks.
We’re going to try to have some handouts for each week, so we’ll e-mail you any workshop materials we can if your child misses once. If your child misses twice, they will be asked to leave the workshop (c’mon, they’ll have missed 1/3 of the sessions).
Troubleshooting
What if I never signed up for CoderDojo Tickets before?
Then you can’t enter your child in the lottery. We’re sorry, but we want to give the families who come out and support us a better chance of winning, at least during this first run of the workshop. Families who have not come to Dojo will have to wait. The list we’re using was compiled on January 17th, 2015.
It says I’m not on the list, but I’ve come to an event.
Troubleshooting tips:
• Did you use a different address when reserving tickets?
• Did another person in your family reserve them with their email address?
• Login to your Eventbrite account and see what address you’re using.
If none of those work, were you a walk-in without a ticket or did you come in 2013 when we were using Meetup? If so, we never got your e-mail address. We’re not going to manually add you. You’ll need to go through the ticketing process at least once and try again the next time we do this.
Awww gee, I really did come to an event. Can’t you add me to the list?
Nope. Not this time. This is the first time we’re using this sign-up process. If there’s an error in the software, we’ll fix it, but we’re not going to make any special exceptions this time around.
I got an error that the names didn’t meet the validation rules? What’s that?
To try to prevent attacks, we only accept the letters A-Z, the numbers 0-9, spaces, underscores, apostrophes, periods, and dashes. We understand that your child’s name may have characters not on that list, but you can always correct the spelling if they win. To enter them, only use those letters and punctuation marks.
OFFICIAL RULES
Sign-ups are Jan 24 – Feb 1. Winners will be selected by random drawing on or after 12:01 a.m. February 2 and will be contacted the week of Feb 2.
Admission to the workshop has no monetary value and is NOT TRANSFERRABLE. Seattle CoderDojo will pick additional alternate winners at the time of drawing. If a winner is unable to accept their invitation to the workshop, it will go to one of the alternates selected by Seattle CoderDojo.
To show appreciation for those who have been long term and consistent supporters of Seattle CoderDojo, families will be assigned between 1 and 8 entries into the lottery per child. Data on the weighting formula to determine the number of tickets per child is confidential and will not be shared.
You must have previously ordered free tickets to a Seattle CoderDojo event (occurring January 17th, 2015 or earlier) via Eventbrite to enter a child in the lottery. As of January 17th, there were 1483 qualifying email addresses.
You must be the parent or guardian of the child(ren) you enter, or related to them as a cousin, sibling, aunt, or uncle.
Let’s dispense with the legalese and say: We at Seattle CoderDojo are doing our best. We’re a bunch of volunteers trying to do something nice for people and the only reason we’re doing this lottery is to try to fairly distribute a limited resource that is in high demand. Honestly, we could just pick our favorite kids and tell everyone else to take a walk. Or we could just not hold this workshop at all to avoid the headache.
If your child doesn’t get into the workshop, you think the lottery was unfair or broken, the workshop doesn’t happen, your child is asked to leave the workshop for not meeting requirements, etc., you agree not to sue us or anyone involved with us. You participate in this with the full understanding that stuff can go wrong or not go the way you want it to and you fully accept that risk and its consequences.