Lessons learned from 3 months of online collaborative hands-on activities

Over the past 3 months, I've participated in events and recurring sessions with an enthusiastic body of learners where we collaboratively explored the pressing challenge of transcending physical spaces when engaging in hands-on learning of electronics and computer programming.

Since mid-March, we have had weekly online informal learning sessions with a group caringly called "Ruby Coders" and we had the chance to share what we do in these sessions during the Post-Arduino Day event and in an Arduino Education EduVision episode.

Most recently, I had the opportunity to guide a large group of learners, more than 150 from my Alma Mater in India, in their first steps about electronics and computer programming using the Arduino platform (microcontroller board, programming language, and programming environment) and the Tinkercad Circuits online simulator - the Arduino@home initiative.

Here are some key takeaways from my experiences:

- Adapting to the current social limitations requires prioritizing designing learning experiences over the design and transmission of learning content. Learners are humans that are facing a very difficult emotional and psychological challenge

- Contextualizing the notion of collaboration depends more on the group of learners than on the imagination of the Instructional Designer. Now is a time to wear the observer hat and capitalize on and replicate what works organically rather than focusing on imposing a particular collaborative process

- It is imperative to be mindful of barriers to access but it is equally or even more important to be mindful of the quality of said access. Having a device capable of connecting to the internet and having a powerful computer and a fast internet connection are not the same

All in all, we are living in unprecedented times. Times that require courage, perseverance, and inventiveness. But, most of all, we are living at a time where we need to be more mindful of the humans we're design learning for.

PS: Thanks to everyone who direct or indirectly supported me and gave me an opportunity. A special thanks to my supervisor Dr. Ann-Louise Davidson for your never-ending guidance and support and to the #rubycoders and extended group that inspires and shapes my thinking: Houda Jawhar, Nathalie Duponsel, Abe Assem Kamel, Farnaz Gholami, Cat Scut, Sandrine Lambert, Arezu Jamshidi and Aniklet Zefi

You guys rock!