[Noisebridge-discuss] Charging for classes at Noisebridge

[Daniel C. Silverstein]

+1

My experiences with Python class wrt "serious students" as well as the
effort required to teach a class are similar to Josh's.  I suspect
that, between Asheesh and my tenures, PyClass may be the next longest
running class after ML Wednesday.  I have never charged for PyClass,
and have no plans to do so, but, nonetheless, would like the
flexibility to do so, particularly if I engage in 1 on 1 tutoring.

(Dan)

On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 11:34 AM, Josh Myer <josh at joshisanerd.com> wrote:
> In another thread, I'm seeing a lot of confusion about whether or not
> Noisebridge bans for-pay classes.  It seems like they're frowned upon, but
> nobody has come out and said so.  Personally, I think it's important that we
> don't ban people from using money as a tool or instrument of exchange within
> the space.  I love that most events are free, and believe they're very
> important (I ran one for a long time).  But, there are many benefits to
> having slightly more formal, for-pay sessions in the space.  These sessions
> shouldn't be specially regulated, nor should we impose a formal set of
> tariffs on them; they should be treated like every other class or event at
> the space.
> There are a few people who are opposed to having for-pay classes at
> Noisebridge, and I'd love it if they'd chime in here.  I only know of one or
> two people who have stated outright that they themselves are opposed to
> having for-pay classes in the space, and their voices are conspicuously
> absent from the discussion.  I also haven't heard anyone arguing against a
> new policy which would disallow or restrict for-pay classes at the space, so
> I wanted to articulate some reasons we shouldn't ban for-pay classes.
> I believe that for-pay classes are a huge benefit to Noisebridge.  In fact,
> Noisebridge benefited from one I ran last weekend.  Several people new to
> the space came out to learn how to fix PCBs, and left really liking
> Noisebridge and what it had to offer them.  After the workshop, I donated
> $50 as a way of saying thank-you for making a space available, and to help
> offset the solder and electricity we used.  There's no way we used more than
> $5 in consumables, so $45 of that donation can go directly to pay
> noisebridge's rent.   Adding a reasonable tuition to the session helped
> ensure the above was possible.
> Making the class for-pay helped filter for people who were serious about
> being there.  That said, I wasn't a hardass about it, and had one person
> RSVP paying less than the materials cost me.  The fees everyone else paid
> let me offer a few below-cost seats, and I'm really happy to offer them to
> anyone interested enough to email me off-list about it.
> This "making sure people are serious" thing is a concern for me.  At one
> point, I'd given more Noisebridge workshops than anyone besides Mitch, and
> probably still hold that record.  I started the old Machine Learning
> Wednesdays, which is still the longest-running weekly class at noisebridge
> after Circuit Hacking Mondays, despite my stopping a year ago.  It brought
> lots of people into the space, and was the first time a couple dozen people
> came to the space.  From there, we got 5~10 new members, which was great,
> and I was happy to do it for that.  That said, I could never do a series of
> talks building up to a single goal.  Because people weren't really invested
> in the workshop, they were very casual about attending every week. Even my
> ever-awesome co-founders* would randomly skip out in the middle of a two- or
> three-session project, because they only had "fun" invested in it.
> I also found that people would jump into things we had clearly labelled as
> over their heads, because all they had to lose was time.  Think of how many
> times you grab a flyer without being really interested, or download a free
> album only to listen to the first half of the first track.  I appreciate
> people going out and sampling new things, and love leading introductory
> sessions!  But, if people's first experience with Machine Learning was the
> third stage in implementing neural networks, it's nearly impossible for me
> to bring them up to speed while still helping everyone get to the next step.
> My final reason to charge for seminars or classes is that they're hard work.
>  I spent a day preparing for the green wire workshop, and, depending on how
> you do the accounting, lost money on the day.  I had fun teaching eleven
> folks an art, but it was hard work to plan, assemble kits, and actually
> teach.  ML Wednesday often left me totally exhausted, but I had a good time
> doing it (I also didn't allow myself to do a whole lot of prep, partly to
> avoid burn-out).  Getting paid something for that time is a way to feel
> appreciated, and motivate yourself to prepare better lessons/sessions.  More
> to the point, saying that someone can't charge for teaching is like saying
> someone can't charge for a haircut or cooking. Teaching is a very valuable
> service, hard work, and not something that everyone can do.
> Why do I care so much?  I've been contemplating teaching an applied
> electronics class at noisebridge.  Once I find a textbook I like, I'm
> willing to do it.  But, there will be limits on how many students I'll take,
> along with some requirements of those students.  They need to actually read
> the book, do their homework, pay for (or provide their own) materials, and
> pay some tuition for my prep time.  People who can't afford some of the
> above are welcome, but they have to demonstrate that they're serious.  True,
> there's no way for me to stop people from listening at the space (and,
> honestly, that part doesn't concern me), nor asking questions.  But, if
> someone isn't participating in the class in a serious fashion, they're going
> to inhibit everyone else from getting something out of the class, and I'll
> have a talk with them.  If this means giving them back the rest of their
> tuition, I'm happy to do that.
> I think the space has a lot to gain from embracing the occasional for-pay
> workshop or class, and we would be doing ourselves a great disservice by
> adding a new rule to ban or regulate them preemptively.
> --
> Josh Myer 650.248.3796
> josh at joshisanerd.com
>
> * a shout out to Jean, h0mee and verbal for all their hope getting things
> running and keeping them going, and to all the new folks making the
> reincarnation a consistent event
>
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