Second intro session, April 23

Our second intro session last Saturday was if anything more successful than the first, even given the initial logistical glitches such as the campus being officially closed for Easter and the very grumpy security guard showing his displeasure at having to open up the lab and lifts for our group (even though we had booked). Of particular note was:

- signs of communication and interaction between participants, especially some with whom we've worked before and for whom this was a first;

- Trish's excellent coordination and support work with the parents

We're on track now to run the first weekly sessions on a Wed or Thurs afternoon after school, starting the second week of May.

Here are some photos that Dale took:

Images from our first session

Some images from our first session.

One of our teen mentors doing some 3d design.

One participant exploring Second Life.

A couple of the mentors and a couple of participants.

One participant playing a flash game.

An overview of the room used, it's 16 floors up on Flinders St.

First introductory session, 16 April - some observations

Set in the relatively slick surrounds of the gaming lab at VU's Flinders St campus, our first session is underway as I write. So far, so good - participants seem to be engaged with a variety of technologies: Second life (for the building of avatars and environments), Spore, Minecraft (a new discovery...kind of a cross between a first person game and a virtual world involving mining, costs $15 to buy and install on a server - thanks Sean for installing it), Crayon Physics, Flash games - and in one case, looking at the bones of the technical setup of the lab including shared drives, registry keys etc.

Almost everyone showed up bar one (and a couple of Gippslanders who will be coming next week)

We have five paid mentors in the room - Dale, Craig, Justin, Sean and Tung - plus Nathan as a peer mentor.


The mood is quiet, calm, and positive, with everyone seemingly into what they're doing and quite a bit of discussion between participants, mentors and parents.

Logo and flier for our first event

Finally we have a logo for The Lab.

Thanks Kaan.

White bg version.

Black bg version(with border on the head).


And here is our flier, and first official activity, which will be held during the next school holidays.

How the room is looking

We are now planning to start sessions in April(during school holidays), so last weekend we had another go at finishing the walls and roof.
Here is how it looks at the moment - as you can see it's a bit of a mess;

The remaining work includes;
- Carpet
- Wood for the corners and to cover joins
- A wooden plank running around the room which we can attach screens and frames to(we need to hire a man)
- Covers for the lighting
- Blinds/curtains

Some more stories from the local papers this week

More media - local Leader

Here's today's article in the local paper:

Connections made

Our Asperger's club idea, and associated publicity, has generated a lot of interest and contact from others. It seems that a lot of the people we speak to think we're on the right track - especially the parents of kids with Aspergers, which is probably the most heartening and useful feedback of all. Experts are important to consult, but really for us there's no greater expertise than having struggled with the realities of trying to get the best outcomes for one's child.

We've learned that:

- Western Autistic School had technology workshops planned in 2010, with a focus not too different from ours, but, accroding to the parent who told us about it, had to cancel them because they couldn’t find a teacher. (see flyer attached that the parent sent us)



- WAS now runs the Base Room at Essendon/Keilor College - one parent we spoke to said this is a great program for ASD kids, and her kids attend. More info here: http://www.westernautisticschool.vic.edu.au/services.asp

- Debney Park Secondary College is starting a new technology project this year for ASD and other kids, funded by a large grant...the student support person got in touch totally independently through the media - not knowing that we have already worked at the school on previous projects for two years. We look forward to working with him very much.

Visiting the Computer Clubhouse

This afternoon we met with Tara from the Computer Clubhouse in Napier St, Fitzroy.

Stefan was involved in the creation of this clubhouse and this was his first visit in some time.

The purpose of the visit was to learn how they operate these days and the reasons why, to learn from their experience.

Things we learnt included;

- They run from 3pm-6.30pm plus extra late sessions during the week.

- They have around 20 kids in most afternoons.

- When kids come in they sign on and sign off. This allows them to track when kids are in and reassures parents. Kids must be members to come in.

- There is a phone for kids to call their parents on.

- Kids aren't allowed to leave after 5pm without a guardian.

- Much of the help seems to be about helping kids with homework, and there seemed to be a real need for it. At least one kid was waiting for help when we were there, another was working on some school work.

- Mentors help to train mentors.

- Kids help to train kids.

- Mentors cannot contact the children outside of hours due to lack of transparency or any way of recording it. I think we can come up with a technical solution that will allow this.

- Mentors are given an orientation of the space.

- Some of the pcs don't have internet access, Tara mentioned it might be a distraction for what they are trying to achieve. She also mentioned there was more original artwork being produced offline as opposed to derivative.

- Facebook is banned.

- Mathletics is very popular.

- There is a music studio with a keyboard, mic, monitor speakers and mixing desk.

- One young girl showed us some stop motion, she said she was shy but did very well.

- They had an exhibition themed 'respect' - where kids did a range of multimedia art.

Meeting the lawyer and Project Schedule template

Today we met with a lawyer at Victoria University, Cameron Murrell.

Cameron was extremely helpful, and helped explain how we should go about creating a project schedule(here is a link to the file), which covers aspects like;

- Creating a strategic partnership agreement

- Project outline

- People involved

- Term

- Parties obligations

- Fees

- Reviews and reporting

- Special conditions

We also spoke about the possible risks;

- Inadvertant injury to kids

- Damage to equipment

Other points included;

- He recommended we keep other parties who are hiring people in the space(at the moment Monash) well informed.

- Currently the people who are working in the space are covered by workcover, or if they are contractors it's their own responsibility. That will change when we have members of the public(kids and their families) attending, and we will need insurance.

- We need ethics approval from VU.

- If we have student teachers in, we need a 'learning in the workplace agreement' in which case those student teachers will be covered by VU's public liability insurance.

- I need to speak to our 'landlord'(Michael) about health and safety, and fire issues. What is already covered and what is not(there was a fire hydrant placed outside our door recently so I am hoping that is all up to date).