Part of running a hackerspace is doing classes, events and workshops. Classes generally involved a teacher (and TA) and slides or a presentation. Workshops and Events are different from classes, and aren’t covered here. It’s sometimes hard to set rates and costs for classes, and it’s a tricky thing to make classes easy and affordable, but to make enough to support the space, and give people giving the class satisfaction of doing something worth the scratch.

I’ve heard some advice from different spaces on how to plan classes and costs, and (for me) one of the toughest parts was coming up with a decent cost for classes. My personal guidelines for the ‘don’t-expect-to-make-money’ classes (take it or leave it) is below. I use this for my own classes and events, and find it useful. If you also do classes or events, feel free to give us feedback on how you price yours, either by leaving a comment on the weblog, or updating the page on our wiki with your guidelines.
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To paraphrase the course description for MIT’s Practical Electronics Open Course Ware:

“You can build most any damn thing if you understand a few basic electronics concepts and follow a few basic rules”

“Teh Art of Electronics” (sic,TM) is about teaching you those concepts and rules.  Each class will present basic electronics material and conclude with a lab period where you’ll build actual, working devices in order to learn practical fabrication and debugging skills, while reinforcing your intuitive understanding of the course material.

The course will be based loosely on MIT’s “Practical Electronics” course.  By the end, you should be able to design and build your own circuits (up to a surprising level of complexity) and the world of electronic design will be substantially demystified.

We recommend that you purchase a copy of “The Art of Electronics”, by Horowitz and Hill, but it’s not mandatory.  We’ll furnish all components, reading materials, tutelage etc. that you need to perform the coursework and the corresponding labs.

We are currently planning five Sunday sessions, 1 PM to 4 PM, starting April 4.   See “Intro to Electronics” in the Hive 76 Calendar for preliminary, session-by-session details on course content.

Tickets here

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Linux Install Class Sunday March 28

Tux


Click here for updated class info!

For people curious about Linux and looking for a friendly environment to give it a go, we’re offering a Linux Install class. We’ll go over what Linux is, why open source software is Kind Of A Big Deal, and help get new users up and running. The class is woman-friendly, but open to all. Instructors are Maggie Avener, Technical and Training Organizer at Prometheus Radio Project, and Stephanie Alarcon, sysadmin for UPenn and Hive76 hanger-on, with help from other Hive76 Linux enthusiasts. Cost is free to $30, sliding scale/pay what you can. It’s all happening on Sunday, March 28, 2010, 10am – 3pm. We’ll post a syllabus soon. Any questions, feel free to write to steph@hive76.org .

Class Requests

Hive76 is gearing up to talk about classes over the next few days, and figure out exactly what we want to offer for classes. This post is an Open Thread to give us feedback on class ideas. (‘Open Thread’ means there isn’t much to say in the post, but we would like people to give us input in the comments.)

Classes we’ll probably do:

  • Makerbot
  • Python (easy and complex)
  • Guitar Effects Pedals
  • Basic Microcontrollers
  • how to teach a class

Classes we’ll try to do (but could use some help):

  • Blender 3D
  • Basic server wrangling
  • Fabrication with several fab machines

Do you have other class ideas for us? Do you want to teach a class here (for free, or for some extra scratch?) Leave us a comment, join the mailing list, or just email us your ideas.

 

Python Programming on Feb 22nd

We are running a workshop on Feb. 22nd about getting started with Python. We will help you get Python installed and setup, and get you working on some great initial projects to get your feet wet. This class is best for people with some programming experience in *any* language, but can be taken by someone without any experience at all. The workshop is a measly $5 suggested donation to cover snacks,etc. If you really can’t afford that, we have $0 tickets available too.

You will need to bring your own computer (Mac/Linux/Windows) and your curiosity. Bonus points if you bring a snack for the people running the workshop! It’s be quick, it’ll be fun, and you will walk away knowing how to build some cool stuff using your new tools. This class is brought to you by Hive76, specifically by Phillip and Far.

Dive into programming Python:
Mon, February 22, 6:30pm – 8:00pm
915 Spring Garden St (Suite #519) – Hive76 Headquarters

Register Now
 
Get Academic tickets
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Guitar Effects 101 – again

Its Alive!Back By Popular Demand:
Build Your Own Effect Pedal!
Where: Hive76 (915 Spring Garden)
When: Sunday, January 10 at 1:00 PM
Cost: $50
Open to all abilities, ages 14+.

Hive76 has wanted to host an introductory electronics class for some time now. But instead of teaching folks how to solder together some dinky LED circuit, we decided to teach them how to make vintage guitar effect pedals!

Whether you are an old hand on the DIY electronics scene, or if you have never touched a soldering iron before, you will leave this class with some learnings about electronics, invention, and music, and, best of all, your very own home-brewed Tube Screamer clone, a classic distortion pedal if there ever was one.

For more info, contact jack@hive76.org
Print out the flyer here.

Register Now
Get Academic tickets
 

Guitar Effects 101

Its Alive!
Build Your Own Effect Pedal!
Where:  Hive76 (915  Spring Garden)
When:  Monday, December 7th
Cost:  $50 (purchase tickets)
Open to all abilities, ages 14+.

Hive76 has wanted to host an introductory electronics class for some time now.   But instead of teaching folks how to solder together some dinky LED circuit,  we decided to teach them how to make vintage guitar effect pedals! 

Whether you are an old hand on the DIY electronics scene, or if you have never touched a soldering iron before,  you will leave this class with some learnings about electronics, invention, and music, and, best of all, your very own home-brewed Tube Screamer clone, a classic distortion pedal if there ever was one.

For more info, contact jack@hive76.org
Print out the flyer here.

 

Guitar Effects 101

Its Alive!
Build Your Own Effect Pedal!
Where:  Hive76 (915  Spring Garden)
When:  Monday, December 7th
Cost:  $50

Hive76 has wanted to host an introductory electronics class for some time now.   But instead of teaching folks how to solder together some dinky LED circuit,  we decided to teach them how to make vintage guitar effect pedals! 

Whether you are an old hand on the DIY electronics scene, or if you have never touched a soldering iron before,  you will leave this class with some learnings about electronics, invention, and music, and, best of all, your very own home-brewed Tube Screamer clone.

Open to all abilities,  ages 14+.

For more info, contact jack@hive76.org
Print out the flyer here.

 

Gameboy Hacking

tmp_gboy_classWe has a pretty awesome Gameboy Hacking class Saturday that got some good interest, especially following 8static the night before. We ended up with 9 folks walking away with an old school GameBoy fully decked out to be a sweet chiptunes platform. The folks from nonfinite electronics walked us through the mods, and made sure everyone walked away happy.

It’s good to put you money where your mouth is, so you want to grab some GBA parts, or USB Programmable cards for Gameboy, may I suggest buying from folks that run cheap classes for fans?

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8static has it’s one year party this coming Saturday night, Oct 10th, and they are bringing nonfinite of Nonfinite Electronics into town for the show. While he is here in town, we’re going to wring every drop of DIY and Electronics out of ‘em, with a Gameboy Modding class ( Oct 11 from 5PM-8PM) at Hive76.

Gameboy’s are the chiptune machine of choice, with most artists doing the audio (or video) bending off of the tiny platform. This class will show you how to mod a gameboy (provided as part of the cost) so that you can create your own art with it, with one of the best gameboy modding experts in the USA. The $45 entry fee covers material costs, including one GameBoy as well as all parts needed for modification will be provided for you. Additional items, such as cartridges for loading music software, link cables, etc. will be available for purchase as well. If you want tickets, you should get them soon, they’ll move fast.