reflection-by-rachel-lim.md

OSACC Reflection

Rachel Lim

This conference was my first time attending a gathering at this scale in several years, so I was initially a bit anxious, but I genuinely had an amazing time meeting and learning more about all of the attendees and the projects they’ve dedicated so much labor and care towards. I also loved the discussion segments and the topics/questions curated for them because with each conversation I felt like I was constantly learning something new—whether it was about different softwares and technologies, approaches to an issue, or perspectives on a subject (such as the ethos behind a project or creativity in AI).

I particularly enjoyed the one about Access and Education because it provided me the opportunity to converse with K-12 educators firsthand about their experiences and tribulations with teaching programming and creative code, which I had been hoping to do in the weeks leading up to the conference to gain more insight on the p5.js Web Editor’s usage in the classroom. They disclosed some issues that I never knew educators faced, such as: having their schedules abruptly altered last minute, adapting to these adjustments by finding the proper course materials, teaching a subject the instructors themselves sometimes had no knowledge in, and collaborating with educators across different grade levels and subject areas to ensure that the students are prepared with the appropriate knowledge and skills (such as typing, which I didn’t expect and is apparently taught less at schools over the years!) before they enter their classrooms.

After one of these discussions, I was able to learn from some of those educators who taught with the web editor about what they enjoyed about it and any upcoming features they’d love to see. Although they loved the web editor’s convenience and the straightforwardness of its current features, they stated that they would love to see improvements in its mobile, offline, and search capabilities. Another popular feature request was live collaboration, where users could work together in the same project in real time. Although they currently use a different platform, such as Replit, to achieve this, they stated that ideally they would like to have their students stay within the same platform as opposed to switching between two different ones. However, they also requested that if it wasn’t possible for the web editor to achieve this, they would like to see an easier integration with other educational platforms that provide grading, such as Replit and Google Classroom.

At first, I had some difficulty adjusting to a larger group, but I think I tend to be a bit more introverted or reserved! As a result, I ultimately ended up using the co-working sessions to recharge or do solitary work and felt comfortable setting aside time and space for myself when I needed it. However, in retrospect, I do wish I did more work within a group during them, especially because I felt that many of my initial anxieties about working within open source and maintaining a repository disappeared when I was able to discuss them with other maintainers and contributors, who were also eager to share their own concerns and help consider different solutions together.

Overall, I felt that I was able to gain a lot of valuable insight and ideas during those conversations, and appreciated how the overall community was so thoughtful, inviting, and courteous towards each individual's needs and voices during them. I’m extremely grateful for this opportunity to attend this conference and the immense privilege to experience the culmination of everyone’s collective efforts!