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What is it like to run a computer camp
August 2009 Posts
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Lego® has a new construction set that includes motors, sensors and programming for younger kids, named WeDo™. The listed age is 7 and up but since we already teach the Mindstorms® to that age, I was looking at it as a way to go younger and to change up our Bits, Bytes & Beyond class for 6-7 year olds. One of the licensees has been approached by day care centers looking for programming for 3 and 4 year olds. Clearly, the Mindstorms won't work for that age. But what about WeDo?
I ordered the LEGO® Education WeDoTM Robotics Homeschool Pack.This includes the basic WeDo construction set, the software (which doesn't come with the kit) and an activity pack. They sell a 4-pack bundle which would be good for a class of 8, with kids paired up, which is how they envision the program being used.
The kit comes with various Lego pieces for building 12 different simple projects, a motor, a motion sensor, a tilt sensor, a USB hub and a storage bin. The USB hub is used to connect the motors and sensors to your computer.The USB hub stays connected to the computer--you cannot run the activities without the computer attached.
The software took a bit getting used to--I found the interface to be a bit confusing in terms of navigation (not programming), which happens with Lego software when they try to use just graphics in their interface (to make it language neutral). The activity pack has a teacher's guide that was useful for figuring everything out.
The models are all easy to build using on screen instructions (it comes with printed building instructions as well). Once done with a model, the software then showed a picture of what the programming should look like. The programming is linear--no branching, just sequential ordering of code blocks.
The activity pack had a nice binder with lesson plans, check lists, curriculum objectives, etc. This would be very useful for teaching younger elementary kids based on learning goals.
Will this work for 3-4 year olds? I haven't worked with that age group much but I think the lessons would be over most kids heads. Some in that age group would get something out of it. I think for 5 year olds, they might have a great time with it, as would older kids (up to 9, perhaps). So I think it could be good for Bits, Bytes & Beyond and for taking into schools.
I will arrange with folks I know who teach computers to 2-7 year-olds so I can check it out with kids and see how different ages respond to the lessons. I'll let you know what I find.
I'm often asked when is the best time to start a summer camp program. If you've never operated a summer camp program, you may think that you can begin marketing your camp in March and have plenty of time to get sign ups. This is what we did our first year. While we did fine our first year, we quickly learned that major marketing opportunities for summer camps had already passed. In fact, many parents sign up for camps in March. If you don't start marketing until then, you'll miss out.
The sooner you begin planning, the better. Marketing opportunities specific to summer camps usually begin in January or even December, depending on your community. Before you participate in those marketing efforts, you'll need to form a business entity, create a web presence and find a place to run your programs. Without that information, you can't really market. It is also helpful to have developed or purchased your curriculum, since parents often have specific questions about what your classes involve and you'll want to convey this information on your website. Parents won't sign up for classes if it is unclear what the class will look like.
There are also many school-year opportunities to get the word out about your summer camp. When you first start up, face-to-face meetings with prospective customers (parents and children) is an important aspect of introducing yourself to the community. We have information about inexpensive school-year marketing for both summer camps and school year activities.
Buying a license or franchise gives you the advantage of having help starting up and many items you need to market yourself are available from the company. This lets you get going quickly so you can concentrate on marketing.
If someone is buying a license and wants to run summer camps, the latest they should purchase is February to maximize their marketing. You can certainly begin after that, but it will effect your numbers. Ideally, I recommend purchasing licenses in the Fall, if possible. This gives you the time you need to maximize your summer income.
I tested ASAP online registration this summer as an alternative to Thriva. I did this because ASAP is a new provider and they contacted many licensees offering their service as a cheaper alternative to Thriva. I thought I should check out the service and let you know my thoughts before you decide to change providers.
I have been using Thriva for a few years now. Before, we were dealing with paper registrations, which was a huge time consumer. Online systems provide numerous advantages to you and your customers. It is quicker, customers can sign up without staff intervention, customers can find out if classes are full and get on waitlists, you can email customers through the systems, rosters are easy to create, student info is easily accessible, etc. The disadvantage is they take some of your money. The advantages far outwiegh the disadvantages, so I recommend everyone use an online system for registrations.
I chose Thriva initially because they seemed to have the best interface, the best support and their start up costs where low. Alternatives I looked at either required large up-front fees or were just databases with a poor online interface slapped on. As Thriva has grown, their support costs have risen, their support wait times have risen, and the quality of their support has fallen. They've also tend to slap on fixes and new features that break things without adequate warning. Many of us found that our camp discounts that worked fine last year stopped working this year because of a change Thriva made to the discount system. Thriva is also very complex because it is so robust. Setting up a simple early-bird discount can be very confusing. So when ASAP started calling around, I checked them out.
ASAP offers registrations for $3 per enrollment, versus $5 per class for Thriva. So if someone signs up for 3 classes at the same time, ASAP charges $3 and Thriva charges $15. When looking at hundreds of registrations, that can mean some significant money.They also do not charge a support fee.
ASAP also makes you use your own merchant account for processing credit cards (Thriva does this behind the scenes). This has many advantages--the rate charged for using a credit card is almost a full percent less than what Thriva charges--again, this adds up to some serious money. You also get paid much more quickly--a few business days after a purchase, the money is deposited into your bank account. With Thriva, you only get paid on the 1st and 15th of the month and then you have to wait 5 business days after that before the money is in your account. The money for a purchase made on the 2nd of the month might not be deposited into your account until the 21st or 22nd. That is a long time to wait.
The downside of using your own merchant account is that it is a pain. You have to pick a merchant from the thousands available and you also have to set up an Authorize.net account, which is a standard account for web-based credit card purchases. I just went with the one that the parent company of Authorize.net runs--made it a little easier to set up. Once you get things set up, things go fairly smoothly. There is a monthly charge associated with the merchant account.
Overall, I found ASAP easier to set up recurring classes--you can set up a class description and then create sections of that class. This makes setting up new classes much quicker than with Thriva. And I find that the customer interface is nicer than Thriva, although I did hear from customers who preferred Thriva over ASAP. I mostly did not have people calling in who couldn't find what they were looking for. I did have a number of customers whose credit cards didn't work, but when I entered them internally, they worked fine.
This brings up another nice feature of ASAP--if a registration doesn't go through, all their account information is saved. In Thriva, if on first signing up a person isn't successful registering, then they have to go through the entire process again, which really bugs customers.
Support for ASAP was nice and they really wanted to help, but sometimes they ignored my emailed bugs and I had to contact them a second time. They also seemed to just drop some issues that I felt needed immediate attention.
Finally, there is ease of use and stability. ASAP is somewhat easier to use than Thriva, but that also means it isn't as full-featured. But the big issue I had with ASAP is that it isn't stable. This had the feeling of a beta product though they claim they've been doing this for a few years. Mostly things went smoothly but then little things wouldn't work or were missing or had changed. This made the system more of a pain to use than I had hoped.
Overall, I'd say that ASAP has potential as a lower-cost alternative to Thriva. But I do not recommend switching at this time. ASAP needs to work out many issues and stabilize their product before I can recommend it. You will save money with ASAP, but you will lose time. Maybe by next summer they will be in better shape.
This blog will introduce you to running a computer camp and what Bits, Bytes & Bots offers its licensees. We'll look at trends in technology education for K-12 students and what it is like to run a computer enrichment business. Welcome!
