Teaching Workshops Policy

• Title: Teaching Workshops Policy
• Author: Jeff Johnson
• Board Approval date: 1/23/2022
• Effective: 1/23/2022

This policy describes the requirements and procedures for teaching workshops at ChattLab Makerspace.

ChattLab Makerspace is, at its core, an educational non-profit organization. Classes and workshops that are offered at ChattLab Makerspace are the most public-facing aspect of the organization. A well organized class or workshop with a prepared presenter gives all the attendees a great learning experience and exposure to something that they may not have known before. Additionally, quality classes and workshops show off the value of ChattLab Makerspace and its amazing community of makers. Conversely, poor quality classes do not give attendees a great experience and reflect poorly on the organization as a whole. The information presented here is intended to provide guidance for potential presenters who may be interested in leading a class or workshop at ChattLab Makerspace. It should help presenters understand the different types of presentations at ChattLab Makerspace, set expectations for each type, as well as the scope and level of effort of each of those presentations.

There are 3 major types of workshops (or presentations). They are:

1. Class Primarily a lecture-style presentation, where information is presented, and the audience is largely a passive observer. The participation of the audience will rarely exceed asking questions of the presenter. The audience will mainly be focused on the presenter.
2. Workshop Primarily a hands-on lab style presentation, where members of the audience are expected to perform some activity, make something, or otherwise have focus on something other than the presenter.
3. Orientation An instructional meeting to describe the operation of an area, feature, or piece of equipment.

There are 3 types of instructors.

1. Administration - Orientations and special how-to's that are taught by our instructors that represent ChattLab Makerspace
2. Member instructors - Members of ChattLab that share a skill with our membership and the public.
3. Outside Organizations - These are groups outside of ChattLab that request the opportunity to teach something at ChattLab.

Instructors are eligible to receive compensation for their time teaching workshops. Compensation consists of the following:

1. Member Instructors receive 75% of the cost of the workshop revenues
2. Outside Orginizations are negotiated on as a case by case basis. Any prospective deal MUST include a benefit for the makerspace.

Revenue produced by a workshop goes towards the area that the workshop is best related to. If none apply, it goes to the general fund.

This section defines workshop qualifications and requirements

Any proposed workshops should be presented to a board member or officer for consideration. They should be geared towards “making” of some kind. Workshops in the areas of financial gains, religion or politics are not permitted.

The instructor or board can determine what a good price to charge would be. Each pricing should have a member price and a slightly higher public price. This provides member benefit.

All workshops taught at ChattLab are to be on a single consistent platform, and currently that platform is Meetup.com. If the workshop is to collect a fee, this will be defined on Meetup and attendees should pay for their class to reserve their spot.

All workshops need to have a prepared syllabus and handout to provide to students. This helps the student know what they'll be covering and helps provide structure to the instructor. It also allows for repeatability for future instances of the workshop.