GitHub may turn out to be a great resource for tracking kids' progress on projects. Commit messages can form the basis of a progress journal, as well as a built-in point of reflection after each session. Students can use them to summarize the work completed during the session. Volunteer instructors can refer back through the commit history to see kids process as they have been working on a project. Using the web interface and gh-pages may be a good, gentle introduction before getting into the command line.
- Make sure each kid has a GitHub Account. NOTE: GH account needs an email address. Not all kids have one. Maybe use a shared GH account for this instance? Something like cbk-kids? Or maybe just a shared email address that none of them have the password to?
- Use the last 15-20 minutes of the intruductory class to set up an account, repository, gh-pages branch, and upload files.
- Encourage students to personalize their GitHub profile -- add an avatar and a name (TODO: think through the privacy concerns if, for example, a student wants to use their own picture or name on their account; is that ok? What rules do we need so that they can personalize without compromising safety?).
- Get students in the habit of committing their work with a descriptive commit message after every class session. The descriptive message is not just best practice for its own sake, but helps kids with exposition, and allows them to reflect, reinforcing what they learned or practiced that session.