At the very end of June, we added a “Pledge to Teach” action to teach.mozilla.org. After people complete the pledge, they are able to take a survey that allows us to find out more about their particular context for teaching the Web, and their needs.

I’d like to share results from the first month, during which 77 people completed the survey, out of 263 users who took the pledge (29% response rate).

First, we asked what people are interested in, in terms of teaching the Web, and provided some options for people to choose from (people could choose as many as they liked).

• Starting a Mozilla Club: 57%
• Getting access to Digital Literacy curriculum: 79%
• Running learning events (Maker Party, Hive Pop-Ups, etc.): 61%
• Professional Development to help me get better at teaching digital skills: 81%
• Connecting with a network of peers: 77%
• Exploring tools to make the Web: 66%

The results from this question align with our strategic plans to develop more curriculum, provide more professional development offerings, and build tools to help people connect with one another.

We asked about the age range of learners:

• 6-13: 40%
• 14-24: 78%
• 25-34: 44%
• 35-44: 26%
• 45-54: 17%
• 55+: 19%

These findings align with the age-range that most of our existing curriculum is optimized for (14-24). That said, we know our audience is broader, and that content can be adapted for different audiences. Certainly we have community members that work in the K-12 space and higher ed. Given the numbers for learners over 24, we may consider more intermediate/advanced web literacy content, and/or address this audience with more in-depth Teach Like Mozilla and MDN content.

We asked how many learners people expect to reach this year:

• 0-50: 32%
• 51-100: 22%
• 101-200: 26%
• 201-500: 5%
• More than 500: 14%

This data speaks to the fact that survey participants are more likely individuals who have direct interactions with learners, vs larger partners with wider networks. The survey was intended to reach individual educators/mentors, but we might consider a similar survey directed to partners, too.

Note: we’ve since added a question to the survey that will allow us to know how many learners people reach at any one time. This will inform our curricular design process.

We asked about the contexts in which people teach (again, respondents were able to choose multiple answers):

• At standalone events (for example, a one-day workshop, hackathon or Maker Party event):  51%
• In a classroom during the school day: 52%
• As part of an afterschool or summer program: 31%
• With my friends and family at home: 56%
• At professional meet-ups or training events with other adults/mentors/educators: 51%
• At a college or university: 27%
• At a library or other community space: 26%

Some of these results surprised us. For example, the responses for teaching at home and with friends is higher than we’d expected, as were the number of people teaching in professional meetups. If these trends continue, they will inform our curricular and professional development content offerings. We are also having a Web Literacy Training Fellow join us later in the year, and she will specifically address these contexts.

These findings also show that people are teaching across various contexts, which may speak to some leadership pathways (e.g. classroom teachers also hosting standalone events to reach more people).

Finally, we asked people about their motivations for teaching the Web. Here is a sample of those responses:

• The Internet is a place where any information is available, and people ought to know how to access the best of the information they seek, and know how to protect themselves beyond anti-virus programs. I want the opportunity to teach and engage with learners and peers outside of the classroom. (Canada)

• I always believe that I should never wait for opportunities to help other people rather I should let myself open doors to help others. I want to share a part of what I know to people who wants to learn more about the digital world. (Philippines)

• I think technology especially the Web could be a wonderful facility to awaken and support children being creative and using free thought as a positive means of fully participating in communities, society and the world. (UK)

• Am driven by the passion to make the world a better place. I want students from my school to have extra skills apart from the normal curriculum taught in school. (Kenya)

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This is a very small sample so far, but we’ll look at results for the second month soon and see if trends continue.

In the meantime, the results of the survey will inform several of our next steps, including:

• Consider iterations on site information hierarchy and calls-to-action
• Create content strategy that reflects community needs—this includes everything from site copy to blog content to curricular content to social media
• Advance partner strategy given these insights

We are also starting a new research effort with support from the Webmaker product team, to complement the survey. The project hasn’t been fully designed yet, but will likely help us dig deeper into questions about our community’s assets, needs, and contexts.

http://hannahgrams.com/2015/08/19/pledge-to-teach-survey-results-first-month/