As part of Mozilla’s mission to #teachtheweb, we’ve put a lot of effort into cultivating and growing the Mozilla Clubs program across the globe, which includes helping develop local volunteer Club Captains (and Regional Coordinators) to lead the charge.
It’s been encouraging to see the response and interest in starting a Mozilla Club – there have been over 300 applications! We’ve been reviewing and assessing the motivations and needs of Club Captain applicants via an email-based interview process, and the responses have provided rich details and data for us to learn from as we continue to hone the program design and value of Mozilla Clubs.
Here is a glimpse of what we’ve learned:
- There are currently 121 active Mozilla Clubs.
- Over 90 cities in 22 countries are represented, with India leading the charge at 37 clubs!
- 6 Club Captains are Classroom Teachers
- 6 Club Captains are College Students
- 10 Club Captains are Software Developers/Engineers
- 17 Clubs have University ties
- 15 Clubs have ties with elementary or high schools
- The majority of applicants express interest in web literacy due to family, friends, or students who are lacking the information and resources to utilize the web to its full potential, with the plan to expand the club to the community
Our Club Captains have provided great insight into what they are doing or hope to be doing in the community. Here are a few snapshots of our interviews:
“In 2014, we started an NGO called Girls Go Coding to attract girls and adult women to coding, technology and STEM. In our events, we already use Mozilla technologies (mostly Thimble and Appmaker) and we feel that a Mozilla Club will bring us better visibility and access to other local teams.”
– Kostas Karpouzis, Athens, Greece
“I want to host a Mozilla Club to provide structured experiences and interactions with the internet for students. I want students to become digital citizens and contribute to the web in a safe manner.”
– Blake Henely, Austin, Minnesota, US
“Everything needs a platform (Suppose you are riding a Porsche at a place where there is no proper road, will you reach your destination miles away?? …you might reach [your destination] but with dents on your car & consuming more time). So, basically I believe Mozilla is the kind of platform which we require to reach our destination without dents or any delay.”
– Nikhil Sharma, Karnal, Haryana, India
“My relationship with the web is very close. I have always believed that web literacy is everyone’s right. It’s not the first time that I am caring about web literacy. I have been spreading the word about it through small info-sessions that I mostly do in under-developed schools of India.”
– Vnisha Srivastav, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
We’re pleased with our progress with the Mozilla Clubs initiative and excited to continue to grow the program over the next year (and beyond!). We have very specific goals and accomplishments in mind:
- Adjust and perfect our sign-up process, and communication to our Captains for information and resources available.
- Continue to improve upon leadership development of our Club Captains and Regional Coordinators.
- Develop more Club guides to provide direction and resources for clubs.
- Strengthen the relationships between the Club Captains and their Regional Coordinators.
- Improve the localization of our curriculum. By the end of the year, we aim to have the Web Literacy Basics module translated into 5+ languages.
- Document the great stories that are coming out of our communities!
To learn more about Mozilla Clubs, to find a club near you, or to apply to be a Club Captain, visit us at https://teach.mozilla.org/clubs/.