So after a chat with some of my initial advisory committee (Jack Franklin, Micheil Smith, David Smith, Susanne Feldhusen and Arran Ross Paterson) I have refined what I think I’m looking at/for.

I think the initial requirement is for a kind of drop-in center for people to mingle with JavaScript mentors who can help them with specific problems they are having or help the solve specific problems.

To keep people interested and to make sure there is something to discuss, I would get a few mentors to set up a number of tasks (similar to assignments on www.codecademy.com) that people can set about and request advice or help if they can’t complete any parts of the work.

The ‘syllabus’ as it were would feature real life problems – including completing tasks without jQuery, creating sliders, using animation, building with things like backbone, API use etc  all the time promoting best practice.  By setting a number of tasks that people can choose from, but that mentors would be able to complete in a straightforward manner would hopefully mean that people will have an incentive to regularly attend and consistently improve their JavaScript programming.

So a bimonthly programme, initially running for 3 months, it would give people a good run at meeting mentors, having a specific regular time with mentors and peers and improving their JavaScript – and hopefully inspire them to continue thinking about what the mentors have taught them and look at working on the tasks in their spare time as well as during sessions.

As always, any suggestions or comments gratefully received. Happy coding!