#FAIL

Using failure as a method for teaching
non-technical students how to be technical

Women : Men

20% Coding

80% debugging & Looking stuff up on Google

NOT WORKING

ALSO NOT WORKING

BECAUSE IT SUCKS TO BE STUCK

TIPS FOR ADDING
FAILURE TO YOUR
CLASSROOM!

5

#1 Introduce failure
right away

#2 Scaffold technical projects

demo 

exercise

assignment

NO risk of complete disaster

Give a sense of project scope

Demonstrate workflow & common issues

LIMITED risk for catastrophe

Same as demo, new content

In-class work time

LOW RISK of epic failure !

Scope the same, content and design on their own

#3 Make mistakes

#4 Make finding and solving problems
into a game

• Rank documentation and help resources
• Evaluate a coded tool
• Scavenger hunt: 
  How would I do... ?
• Fix this sad, broken code

#5 practice Failing
(and recovering)

Over and Over and
over again

Information driven

Creative

Empowering

 A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history, with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila.

— Mitch Ratcliffe

Erika Lee

ebigalee@indiana.edu

@ebigalee