Unmute this video to hear circuit bending and glitchy beats in action!
Music. Circuits. Creativity.
Learn hands-on. Build skills. Get paid. Lead the way.
Glitch’n offers a free, arts‑focused circuits course for 14–20 year‑olds, combining hands‑on experimentation with a $200 stipend. Graduates may join CTRL, a paid cohort of community educators who co‑facilitate pop‑up workshops, build teaching experience, and gain industry connections—all designed to open pathways into engineering, computing, electronics, and semiconductor careers.
Why Glitch’n?
“glitch (noun): a sudden, usually temporary malfunction or irregularity of equipment”
Glitch’n is a new program that offers a non-traditional route into the world of computing and electronics through a creative arts-focused approach. Many students who are bored by traditional linear pathways find that a hands-on approach that embraces experimentation and making mistakes sparks their interest in a powerful way.
Our course offers teens and young adults opportunities to explore areas of study that could lead to careers in engineering, computing, electronics, or semiconductor work. Each of these areas has various levels of entry which require different levels of education. Some only require a high school diploma, others a post-high school certification, a two-year degree, or a four-year degree.
Individuals who complete the Glitch’n course can be selected to join a cohort of community educators called CTRL who share their knowledge and circuit skills in the Phoenix community through unannounced pop-up events.
Every profession needs educators, facilitators, and trainers. Glitch’n will give teens and young adults experience teaching what they have learned to community members when they co-facilitate organized educational Hang out, Mess Around, Geek Out (HOMAGO) pop-up events.
Three pilot Glitch’n summer courses were held in June at the ASU MIX Center in downtown Mesa, reaching a total of 60 participants.
Glitch’n at the ASU MIX Center
CTRL: Participant and Parent Information
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CTRL are teens and young adults ages 14 to 20 that complete the Glitch’n course and want to keep going!
After participating in a summer camp experience to learn the basics of circuit bending, participants selected for CTRL will receive training on how to facilitate open-ended learning experiences for visitors at two pop-up events during the summer. Additionally, CTRL participants will reflect on their learning and collect evidence of pop-up visitor learning.
As community educators, CTRL will each earn an internship stipend for completing the training and all aspects of the pop-up facilitation.
What are skills that CTRL participants can develop?
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Computational Thinking
Applying pattern recognition and logical thinking to creatively manipulate circuits and understand their behavior.
Basic Circuit Theory
Gaining an intuitive grasp of electrical signals, resistances, capacitance, and voltage behaviors.
Troubleshooting Electronics
Diagnosing, fixing, and modifying circuits.
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Planning and preparing for educational pop-up events.
Asking guiding questions of pop-up event visitors (learners).
Encouraginglearners to explore with the materials. Keeping materials organized and accounted for.
Explaining technical skills to learners that want to go deeper.
Connecting technical terms to what the learners are experiencing (Teaching vocabulary, concepts, and skills).
Collecting video data that shows what learners have learned.
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Work Ethic
Completing assignments on time, having good attendance and being on time, communicating with supervisors, putting forth best effort on assigned tasks, following directions, asking for clarification when needed.
Collaboration Skills
Communicating with team members, following through on assigned group tasks, being open to others’ ideas, contributing own ideas to the group, resolving disagreements with compromise and consensus building.
Problem-solving Skills
Problem solve technical issues, problem solve social issues, develop problem solving strategies to apply to different situations, determine when to bring in a coach or supervisor to help with problem solving.