From d814f92b15a1e6445e2b531cfc137b1e64f4267b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Samantha Wittke Date: Sat, 7 Sep 2024 14:05:03 +0300 Subject: [PATCH 1/7] add first draft of TTT blogpost --- content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md | 239 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 239 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md diff --git a/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md b/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..8646858d --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md @@ -0,0 +1,239 @@ ++++ +title = "CodeRefinery train the trainer workshop" +description = """ +Report and insights gathered during our train the trainer workshop in August/September 2024 +""" + +[extra] +authors = "Samantha Wittke" ++++ + +CodeRefinery, supported by the Nordic e-infrastructure collaboration (NeiC), is dedicated to enhancing FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) +research software development practices. Our workshops aim to provide essential training in research software development, and we’re continually exploring +new methods to make this learning process effective and inclusive. Through our train the trainer workshop we aim to share these practices and give some insights into why we do things as we do. The workshop was highly interactive, and apart from us sharing our experiences we are also encouraging everyone to share their own experiences. While it is not a requirement to become a CodeRefinery instructor after going through the workshop, we are welcoming everyone interested to join our pool of instructors. You do not have to be an expert in all topics taught in our workshop. + +The workshop in August / September 2024 was not the first time we taught our practices, however a lot has changed throughout the years and materials needed to be updated. Also the format was new, splitting the four half day workshop days across four Tuesdays. + +We had a record interest in the workshop with 82 registrations including instructors from 22 countries with most participants joining from Finland, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands and Germany, with 10-40 participants attending the sessions. The sessions were standalone and it was free for participants to choose which session to attend. + +This blogpost serves as report from the workshop as well as a collection of the wonderful contributions from all participants throughout the workshop. + +As we wanted this workshop to be highly interactive we decided to not record the sessions. All lesson materials are available at https://coderefinery.github.io/train-the-trainer/. + +## Workshop themes and topics + +The main topics discussed in the workshop were: + +- Session 1: About lesson design, deployment and iterative improvement (Aug 13) +- Session 2: Tools and techniques adopted in CodeRefinery workshops (Aug 20) +- Session 3: About teaching & cool things we all would like to share (Aug 27) +- Session 4: Workshop streaming practices and post-workshop tasks (Sep 3) + +### Session 1: About lesson design, deployment and iterative improvement + +In our first session, we dove into the CodeRefinery lesson materials, explored the journey to their current versions, and discovered how anyone can contribute to this dynamic resource. +We also unpacked our lesson template, showing you how to create polished, engaging lesson materials with features that enhance the learning experience. +Participants got hands-on experience by creating their own lesson pages, implementing features like tabs and line highlighting. + +### Session 2: Tools and techniques adopted in CodeRefinery workshops + +In the second session, we took a peek behind the scenes of a large CodeRefinery workshop. We discovered the process of setting up a big event, the various roles involved, and how we keep it interactive with collaborative documents and the possibility to bring your own classroom. + +We also looked into the onboarding process for new instructors and helpers, equipping you with the tools to lead and support effectively. + +### Session 3: About teaching & cool things we all would like to share + +The third session was all about mastering the art of teaching — from preparation strategies and embracing the co-teaching model to the tools we use and the teaching philosophies that guide us. + +We also opened the floor for participants to share their own favorite tools, techniques, and memorable anecdotes from their teaching journeys or courses they’ve attended. + +### Session 4: Workshop streaming practices and post-workshop tasks + +In the fourth session, we dove into managing streaming and recording setups, unveiling our go-to tools for a seamless experience for both instructors and learners. + +Participants got hands-on experience with OBS, a powerful tool that’s great not just for workshops, but also for your personal projects. + +## Collection of teaching related tips and tricks gathered throughout the workshop through questions to the audience + +### What is the hardest thing about teaching for you? + +- Knowing how "it's going", whether learners are happy or not (especially when teaching online) :+1: +- The preparation the night before. It is always much more that I would hope, no matter how prepared I want it to be :+1: :+1: +- Managing groups with vastly different academic backgrounds +- Teaching wide spectrum of skill level at the same time. :+1: :+1: :+1: :+1: +- Time management! (Knowing how much can fit in a sessions) :+1: :+1: +- General preparation time, how to fit it into the regular work schedule, and estimate how much time is needed for prep. +- How to reduce too much text into just the right amount +- Preparation of the session material and estimating the right amount of time for each section +- Getting learners to take the first step: sign up for and attend a workshop, when they don't think programming is a skill they can learn +- Getting learners to take the _second_ step: translating what they've learned in a workshop into something they can apply +- preparation and time management +- Engaging with the students which was much easier for me when I used to coach +- Finding the right depth for an unknown audience for "my topic" +- education background of participants and their learning objectives + +### What is the best thing about teaching for you? + +- Seeing when learner gets interested/curious about something and takes inspiration from the course. :+1: +- Seeing it works and someone can do something new. +- Motivated students grasping new stuff +- Students picking up and running with the matertial and skills I give them and using it for their own work. :+1: +- The "ah-ha!" moment when a student gets it! :+1::100: :+1: +- Learning from students who know about some topic more than you do. :+1: +- Being able to help people reach their goals, by showing them something new. +- Teaching is optimism acted out in the hope of making a difference both ways I suppose. +- The feeling of accomplishment when you see learning grow and implement the learnings :book: +- mutual learning and impact on learners :+1: +- Results and feedbacks / Mutual interests and interesting discussions +- mutual learning and I can also learn lots of things and new ideas from participants + +### When you start preparing a new lesson or training material, where do you start? + +- I look at existing materials on the same topic, but chose/refine topics based on the perceived needs/interests of the presumed audience +- Outline of structure and Material collection for a new lesson :+1: +- What material I have already? (what other material is already out there?) +- Start by looking for related resources (documents, videos, courses, etc) to have a base data and better understanding of what have been done around the topic +- Know your audience +- Review existing material +- Think about learning objectives (to keep focus on essential things) +- Think of three things simple enough that they will be remembered the next day. Design around that. +- I write down the thoughts that I have and then go back and structure it. + +### What tricks help you with “writer’s block” or the empty page problem? + +- Write anything down that comes to mind, sometimes draw something, looking out the window :) +- Do a mind map - what concepts do I want to get across? +- Starting small, for example a list of headings and then building around it. :+1: +- What does one know about the target audience and why should they be spending longer than 1 minute listening to what they will eventually get to hear? +- Get some inspiration from another source. +- Start with the three things above +- Start with the plan and the overview design +- Some kind of outline / main message(s) +- Start with three things. Three supporting points for each of these. + +### Maybe you haven’t designed training material yet. But how do you start when creating a new presentation? + +- Think about the learning objectives and try to break them down into steps +- Title, Objectives, target audience and Plan +- Some kind of outline / main message(s). Get as many images as I can, instead of words +- Draft an outline and use chatgpt to fill in details +- Example of how the teaching content is applied in a real-world context + +### If your design process has changed over time, please describe what you used to do and what you do now instead. + +- I look more at existing materials and try to get more information about the audience. Unfortunately getting information about the audience before the event is hard +- I used to start from the begginning and get from there but that often meant a very polished start and a rushed end. Now I try an overview first, then fil out sparsed details at every section +- Updating the data and tweak the presentation +- If I am teaching a small group (or one to one) talk to them before hand - find out what they know already, what they want to learn. + +### What do you know now about preparing lessons/training/presentations that you wish you knew earlier? + +- less is more. It's better to have 2-3 main messages rather than trying to show everything in one go :+1: :+1: :+1: :+1: +- how much practice time the learners need to master what's taught +- Don't worry about something going wrong. It often makes the lesson (and thus the material) more presistent in memory. :+1: +- Try and remove everything except what you want the person to learn + - That's a very tough part for me in the sense that I never know how much of an underlying "black box" is still ok.... +- Designing intermediate materials is hard, and requires putting some "gatekeeping" making sure that learners are directed to appropriate courses +- When I see a cool graphic, concept, slide, etc., download it and save it in my 'new-materials' folder to use later on! +- I have come to the conclusion that perhaps a more "agile" approach to developing materials (try to do design/teaching iterations quickly) might be the best way to go, but there are risks with this approach too + +### What tricks/techniques have you tried in your teaching or seen in someone else's teaching that you think have been particularly effective in collecting feedback from learners? + +- preparing a survey and emailing it to participants as soon as the event ends (usually get <50% of answers but it's a representative enough sample) +- do engage with the audience, give them the time to get the courage to speak up +- Be the audience yourself + - yes! some problems/issues I don't notice as instructor, only as listener +- Have time (e.g. 5 min) in the session to fill out the feedback form +- If the course/workshop has several days/sections do a couple questions every change, then a full one afterwards +- "Traffic light" feedback (e.g. for pacing or progress on exercises): give each learner two different coloured post-it notes for in-person, or use emoji for online, to indicate a current status + +### Do you teach and organize teaching alone or with others? What would you prefer and why? + +- Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success. – Edward Everett Hale +- These days always with others. Alone is easier to prepare but almost always is harder during it. +- Teaching with very diverse partners, it can be challenging to find a common language with people very different than you. +- I teach alone, in the future there will be more collaboration with multiple team members. Both approaches have their pros and cons. +- Both has its own distinct advantages +- Most of my teaching is on my own, as a freelancer its more expensive to work with colleagues than to deliever a course on my own. +- Teaching together, learns from each other, feedbacks to improve +- Not formally taught yet, only given presentations actually . +- collective teaching would benefit the teachers with collaborative curriculumn and experiences sharing. + + +### If applicable, have you seen any challenges when teaching together and how to overcome them? + +- It actually requires preparation, +- Is it about teaching or about inspiring ? Discover the answer and get inspired ... +- It's like being in a band: you might be great at improvising and your band-partners might be great at improvising too, but a bit of rehearsing makes even the impro gig much better +- Need to plan before session, difficult if people don't 'plan' in the same way, e.g. with the same time frame. +- Heterogeneity in learners make it impossible to get the same result from everyone. + - In fact, the same applies to teachers :D +- Teaching together requires to have similar opinions on how to teach. I share vews only with ~40% of my colleagues I think. +- No Teaching experience but it is good to give the outline of the lessons beforehand and learning goals. + +### How might breaking down a complex problem into smaller parts change your approach to problem-solving in your current projects? + +- Avoids cognitive overload +- I used to give an example about this in workshops of cutting long tree into pieces from top to avoid that it falls and destroy a house bloc. +- Easier to start on something small +- Each individual part is familiar and can take existing solutions. +- Only focus on the new things +- One can lose oversight of where is supposed to be getting to due to problems with summation of biases introduced during the solving of the parts. + +### Can you think of a research project where identifying patterns in your data led to new insights or breakthroughs? + +- Multi-targeted drug design where you need to identify both chemical and biological pathways/patterns +- Distilling complex physics problems into simpler 1D statistics is very often done. +- I used to do bioinformatics, pretty much everything in biology is about patterns in strings of charachters (DNA, proteins). Finding those patterns and using them is the way to go +- Pattern recognition DOES NOT lead to new insight, it is new insight which allows for the recognition of a 'pattern', the latter being an allocation of possible bias. + + +### What challenges do you face when trying to simplify complex concepts in your field, and how do you decide which details to focus on? + +- Absence of a terminology / jargon to describe a new idea. :+1: +- Similar to above, when teaching often students know what they want to achive, but don't have the termonology to express it, so working through what they want is helpful, after teaching them some termonology. +- Whatever is most useful to the learner first? +- I work with researchers in different fields. I don't always fully understand their domain knowledge but I can take the basiscs or generalities and get code that works for them +- A very practical problem is trying to resist going for a coffee in the midst of taking a shot at a complex concept, in the hope that the true details are to be found in the coffee. +- not all information is easy to find or a lot of conflicting information or even sometimes imformation explosion + + +### How do you determine the priority of tasks when designing algorithms for your academic projects, and what criteria do you use to ensure that the most critical tasks are addressed first? + +- Working chronologically when going through a problem - start at the beginning. +- What gives the more insight with the least effort can be a nice start +- Talk to colleagues and Subject matter experts to understand various perspective to decide and prioritize. +- Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere. - Albert Einstein. + +### Has anyone found a nice online tool to draw? +- I love this tool suite https://excalideck.com/ + - For drawing https://excalidraw.com/ +- I have seen Miro ... +- I think the Code Refineries use something for their graphics that looks a bit 'cartoony' - but I cannot remember what it is called! + - Drawn on remarkable and then coloured and tidied up in Inkscape. :+1: + - I am a big fan of remarkable. I think sharing option is fairly good. Unfortunately bit expensive tool. + - true, for me it was worth it already for the pdf annotation for research papers, cannot read on computer screen +- https://webwhiteboard.com/ +- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-l8MY5kYGc +- Figma and Kahoot are useful as well + +### Showing keyboard shortcuts on screen + +- Screenkey: [Screenkey for showing keyboard shortcuts](https://www.thregr.org/wavexx/software/screenkey) + - Is there a Windows version people can recommend? + - I found this list of alternative for windows users like me: https://alternativeto.net/software/screenkey/ :+1: + - I sometimes use the on-screen keyboard already provided by the OS :+1: + +### How can you divide teaching into separate independent tasks? +- By content blocks, having roles like main and assistant... +- Having responsibility for different sections of the course. +- Wow, now thats what we call a question... bravo... indeed, how does one separate sleeping and snoring into separate independent tasks... +- Course, exercices, resources, tools and forms. +- Different people teach different topics +- CodeRefinery answer: the big logical blocks are instructors, in-person and breakout room helpers, and Notes-questions answers. + +### What’s the most interesting or useful thing you’ve learned from an online workshop, and how have you applied it/planning to apply in your life or work +- Having breaks every hour or so +- New approach to screensharing, using the 'portrait' approach +- Manage breathing: reduce stress and use silence to let the audience grasp what you're saying +- Well, the most interesting or useful thing I’ve learned from online workshops is how not to conduct a workshop, or at least some elements of the same, and I have applied this understanding by engaging in the global effort to discover more about how not to conduct a workshop, or at least some elements of the same, with the motto: That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.. \ No newline at end of file From 028c4fb4bc2ceb2f7a16c512bfb7f528b40127b6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Samantha Wittke Date: Sat, 7 Sep 2024 19:57:30 +0300 Subject: [PATCH 2/7] format --- content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md | 7 ++++--- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md b/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md index 8646858d..52c48be0 100644 --- a/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md +++ b/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md @@ -8,9 +8,7 @@ Report and insights gathered during our train the trainer workshop in August/Sep authors = "Samantha Wittke" +++ -CodeRefinery, supported by the Nordic e-infrastructure collaboration (NeiC), is dedicated to enhancing FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) -research software development practices. Our workshops aim to provide essential training in research software development, and we’re continually exploring -new methods to make this learning process effective and inclusive. Through our train the trainer workshop we aim to share these practices and give some insights into why we do things as we do. The workshop was highly interactive, and apart from us sharing our experiences we are also encouraging everyone to share their own experiences. While it is not a requirement to become a CodeRefinery instructor after going through the workshop, we are welcoming everyone interested to join our pool of instructors. You do not have to be an expert in all topics taught in our workshop. +CodeRefinery, supported by the Nordic e-infrastructure collaboration (NeiC), is dedicated to enhancing FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) research software development practices. Our workshops aim to provide essential training in research software development, and we’re continually exploring new methods to make this learning process effective and inclusive. Through our train the trainer workshop we aim to share these practices and give some insights into why we do things as we do. The workshop was highly interactive, and apart from us sharing our experiences we are also encouraging everyone to share their own experiences. While it is not a requirement to become a CodeRefinery instructor after going through the workshop, we are welcoming everyone interested to join our pool of instructors. You do not have to be an expert in all topics taught in our workshop. The workshop in August / September 2024 was not the first time we taught our practices, however a lot has changed throughout the years and materials needed to be updated. Also the format was new, splitting the four half day workshop days across four Tuesdays. @@ -206,6 +204,7 @@ Participants got hands-on experience with OBS, a powerful tool that’s great no - Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere. - Albert Einstein. ### Has anyone found a nice online tool to draw? + - I love this tool suite https://excalideck.com/ - For drawing https://excalidraw.com/ - I have seen Miro ... @@ -225,6 +224,7 @@ Participants got hands-on experience with OBS, a powerful tool that’s great no - I sometimes use the on-screen keyboard already provided by the OS :+1: ### How can you divide teaching into separate independent tasks? + - By content blocks, having roles like main and assistant... - Having responsibility for different sections of the course. - Wow, now thats what we call a question... bravo... indeed, how does one separate sleeping and snoring into separate independent tasks... @@ -233,6 +233,7 @@ Participants got hands-on experience with OBS, a powerful tool that’s great no - CodeRefinery answer: the big logical blocks are instructors, in-person and breakout room helpers, and Notes-questions answers. ### What’s the most interesting or useful thing you’ve learned from an online workshop, and how have you applied it/planning to apply in your life or work + - Having breaks every hour or so - New approach to screensharing, using the 'portrait' approach - Manage breathing: reduce stress and use silence to let the audience grasp what you're saying From 2e898b2af0809e485e38503f13a7074caae28c8b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Samantha Wittke Date: Sat, 7 Sep 2024 21:34:03 +0300 Subject: [PATCH 3/7] add more content for each session --- content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md | 63 +++++++++++++++----- 1 file changed, 49 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-) diff --git a/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md b/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md index 52c48be0..4367704c 100644 --- a/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md +++ b/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md @@ -12,11 +12,13 @@ CodeRefinery, supported by the Nordic e-infrastructure collaboration (NeiC), is The workshop in August / September 2024 was not the first time we taught our practices, however a lot has changed throughout the years and materials needed to be updated. Also the format was new, splitting the four half day workshop days across four Tuesdays. -We had a record interest in the workshop with 82 registrations including instructors from 22 countries with most participants joining from Finland, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands and Germany, with 10-40 participants attending the sessions. The sessions were standalone and it was free for participants to choose which session to attend. +Previous iterations materials: XX and XX. + +For this workshop, we had a record interest in the workshop with 82 registrations including instructors from 22 countries with most participants joining from Finland, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands and Germany, with 10-40 participants attending the sessions. The sessions were standalone and it was free for participants to choose which session to attend. This blogpost serves as report from the workshop as well as a collection of the wonderful contributions from all participants throughout the workshop. -As we wanted this workshop to be highly interactive we decided to not record the sessions. All lesson materials are available at https://coderefinery.github.io/train-the-trainer/. +As we wanted this workshop to be highly interactive we decided to not record the sessions. All lesson materials are available at https://coderefinery.github.io/train-the-trainer/. ## Workshop themes and topics @@ -30,26 +32,60 @@ The main topics discussed in the workshop were: ### Session 1: About lesson design, deployment and iterative improvement In our first session, we dove into the CodeRefinery lesson materials, explored the journey to their current versions, and discovered how anyone can contribute to this dynamic resource. -We also unpacked our lesson template, showing you how to create polished, engaging lesson materials with features that enhance the learning experience. -Participants got hands-on experience by creating their own lesson pages, implementing features like tabs and line highlighting. -### Session 2: Tools and techniques adopted in CodeRefinery workshops +One essential aspect of our lesson material is that we have it under version control from the very beginning. We discussed how version control makes lessonds shareable and easy to contribute. We explored different formats and highlighted why we like Sphinx with the sphinx-lesson extension. + +We shared our design processes for teaching material and presentations and discussed and practiced the "backwards lesson design", starting from learning objectives and learner personas. + +We also discussed how we learned to collect feedback, how we turn that into actionable items and how we measure the impact of our teaching. We also discussed the reasons and sources of inspiration behind major lesson and workshop updates. + +During the group work sessions we also encouraged everyone to share their way of creating lessons and lesson material as well as feedback. + +### Session 2: Tools and techniques adopted in CodeRefinery workshops + +In the second session, we took a peek behind the scenes of a large CodeRefinery workshop. We discovered the process of setting up a big event, the various roles involved, and how we keep it interactive with collaborative documents and the possibility to bring your own classroom. + +We also looked into the onboarding process for new instructors and helpers, how to prepare for teaching with regard to sound and screenshare. + +CodeRefinery teaches intermediate-level software development tool lessons. Since it is difficult to define "best practices", we try to teach **"good enough" practices**. We are also a training network for other lessons from Python to High Performance Computing. CodeRefinery Publicly-funded discrete projects (3 projects actually) transitioning towards an open community project. We have online material, teaching, and exercise sessions. Our main target audience are competent practitioners, but also novices and experts can get something out of the workshops. We want more people to work with us, and to work with more people. + +CodeRefinery workshops are a collaborative effort with many different roles. For these roles to play well together, onboarding the different roles is one key aspect of our workshops. All of our instructors came into the project on a different path, and we want to keep it open for many more. We try to teach our ways through this train the trainer workshop, however, we are open for everyone brining in their own experiences. + +Our workshops themselves are streamed (see session 4 for more information about why we do that). Having a collaborative document improves communication and interaction between participants, instructors and rest of the team. Answering questions requires a dedicated person - A Collaborative Document Manager. +We aim to post the collaborative document on the website as soon as possible after each workshop day. -In the second session, we took a peek behind the scenes of a large CodeRefinery workshop. We discovered the process of setting up a big event, the various roles involved, and how we keep it interactive with collaborative documents and the possibility to bring your own classroom. +In the following episode we looked at screensharing. Since we stream our workshops, have the collaborative document and want participants to work in the terminal once in a while to we share in **portrait layout** instead of sharing entire screen. We discussed the importance of adjusting your prompt to make commands easy to read. Readability and beauty is important: adjust your setup for your audience. We also discussed the sharing of the history of your commands. Feedback and time to improve is very important to make things clear and accessible. 10 minutes before the session starts is typically too late. + +We then also discussed that audio quality is important and one of the most notable parts of the workshop. Improving audio isn't hard or expensive, but does require preparation. During the workshop we also provided participants with some time to set up a nice screenshare and test their audio. -We also looked into the onboarding process for new instructors and helpers, equipping you with the tools to lead and support effectively. ### Session 3: About teaching & cool things we all would like to share The third session was all about mastering the art of teaching — from preparation strategies and embracing the co-teaching model to the tools we use and the teaching philosophies that guide us. -We also opened the floor for participants to share their own favorite tools, techniques, and memorable anecdotes from their teaching journeys or courses they’ve attended. +In the first episode we learned that Computational Thinking consists of 4 main parts: decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction and algorithmic design. We discussed how can this be a useful framework for solving problems and how it can be used practically. + +In the next session we discussed different viewpoints on teaching and asked participants to share their own. +Afterwards, we discussed the co-teaching approach. Co-teaching focuses on complementing individual skills and strengths in teaching process. We discussed that Co-teaching may save time, reduce teachers' workload and make lessons more interactive/ engaging. Team teaching requires some adjustments in lesson preparation and delivery. + +In the "cool gems" session we had a few tool presentations: +- [Screenkey for showing keyboard shortcuts](https://www.thregr.org/wavexx/software/screenkey) +- [Containerized teaching setup](XX) +- A DIY teaching clock, showing chunks of 5/10 minutes in black and white sections instead of numbers ### Session 4: Workshop streaming practices and post-workshop tasks -In the fourth session, we dove into managing streaming and recording setups, unveiling our go-to tools for a seamless experience for both instructors and learners. +In the fourth session, we dove into managing streaming and recording setups, unveiling our go-to tools for a seamless experience for both instructors and learners: Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) and ffmpeg. + +While the broadcaster role seems overwhelming at first, this episode tried to show that while it is a lot to manage, each individual part isn't that hard. We discussed that video editing can be very useful for learning and improving your teaching and that it is important to set your time budget and make it good enough in that time. + +Participants got hands-on experience with OBS, a powerful tool that’s great not just for workshops, but also for your personal projects. While OBS may seem complicated, it's a graphical application and most pieces make sense once you know how it works. -Participants got hands-on experience with OBS, a powerful tool that’s great not just for workshops, but also for your personal projects. +### Interested? - Join the next iteration + +We are still collecting full workshop feedback and link it here later. You can however already find all notes, questions and single day feedbacks from the [materials - notes archive](https://coderefinery.github.io/train-the-trainer/notes-archive). By focusing on the instructors, the program creates a powerful network of individuals who are equipped to teach, inspire, and build communities. Whether you're looking to enhance your teaching skills or simply want to be a part of this growing community, the TTT program offers an opportunity to make a lasting impact on the research world. + +Interested in becoming part of this exciting initiative? Learn more about the project and available lesson materials by checking out [CodeRefinery webpage](https://coderefinery.org) and sign up for the [Coderefinery newsletter](https://coderefinery.org/about/newsletter) to get to know about the next iteration. ## Collection of teaching related tips and tricks gathered throughout the workshop through questions to the audience @@ -156,8 +192,8 @@ Participants got hands-on experience with OBS, a powerful tool that’s great no - Teaching together, learns from each other, feedbacks to improve - Not formally taught yet, only given presentations actually . - collective teaching would benefit the teachers with collaborative curriculumn and experiences sharing. - - + + ### If applicable, have you seen any challenges when teaching together and how to overcome them? - It actually requires preparation, @@ -193,8 +229,7 @@ Participants got hands-on experience with OBS, a powerful tool that’s great no - Whatever is most useful to the learner first? - I work with researchers in different fields. I don't always fully understand their domain knowledge but I can take the basiscs or generalities and get code that works for them - A very practical problem is trying to resist going for a coffee in the midst of taking a shot at a complex concept, in the hope that the true details are to be found in the coffee. -- not all information is easy to find or a lot of conflicting information or even sometimes imformation explosion - +- not all information is easy to find or a lot of conflicting information or even sometimes imformation explosion ### How do you determine the priority of tasks when designing algorithms for your academic projects, and what criteria do you use to ensure that the most critical tasks are addressed first? From ffed56a91dd6115af97e201fd8a440876d070b75 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Samantha Wittke <32324155+samumantha@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2024 14:55:26 +0300 Subject: [PATCH 4/7] more fixing on text --- content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md | 41 +++++++++++++------- 1 file changed, 26 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-) diff --git a/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md b/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md index 4367704c..948b3a36 100644 --- a/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md +++ b/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md @@ -8,17 +8,27 @@ Report and insights gathered during our train the trainer workshop in August/Sep authors = "Samantha Wittke" +++ -CodeRefinery, supported by the Nordic e-infrastructure collaboration (NeiC), is dedicated to enhancing FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) research software development practices. Our workshops aim to provide essential training in research software development, and we’re continually exploring new methods to make this learning process effective and inclusive. Through our train the trainer workshop we aim to share these practices and give some insights into why we do things as we do. The workshop was highly interactive, and apart from us sharing our experiences we are also encouraging everyone to share their own experiences. While it is not a requirement to become a CodeRefinery instructor after going through the workshop, we are welcoming everyone interested to join our pool of instructors. You do not have to be an expert in all topics taught in our workshop. +CodeRefinery, supported by the Nordic e-infrastructure collaboration (NeiC), is dedicated to enhancing FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) research software development practices. Our workshops aim to provide essential training in research software development, and we’re continually exploring new methods to make this learning process effective and inclusive. Through our train the trainer workshop we aim to share these practices and give some insights into why we do things as we do. The workshop was highly interactive, and apart from us sharing our experiences we also encouraged everyone in the workshop to share their own experiences. While it is not a requirement to become a CodeRefinery instructor after going through the workshop, we are welcoming everyone interested to join our pool of instructors. -The workshop in August / September 2024 was not the first time we taught our practices, however a lot has changed throughout the years and materials needed to be updated. Also the format was new, splitting the four half day workshop days across four Tuesdays. +This blogpost serves as report from the workshop as well as a collection of the wonderful contributions from all participants throughout the workshop. -Previous iterations materials: XX and XX. +## Workshop setup -For this workshop, we had a record interest in the workshop with 82 registrations including instructors from 22 countries with most participants joining from Finland, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands and Germany, with 10-40 participants attending the sessions. The sessions were standalone and it was free for participants to choose which session to attend. +The workshop in August / September 2024 was not the first time we shared how we run things, however a lot has changed throughout the years and materials needed to be updated. +We also added more exercises and discussions for participants to get to know and learn from each other. +We also updated the format, splitting the four half day workshop days across four Tuesdays. -This blogpost serves as report from the workshop as well as a collection of the wonderful contributions from all participants throughout the workshop. +## Workshop materials + +The workshop materials are available at XX. We decided to not record this workshop to make it a safe space for interaction. +You can also find previous iterations materials XX and XX. +The materials are under CC-BY licensed and we encourage anyone to reuse them. Let us know and we can help advertize your materials/course on our website! +The materials themselves also explain how you can create your own lesson materials in the same style using the CodeRefinery lesson template (XX). + +## Participants + +For this workshop, we had a record interest in the workshop with 82 registrations including instructors from 22 countries with most participants joining from Finland, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands and Germany, with 10-40 participants attending the sessions. The sessions were standalone and it was free for participants to choose which session to attend. -As we wanted this workshop to be highly interactive we decided to not record the sessions. All lesson materials are available at https://coderefinery.github.io/train-the-trainer/. ## Workshop themes and topics @@ -83,9 +93,10 @@ Participants got hands-on experience with OBS, a powerful tool that’s great no ### Interested? - Join the next iteration -We are still collecting full workshop feedback and link it here later. You can however already find all notes, questions and single day feedbacks from the [materials - notes archive](https://coderefinery.github.io/train-the-trainer/notes-archive). By focusing on the instructors, the program creates a powerful network of individuals who are equipped to teach, inspire, and build communities. Whether you're looking to enhance your teaching skills or simply want to be a part of this growing community, the TTT program offers an opportunity to make a lasting impact on the research world. +We are still collecting full workshop feedback and link it here later. You can however already find all notes, questions and single day feedbacks from the [materials - notes archive](https://coderefinery.github.io/train-the-trainer/notes-archive). By focusing on the instructors, the program creates a powerful network of individuals who are equipped to teach, inspire, and build communities. Whether you're looking to enhance your teaching skills or simply want to be a part of this growing community, the TTT program offers an opportunity to make a lasting impact on the computational research education world. -Interested in becoming part of this exciting initiative? Learn more about the project and available lesson materials by checking out [CodeRefinery webpage](https://coderefinery.org) and sign up for the [Coderefinery newsletter](https://coderefinery.org/about/newsletter) to get to know about the next iteration. +Interested in becoming part of this exciting initiative? +Learn more about the project and available lesson materials by checking out [CodeRefinery webpage](https://coderefinery.org) and sign up for the [Coderefinery newsletter](https://coderefinery.org/about/newsletter) to get to know about the next iteration. ## Collection of teaching related tips and tricks gathered throughout the workshop through questions to the audience @@ -258,6 +269,13 @@ Interested in becoming part of this exciting initiative? Learn more about the pr - I found this list of alternative for windows users like me: https://alternativeto.net/software/screenkey/ :+1: - I sometimes use the on-screen keyboard already provided by the OS :+1: +### What’s the most interesting or useful thing you’ve learned from an online workshop (not specifically this one), and how have you applied it/planning to apply in your life or work + +- Having breaks every hour or so +- New approach to screensharing, using the 'portrait' approach +- Manage breathing: reduce stress and use silence to let the audience grasp what you're saying +- Well, the most interesting or useful thing I’ve learned from online workshops is how not to conduct a workshop, or at least some elements of the same, and I have applied this understanding by engaging in the global effort to discover more about how not to conduct a workshop, or at least some elements of the same, with the motto: That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.. + ### How can you divide teaching into separate independent tasks? - By content blocks, having roles like main and assistant... @@ -266,10 +284,3 @@ Interested in becoming part of this exciting initiative? Learn more about the pr - Course, exercices, resources, tools and forms. - Different people teach different topics - CodeRefinery answer: the big logical blocks are instructors, in-person and breakout room helpers, and Notes-questions answers. - -### What’s the most interesting or useful thing you’ve learned from an online workshop, and how have you applied it/planning to apply in your life or work - -- Having breaks every hour or so -- New approach to screensharing, using the 'portrait' approach -- Manage breathing: reduce stress and use silence to let the audience grasp what you're saying -- Well, the most interesting or useful thing I’ve learned from online workshops is how not to conduct a workshop, or at least some elements of the same, and I have applied this understanding by engaging in the global effort to discover more about how not to conduct a workshop, or at least some elements of the same, with the motto: That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.. \ No newline at end of file From 7172f128a3475115757deeb7f58acf417a42b688 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Samantha Wittke <32324155+samumantha@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2024 17:05:30 +0300 Subject: [PATCH 5/7] Adapt text and shorten a bit --- content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md | 105 +++++++++++-------- 1 file changed, 63 insertions(+), 42 deletions(-) diff --git a/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md b/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md index 948b3a36..6a78ca03 100644 --- a/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md +++ b/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md @@ -8,26 +8,45 @@ Report and insights gathered during our train the trainer workshop in August/Sep authors = "Samantha Wittke" +++ -CodeRefinery, supported by the Nordic e-infrastructure collaboration (NeiC), is dedicated to enhancing FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) research software development practices. Our workshops aim to provide essential training in research software development, and we’re continually exploring new methods to make this learning process effective and inclusive. Through our train the trainer workshop we aim to share these practices and give some insights into why we do things as we do. The workshop was highly interactive, and apart from us sharing our experiences we also encouraged everyone in the workshop to share their own experiences. While it is not a requirement to become a CodeRefinery instructor after going through the workshop, we are welcoming everyone interested to join our pool of instructors. +Supported by the Nordic e-Infrastructure Collaboration (NeiC), CodeRefinery is dedicated to promoting +FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) research software development. +Our workshops provide essential training in research software development, and we are constantly evolving our teaching methods to create an effective and inclusive learning environment. -This blogpost serves as report from the workshop as well as a collection of the wonderful contributions from all participants throughout the workshop. +Our Train the Trainer workshops are designed to share our best practices and provide insights into our approach. +The sessions are highly interactive, encouraging participants to share their own experiences. +While there’s no obligation to become a CodeRefinery instructor after attending, we warmly welcome anyone interested in joining our community of instructors. + +This blog post serves as a report on the workshop and a compilation of the invaluable contributions made by participants throughout the sessions. ## Workshop setup -The workshop in August / September 2024 was not the first time we shared how we run things, however a lot has changed throughout the years and materials needed to be updated. -We also added more exercises and discussions for participants to get to know and learn from each other. -We also updated the format, splitting the four half day workshop days across four Tuesdays. +The August/September 2024 workshop was not our first time sharing our methods, but with the many changes over the years, +we updated the materials accordingly. We also introduced more exercises and discussions to help participants connect and learn from each other. + +We spread the four half-day workshop sessions across four consecutive Tuesdays in an effort to make it more manageable and engaging. ## Workshop materials -The workshop materials are available at XX. We decided to not record this workshop to make it a safe space for interaction. -You can also find previous iterations materials XX and XX. -The materials are under CC-BY licensed and we encourage anyone to reuse them. Let us know and we can help advertize your materials/course on our website! -The materials themselves also explain how you can create your own lesson materials in the same style using the CodeRefinery lesson template (XX). +All materials from the workshop are available with a DOI on [Zenodo](XX). We chose not to record the sessions +to ensure a comfortable and open environment for interaction. However, you can find materials from +previous iterations of our [CodeRefinery instructor training](https://coderefinery.github.io/train-the-trainer/branch/instructor-training/) +and [Community teaching](https://coderefinery.github.io/train-the-trainer/branch/community-teaching/). + +The materials are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, and we encourage anyone to reuse them. +If you do, let us know so we can help advertise your materials or course on our website! + +You can also learn how to create your own lesson materials using the CodeRefinery lesson template in the episode +[Lessons with version control episode](https://coderefinery.github.io/train-the-trainer/lessons-with-git/#coderefinery-lesson-template). + ## Participants -For this workshop, we had a record interest in the workshop with 82 registrations including instructors from 22 countries with most participants joining from Finland, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands and Germany, with 10-40 participants attending the sessions. The sessions were standalone and it was free for participants to choose which session to attend. +This workshop attracted record interest, with 82 registrations from 22 countries. The majority of participants were from +Finland, the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Germany, with 10-40 attendees joining each session. +Since the sessions were standalone, participants could choose which ones to attend. + +We gathered on Zoom, utilizing breakout rooms and collaborative notes for discussions and questions. +The notes are archived on the [materials web page](https://coderefinery.github.io/train-the-trainer/notes-archive/). ## Workshop themes and topics @@ -41,62 +60,64 @@ The main topics discussed in the workshop were: ### Session 1: About lesson design, deployment and iterative improvement -In our first session, we dove into the CodeRefinery lesson materials, explored the journey to their current versions, and discovered how anyone can contribute to this dynamic resource. - -One essential aspect of our lesson material is that we have it under version control from the very beginning. We discussed how version control makes lessonds shareable and easy to contribute. We explored different formats and highlighted why we like Sphinx with the sphinx-lesson extension. +In this session, we explored the evolution of CodeRefinery lesson materials and how anyone can contribute to their ongoing development. +A key aspect is version control, which ensures lessons are shareable and easy to contribute to. We discussed our preference for Sphinx with the sphinx-lesson extension. -We shared our design processes for teaching material and presentations and discussed and practiced the "backwards lesson design", starting from learning objectives and learner personas. +We introduced "backward lesson design," where we start from learning objectives and learner personas, and work backwards to create effective lessons. +Feedback collection, its conversion into actionable improvements, and the impact of these refinements were also key topics. -We also discussed how we learned to collect feedback, how we turn that into actionable items and how we measure the impact of our teaching. We also discussed the reasons and sources of inspiration behind major lesson and workshop updates. - -During the group work sessions we also encouraged everyone to share their way of creating lessons and lesson material as well as feedback. +During group work, participants shared their methods for creating lesson materials and gathering feedback. ### Session 2: Tools and techniques adopted in CodeRefinery workshops -In the second session, we took a peek behind the scenes of a large CodeRefinery workshop. We discovered the process of setting up a big event, the various roles involved, and how we keep it interactive with collaborative documents and the possibility to bring your own classroom. - -We also looked into the onboarding process for new instructors and helpers, how to prepare for teaching with regard to sound and screenshare. - -CodeRefinery teaches intermediate-level software development tool lessons. Since it is difficult to define "best practices", we try to teach **"good enough" practices**. We are also a training network for other lessons from Python to High Performance Computing. CodeRefinery Publicly-funded discrete projects (3 projects actually) transitioning towards an open community project. We have online material, teaching, and exercise sessions. Our main target audience are competent practitioners, but also novices and experts can get something out of the workshops. We want more people to work with us, and to work with more people. +This session gave participants a behind-the-scenes look at how we run large CodeRefinery workshops. +We covered event setup, roles, and how we maintain interactivity through collaborative documents and "bring your own classroom" setups. -CodeRefinery workshops are a collaborative effort with many different roles. For these roles to play well together, onboarding the different roles is one key aspect of our workshops. All of our instructors came into the project on a different path, and we want to keep it open for many more. We try to teach our ways through this train the trainer workshop, however, we are open for everyone brining in their own experiences. +We discussed onboarding new instructors and helpers, teaching preparation (sound, screen sharing), +and the importance of teaching "good enough" practices in intermediate software development tools, given the difficulty of defining "best practices." +Our workshops aim to cater to all skill levels, with a focus on competent practitioners. -Our workshops themselves are streamed (see session 4 for more information about why we do that). Having a collaborative document improves communication and interaction between participants, instructors and rest of the team. Answering questions requires a dedicated person - A Collaborative Document Manager. -We aim to post the collaborative document on the website as soon as possible after each workshop day. - -In the following episode we looked at screensharing. Since we stream our workshops, have the collaborative document and want participants to work in the terminal once in a while to we share in **portrait layout** instead of sharing entire screen. We discussed the importance of adjusting your prompt to make commands easy to read. Readability and beauty is important: adjust your setup for your audience. We also discussed the sharing of the history of your commands. Feedback and time to improve is very important to make things clear and accessible. 10 minutes before the session starts is typically too late. - -We then also discussed that audio quality is important and one of the most notable parts of the workshop. Improving audio isn't hard or expensive, but does require preparation. During the workshop we also provided participants with some time to set up a nice screenshare and test their audio. +Collaboration plays a key role in our workshops, and we highlighted the importance of assigning a Collaborative Document Manager +to handle questions and interactions. Participants practiced setting up effective screen shares, ensuring readability, +tested their sound levels and learned different ways to adjust it as well as ways of adjusting terminal prompts for teaching. ### Session 3: About teaching & cool things we all would like to share -The third session was all about mastering the art of teaching — from preparation strategies and embracing the co-teaching model to the tools we use and the teaching philosophies that guide us. - -In the first episode we learned that Computational Thinking consists of 4 main parts: decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction and algorithmic design. We discussed how can this be a useful framework for solving problems and how it can be used practically. +This session focused on teaching techniques, co-teaching models, and useful tools. We discussed Computational Thinking, +a framework that breaks problem-solving into four parts: decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithmic design. -In the next session we discussed different viewpoints on teaching and asked participants to share their own. -Afterwards, we discussed the co-teaching approach. Co-teaching focuses on complementing individual skills and strengths in teaching process. We discussed that Co-teaching may save time, reduce teachers' workload and make lessons more interactive/ engaging. Team teaching requires some adjustments in lesson preparation and delivery. +We also examined the benefits of co-teaching, where complementary skills enhance the learning experience and reduce the workload +for individual instructors. Participants shared their perspectives on teaching and discussed how team teaching can improve lesson delivery. In the "cool gems" session we had a few tool presentations: - [Screenkey for showing keyboard shortcuts](https://www.thregr.org/wavexx/software/screenkey) -- [Containerized teaching setup](XX) +- [Containerized teaching setup](https://github.com/bast/teaching-setup) - A DIY teaching clock, showing chunks of 5/10 minutes in black and white sections instead of numbers ### Session 4: Workshop streaming practices and post-workshop tasks -In the fourth session, we dove into managing streaming and recording setups, unveiling our go-to tools for a seamless experience for both instructors and learners: Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) and ffmpeg. +In this session, we covered streaming and recording workflows, with a focus on using Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) and ffmpeg. +While managing a streaming setup can seem daunting, we broke down the process to show that each step is manageable. +We also discussed video editing as a valuable tool for improving teaching. -While the broadcaster role seems overwhelming at first, this episode tried to show that while it is a lot to manage, each individual part isn't that hard. We discussed that video editing can be very useful for learning and improving your teaching and that it is important to set your time budget and make it good enough in that time. +Participants had hands-on experience with OBS, a powerful but accessible tool, not just for workshops but for personal projects too. +While OBS may appear complex, once the pieces fall into place, it's an intuitive tool for enhancing online workshops. -Participants got hands-on experience with OBS, a powerful tool that’s great not just for workshops, but also for your personal projects. While OBS may seem complicated, it's a graphical application and most pieces make sense once you know how it works. -### Interested? - Join the next iteration +### Interested in joining next time? -We are still collecting full workshop feedback and link it here later. You can however already find all notes, questions and single day feedbacks from the [materials - notes archive](https://coderefinery.github.io/train-the-trainer/notes-archive). By focusing on the instructors, the program creates a powerful network of individuals who are equipped to teach, inspire, and build communities. Whether you're looking to enhance your teaching skills or simply want to be a part of this growing community, the TTT program offers an opportunity to make a lasting impact on the computational research education world. +We are still collecting full workshop feedback and link it here later. You can however already find all notes, +questions and single day feedbacks from the [materials - notes archive](https://coderefinery.github.io/train-the-trainer/notes-archive). +Through this Train the Trainer workshop, we hope to empower more instructors to contribute to CodeRefinery +and foster an inclusive community of practice around research software development. +We look forward to seeing how participants will apply these skills and insights in their own teaching endeavors. -Interested in becoming part of this exciting initiative? -Learn more about the project and available lesson materials by checking out [CodeRefinery webpage](https://coderefinery.org) and sign up for the [Coderefinery newsletter](https://coderefinery.org/about/newsletter) to get to know about the next iteration. +No matter if you are an instructor or want to observe or support the project in some other way, you are very welcome. +Learn more about the project and available lesson materials by checking out [CodeRefinery webpage](https://coderefinery.org) +and sign up for the [Coderefinery newsletter](https://coderefinery.org/about/newsletter) to get to know about the next iteration. +If you do not have any resources to join, but would like to support the project, +please consider becoming a [CodeRefinery ambassador](https://coderefinery.org/join/individuals/#coderefinery-ambassador). ## Collection of teaching related tips and tricks gathered throughout the workshop through questions to the audience From 7d085a1d0d09c4bbacbdf53ea133401150ebef4f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Radovan Bast Date: Wed, 11 Sep 2024 20:54:27 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 6/7] fix typos --- content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md | 28 ++++++++++---------- 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-) diff --git a/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md b/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md index 6a78ca03..b5ce4285 100644 --- a/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md +++ b/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md @@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ please consider becoming a [CodeRefinery ambassador](https://coderefinery.org/jo - Seeing when learner gets interested/curious about something and takes inspiration from the course. :+1: - Seeing it works and someone can do something new. - Motivated students grasping new stuff -- Students picking up and running with the matertial and skills I give them and using it for their own work. :+1: +- Students picking up and running with the material and skills I give them and using it for their own work. :+1: - The "ah-ha!" moment when a student gets it! :+1::100: :+1: - Learning from students who know about some topic more than you do. :+1: - Being able to help people reach their goals, by showing them something new. @@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ please consider becoming a [CodeRefinery ambassador](https://coderefinery.org/jo ### If your design process has changed over time, please describe what you used to do and what you do now instead. - I look more at existing materials and try to get more information about the audience. Unfortunately getting information about the audience before the event is hard -- I used to start from the begginning and get from there but that often meant a very polished start and a rushed end. Now I try an overview first, then fil out sparsed details at every section +- I used to start from the beginning and get from there but that often meant a very polished start and a rushed end. Now I try an overview first, then fill out sparse details at every section - Updating the data and tweak the presentation - If I am teaching a small group (or one to one) talk to them before hand - find out what they know already, what they want to learn. @@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ please consider becoming a [CodeRefinery ambassador](https://coderefinery.org/jo - less is more. It's better to have 2-3 main messages rather than trying to show everything in one go :+1: :+1: :+1: :+1: - how much practice time the learners need to master what's taught -- Don't worry about something going wrong. It often makes the lesson (and thus the material) more presistent in memory. :+1: +- Don't worry about something going wrong. It often makes the lesson (and thus the material) more persistent in memory. :+1: - Try and remove everything except what you want the person to learn - That's a very tough part for me in the sense that I never know how much of an underlying "black box" is still ok.... - Designing intermediate materials is hard, and requires putting some "gatekeeping" making sure that learners are directed to appropriate courses @@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ please consider becoming a [CodeRefinery ambassador](https://coderefinery.org/jo ### What tricks/techniques have you tried in your teaching or seen in someone else's teaching that you think have been particularly effective in collecting feedback from learners? -- preparing a survey and emailing it to participants as soon as the event ends (usually get <50% of answers but it's a representative enough sample) +- preparing a survey and emailing it to participants as soon as the event ends (usually get fewer than 50% of answers but it's a representative enough sample) - do engage with the audience, give them the time to get the courage to speak up - Be the audience yourself - yes! some problems/issues I don't notice as instructor, only as listener @@ -220,10 +220,10 @@ please consider becoming a [CodeRefinery ambassador](https://coderefinery.org/jo - Teaching with very diverse partners, it can be challenging to find a common language with people very different than you. - I teach alone, in the future there will be more collaboration with multiple team members. Both approaches have their pros and cons. - Both has its own distinct advantages -- Most of my teaching is on my own, as a freelancer its more expensive to work with colleagues than to deliever a course on my own. +- Most of my teaching is on my own, as a freelancer its more expensive to work with colleagues than to deliver a course on my own. - Teaching together, learns from each other, feedbacks to improve - Not formally taught yet, only given presentations actually . -- collective teaching would benefit the teachers with collaborative curriculumn and experiences sharing. +- collective teaching would benefit the teachers with collaborative curriculum and experiences sharing. ### If applicable, have you seen any challenges when teaching together and how to overcome them? @@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ please consider becoming a [CodeRefinery ambassador](https://coderefinery.org/jo - Need to plan before session, difficult if people don't 'plan' in the same way, e.g. with the same time frame. - Heterogeneity in learners make it impossible to get the same result from everyone. - In fact, the same applies to teachers :D -- Teaching together requires to have similar opinions on how to teach. I share vews only with ~40% of my colleagues I think. +- Teaching together requires to have similar opinions on how to teach. I share views only with ~40% of my colleagues I think. - No Teaching experience but it is good to give the outline of the lessons beforehand and learning goals. ### How might breaking down a complex problem into smaller parts change your approach to problem-solving in your current projects? @@ -250,18 +250,18 @@ please consider becoming a [CodeRefinery ambassador](https://coderefinery.org/jo - Multi-targeted drug design where you need to identify both chemical and biological pathways/patterns - Distilling complex physics problems into simpler 1D statistics is very often done. -- I used to do bioinformatics, pretty much everything in biology is about patterns in strings of charachters (DNA, proteins). Finding those patterns and using them is the way to go +- I used to do bioinformatics, pretty much everything in biology is about patterns in strings of characters (DNA, proteins). Finding those patterns and using them is the way to go - Pattern recognition DOES NOT lead to new insight, it is new insight which allows for the recognition of a 'pattern', the latter being an allocation of possible bias. ### What challenges do you face when trying to simplify complex concepts in your field, and how do you decide which details to focus on? - Absence of a terminology / jargon to describe a new idea. :+1: -- Similar to above, when teaching often students know what they want to achive, but don't have the termonology to express it, so working through what they want is helpful, after teaching them some termonology. +- Similar to above, when teaching often students know what they want to achieve, but don't have the terminology to express it, so working through what they want is helpful, after teaching them some terminology. - Whatever is most useful to the learner first? -- I work with researchers in different fields. I don't always fully understand their domain knowledge but I can take the basiscs or generalities and get code that works for them +- I work with researchers in different fields. I don't always fully understand their domain knowledge but I can take the basics or generalities and get code that works for them - A very practical problem is trying to resist going for a coffee in the midst of taking a shot at a complex concept, in the hope that the true details are to be found in the coffee. -- not all information is easy to find or a lot of conflicting information or even sometimes imformation explosion +- not all information is easy to find or a lot of conflicting information or even sometimes information explosion ### How do you determine the priority of tasks when designing algorithms for your academic projects, and what criteria do you use to ensure that the most critical tasks are addressed first? @@ -295,13 +295,13 @@ please consider becoming a [CodeRefinery ambassador](https://coderefinery.org/jo - Having breaks every hour or so - New approach to screensharing, using the 'portrait' approach - Manage breathing: reduce stress and use silence to let the audience grasp what you're saying -- Well, the most interesting or useful thing I’ve learned from online workshops is how not to conduct a workshop, or at least some elements of the same, and I have applied this understanding by engaging in the global effort to discover more about how not to conduct a workshop, or at least some elements of the same, with the motto: That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.. +- Well, the most interesting or useful thing I've learned from online workshops is how not to conduct a workshop, or at least some elements of the same, and I have applied this understanding by engaging in the global effort to discover more about how not to conduct a workshop, or at least some elements of the same, with the motto: That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.. ### How can you divide teaching into separate independent tasks? - By content blocks, having roles like main and assistant... - Having responsibility for different sections of the course. -- Wow, now thats what we call a question... bravo... indeed, how does one separate sleeping and snoring into separate independent tasks... -- Course, exercices, resources, tools and forms. +- Wow, now that's what we call a question... bravo... indeed, how does one separate sleeping and snoring into separate independent tasks... +- Course, exercises, resources, tools and forms. - Different people teach different topics - CodeRefinery answer: the big logical blocks are instructors, in-person and breakout room helpers, and Notes-questions answers. From e7dc322752611c13c3293a894aeaaee443867c75 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Samantha Wittke <32324155+samumantha@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Sat, 14 Sep 2024 01:20:57 +0300 Subject: [PATCH 7/7] add zenodo link --- content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md b/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md index b5ce4285..4fbcade9 100644 --- a/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md +++ b/content/blog/2024-09-09-train-the-trainer.md @@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ We spread the four half-day workshop sessions across four consecutive Tuesdays i ## Workshop materials -All materials from the workshop are available with a DOI on [Zenodo](XX). We chose not to record the sessions +All materials from the workshop are available with a DOI on [Zenodo](https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.13736614)). We chose not to record the sessions to ensure a comfortable and open environment for interaction. However, you can find materials from previous iterations of our [CodeRefinery instructor training](https://coderefinery.github.io/train-the-trainer/branch/instructor-training/) and [Community teaching](https://coderefinery.github.io/train-the-trainer/branch/community-teaching/).