Thank you all for these comments and  resources. Reading these I got a few 
ideas about how we could help our students, even if they don't participate in a 
full in person workshop. 

* If there are workshops in the area, send the students to these. If not:
* Make sure that they get the help they need to install the software in their 
computer, and get it running. I think assigning a mentor (e.g. a more senior 
grad student) who is at the same institution could help with this step. So that 
they can meet in person and the students can be helped with this tricky step 
before taking the training. 
* Pair students so that they can take the training together. 
* A person delivering the workshop live would be the best option, even if it is 
via zoom. If that is not possible, I wonder what the best alternative would 
be... a recording of a person teaching the class (that the student can stop if 
necessary, because they are taking the class alone or in pairs), or the student 
following the written version of the workshop on their own. Another option 
would be using different lessons, like the ones suggested in this thread.
* Have a system through which students can get help on the moment/soon. This is 
tricky. I have a few ideas, but they would need to be tested to see if they are 
realistic/logistically possible/effective: a mentor in the room, a chat/zoom 
session staffed by a person familiar with the lesson, a slack channel/e-mail 
listserv with students that have participated in the training before. The 
mentor would have to be involved here to make sure that they feel comfortable 
asking questions through these channels. 
* I think that a slack channel or equivalent could be very powerful post 
workshop (specially in this scenario in which they are all people who will be 
working in the same grant). A community building tool, somewhere to go to when 
their individual projects create challenges.  Do any of you do something along 
these lines after a carpentries workshop? 

Thanks again for your comments!
Clara
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