>Greg wrote: I don't know how big a problem this is, but several conversations in the past two years make me believe it's big enough that we need to design for it.
I assume that “intermediate” python classes have indeed been advertised as “intermediate.” However, the issue seems that we don’t want to discourage people who may have thought the “intermediate” course is too difficult to them. At the same time we don’t want to encourage people who are not ready for “intermediate” level. I think using a “certificate” system could be a solution. At the end of each course, we can issue a “certificate” to those who pass a certain threshold. To attend level-2 course, a “certificate” from level-1 course, either on-site or on-line, is a pre-requisite. Then both students and instructors can have a more objective method to make judgment. If a formal “certificate” method has already been adopted by SWC, please disregard my idea above. Thanks. -kai On Fri, Oct 31, 2014 at 10:51 AM, Daniel Chen <[email protected]> wrote: > If it is actually a intermediate only workshop. can we give them an > assignment to do? > They're not novices, so a little more should be expected from them. > > One that comes to mind is the snap crackle pop hw. > It goes along the lines of: > "write a program that prints the numbers from 0 to 99 inclusive, for each > multiple of 3 print 'snap' > each multiple of 7 'crackle', and multiple of 11 'pop'" > mention that if they cannot solve this in 20? minutes , they should opt to > attend a beginner workshop > > let it be on their own merit in terms of doing and 'correctness'. > > This would avoid having that student who has never seems a list or loop > from attending > > > > > > On Fri, Oct 31, 2014 at 1:42 PM, Greg Wilson < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> On 2014-10-30 2:55 PM, Naupaka Zimmerman wrote: >> >>> I'd love to hear if any other people have advice for improving the >>> pre-course surveys to discriminate (make everyone write a fizz-buzz in >>> their language of choice? bringing a printout of their favorite geeky >>> meme?) between experience levels or more broadly about how folks have >>> effectively/successfully engaged groups with heterogeneous experience >>> levels. >>> >> >> I'm strongly in favor of finding out more about our learners before our >> workshops and/or making sure that people attend the right ones, but there's >> a trap we need to avoid. Our educational system trains people to believe >> that every test counts. Even if we tell them the pre-assessment isn't a >> test, some will perceive it that way, and if they can't get the right >> answers, they won't sign up for the workshop. Ironically, these are often >> exactly the people we most want to help. I don't know how big a problem >> this is (I don't even know what metric I'd use), but several conversations >> in the past two years make me believe it's big enough that we need to >> design for it. >> >> Thanks, >> Greg >> >> -- >> Greg Wilson >> Software Carpentry | http://www.software-carpentry.org/ >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Discuss mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists. >> software-carpentry.org >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org >
_______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org
