Hi Peter et al. It is great to hear everyone’s thoughts. I would suggest a multi-prongged approach:
I always post a “Lesson plan” master notebook to the class repository. This has my lesson plan in it (so basically everything I plan on typing minus the extemporaneous stuff). I point people to this at the beginning of the lesson so that students who want to take a lot of notes know that the information is already there, students who missed something know its there, and students who can’t keep up with the typing can just follow along knowing that they can go back to it at their own pace. I also let them know that I will post my notebook from class to the repository as well for anything that we covered spontaneously. I typically bring the class back from exercises when 50-65% of the class is finished. I let them know at the beginning of the class that I won’t wait for everyone, but that I will go over a solution together as a class so that if they didn’t finish, they can see how to finish. I do this because I realized that if I wait for everyone, then almost everyone has moved onto a different task (often not SWC related) by the time the last ones have finished. Explaining to the class my plan and reasoning puts the students at ease. I like to do an informal poll at the beginning of class to get a sense of who may be the more advanced learners. Once they have their hands up, I explicitly tell the class - these are your resources, use them. I haven’t tried this, but I think it would be useful for engagement, especially in a particularly split class - pair up an advanced student and a beginner students and have them work together. Make sure the beginner student is getting the opportunity to ask questions and understands what is going on (maybe encourage them to trade off who is typing the exercises). Explicitly assigning people to each other might make it easier to ask for help and to feel comfortable offering help. -Azalee ------------------------------------------------------- K. Azalee Bostroem Graduate Student UC Davis http://azaleebostroem.wordpress.com ------------------------------------------------------- On Oct 27, 2015, at 9:38 AM, Bill Mills <[email protected]> wrote: > I stretch the skill-level bracket of all my workshops by leaning heavily on > tiered challenge problems; I break for problems regularly (every 30 minutes > or so, giving those really struggling a chance to catch up), and set > 'baseline' problems (that everyone is expected to solve) and 'stretch' goals > - harder problems that the intermediates can derive value from. > > On Tue, Oct 27, 2015 at 9:33 AM, Noam Ross <[email protected]> wrote: > One thing that I've found is that students who are behind sometimes give up > trying to type along and just read along with the lesson notes. While it's > not the ideal outcome, it may be the best one for some fraction of students, > and this makes it easier for those students to reference those notes at some > later time. So it might be worthwhile to point students to each lesson's > notes before starting that section. > > On Tue, Oct 27, 2015 at 12:29 PM C. Titus Brown <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Amanda et al., > > thanks, this is a nice discussion! > > I try to distinguish between "zero entry" and more advanced workshops > as clearly as possible, but of course problems happen in both directions > for the advanced workshops - too advanced, and too beginner. > > One strategy that (I think) Greg suggested a long time ago was to suggest > that the too-advanced people help out with the too-beginner people when > a TA wasn't available. Of course this can go wrong as well, but I think > when it goes well it's quite nice. > > cheers, > --titus > > On Tue, Oct 27, 2015 at 03:46:12PM +0000, Amanda Charbonneau wrote: > > I actually had a similar problem, but with an intro workshop that I had > > already pared down considerably because I knew the learners were skewed > > towards *very* beginners. Even with the simplified material, I had a > > handful of people who couldn't keep up, people who had to hover a single > > finger back and forth over the keyboard to locate each letter. > > This handful of people comprised about a quarter of the attendees, and > > the advertising clearly said that the course was for learners who have > > little to no prior computational experience, so they hadn't really gone to > > the wrong course level. It was just that their interpretation of no prior > > computational experience was very different from what SWC expects. It felt > > wrong to just press on without them, so I slowed everything down to a > > crawl, but I also felt extremely bad that we only got partway through any > > of the material. > > > > Sorry I don't have a solution, just commiseration. > > > > -amanda > > > > On Tue, Oct 27, 2015 at 11:24 AM Peter Steinbach <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > Hi April, > > > > > > thanks for your insights. As a matter of fact, in my case the local > > > organizers were very forthcoming and implemented a pre-assessment form > > > before the workshop. Still, I had the feeling during the workshop that > > > this pre-assessment only covered the tip of the iceberg (as expected). > > > > > > I guess the trade-off who to bore and whom to carry through is always on > > > the plate of the instructor. I'd have to say that being in a team of 2 > > > helps at this point tremendously as the co-instructor is among the > > > "students" and simply can assist here and there. > > > > > > If people have more feedback on the matter, I am happy to hear it. If > > > not, my gratitude to those that replied already. > > > > > > Best, > > > Peter > > > > > > On 10/27/2015 03:27 PM, April Wright wrote: > > > > Hi Peter- > > > > > > > > I've been in this exact same situation, though with a departmental > > > > workshop, rather than an SWC one. It's hard, and I'm sorry that happened > > > to > > > > you. > > > > > > > > Since you're SWC, I think the first thing to do is ask the host. Often, > > > the > > > > host has some specific ideas about what they want the learners to come > > > away > > > > with, and that can help you steer the course. > > > > > > > > What I did, in practice, was this: I spent way too much time helping > > > > novices. I slowed down, got through less than half of the material, and > > > the > > > > intermediates, who had actually chosen the correct class and paid a > > > nominal > > > > fee for it were very unsatisfied. I really think that I made the wrong > > > call > > > > by punishing people who carefully read the sign-up and prioritizing > > > > those > > > > who didn't. There are a lot of resources out there to help people take > > > the > > > > first steps in programming. There are fewer to help with the 'what's > > > next', > > > > and I should have been more sensitive to that fact. What I should have > > > done > > > > is told people who were working on novice-level skills that they were > > > > welcome to stay and work, but that people working on the course material > > > > would be assisted first. > > > > > > > > On the next go around, I added a list of skills the learners needed to > > > > be > > > > comfortable with to attend (previously, it had simply been a link to the > > > > previous workshop) and a code snippet one of the students had written. I > > > > let them know that this was the level of familiarity they needed to have > > > *with > > > > Python* to attend, and that TAs would preferentially assist those who > > > were > > > > mastering course skills over those who were mastering other material. > > > > > > > > That worked, I only had one person for whom the course was inappropriate > > > > (they were too high level) show up. > > > > > > > > --a > > > > > > > > --------- > > > > Postdoctoral Researcher > > > > Iowa State University, EEOB > > > > University of Kansas, EEB > > > > 251 Bessey Hall > > > > Ames, IA 50011 > > > > 512.940.5761 > > > > http://wrightaprilm.github.io/ > > > > <http://wrightaprilm.github.io/pages/about_me.html> > > > > > > > > > > > > On Tue, Oct 27, 2015 at 8:23 AM, Michael J Jackson < > > > [email protected]> > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > >> Hi Peter, > > > >> > > > >> If there are more people falling behind than you have helpers to > > > >> handle, > > > >> then I'd just slow down. I'd (reluctantly) rather bore those who don't > > > want > > > >> a slower pace, than confuse those do. > > > >> > > > >> cheers, > > > >> mike > > > >> > > > >> > > > >> Quoting Peter Steinbach <[email protected]> on Tue, 27 Oct 2015 > > > >> 11:39:01 +0100: > > > >> > > > >> Hi Raniere et al, > > > >>> > > > >>> thanks for the pointers for recording the terminal history, I'd like > > > >>> to > > > >>> get back to my more general question though ... how to give > > > participants > > > >>> that are not up to the level of the course a chance to follow? I don't > > > >>> wanna drag them all through, at some point there has to be a limit for > > > the > > > >>> sake of the remaining crowd. But still, I'd like to hear people's > > > >>> experience on this. > > > >>> > > > >>> Best, > > > >>> Peter > > > >>> > > > >>> On 10/27/2015 11:23 AM, Raniere Silva wrote: > > > >>> > > > >>>> Hi Peter, > > > >>>> > > > >>>> Could you share these scripts? > > > >>>>> > > > >>>> > > > >>>> Please check > > > >>>> > > > >>>> > > > https://github.com/swcarpentry/site/pull/1124/files#diff-9e17f2fd404c84648654a4fc54a9a2ecR71 > > > >>>> . > > > >>>> We are going to publish it this week. > > > >>>> > > > >>>> I'd like to see if they'd capture a nano screen etc > > > >>>>> (I presume not, but I'd like to try them anyhow). > > > >>>>> Apologies if they were already shared with this community and I > > > >>>>> overlooked them. > > > >>>>> > > > >>>> > > > >>>> There are terminal screen recorder that can capture nano > > > >>>> but from my experience they don't work for what you want. =( > > > >>>> > > > >>>> Cheers, > > > >>>> Raniere > > > >>>> > > > >>>> > > > >>> -- > > > >>> Peter Steinbach, Dr. rer. nat. > > > >>> HPC Developer, Scientific Computing Facility > > > >>> > > > >>> Scionics Computer Innovation GmbH > > > >>> L??scherstr. 16 > > > >>> 01309 Dresden > > > >>> Germany > > > >>> > > > >>> phone +49 351 210 2882 > > > >>> fax +49 351 202 707 04 > > > >>> www.scionics.de > > > >>> > > > >>> Sitz der Gesellschaft: Dresden (Main office) > > > >>> Amtsgericht - Registergericht: Dresden HRB 20337 (Commercial Registry) > > > >>> Ust-IdNr.: DE813263791 (VAT ID Number) > > > >>> Gesch??ftsf??hrer: John Duperon, Jeff Oegema (Managing Directors) > > > >>> > > > >>> _______________________________________________ > > > >>> Discuss mailing list > > > >>> [email protected] > > > >>> > > > >>> > > > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org > > > >>> > > > >>> > > > >>> > > > >> > > > >> > > > >> ------------------------------------------------------------ > > > >> Dr. Michael (Mike) Jackson [email protected] > > > >> Software Architect Tel: +44 (0)131 650 5141 > > > >> EPCC, The University of Edinburgh http://www.epcc.ed.ac.uk > > > >> Software Sustainability Institute http://www.software.ac.uk > > > >> > > > >> > > > >> -- > > > >> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in > > > >> Scotland, with registration number SC005336. > > > >> > > > >> > > > >> > > > >> _______________________________________________ > > > >> 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 > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > Peter Steinbach, Dr. rer. nat. > > > HPC Developer, Scientific Computing Facility > > > > > > Scionics Computer Innovation GmbH > > > L??scherstr. 16 > > > 01309 Dresden > > > Germany > > > > > > phone +49 351 210 2882 > > > fax +49 351 202 707 04 > > > www.scionics.de > > > > > > Sitz der Gesellschaft: Dresden (Main office) > > > Amtsgericht - Registergericht: Dresden HRB 20337 (Commercial Registry) > > > Ust-IdNr.: DE813263791 (VAT ID Number) > > > Gesch??ftsf??hrer: John Duperon, Jeff Oegema (Managing Directors) > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > 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 > > -- > C. Titus Brown, [email protected] > > _______________________________________________ > 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 > > > > -- > Best Regards, > Dr. Bill Mills > TRIUMF > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org
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