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]
<mailto:[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]
<mailto:[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] <mailto:[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 <tel: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] <mailto:[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]
<mailto:[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 <tel:%2B49%20351%20210%202882>
> > >>> fax +49 351 202 707 04 <tel:%2B49%20351%20202%20707%2004>
> > >>> www.scionics.de <http://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]
<mailto:[email protected]>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> >
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> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >> Dr. Michael (Mike) Jackson [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
> > >> Software Architect Tel: +44 (0)131 650
5141 <tel:%2B44%20%280%29131%20650%205141>
> > >> 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]
<mailto:[email protected]>
> > >>
> > >>
> >
http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Discuss mailing list
> > > [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
> > >
> >
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> > >
> >
> > --
> > 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 <tel:%2B49%20351%20210%202882>
> > fax +49 351 202 707 04 <tel:%2B49%20351%20202%20707%2004>
> > www.scionics.de <http://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]
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> >
> >
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> >
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C. Titus Brown, [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
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Best Regards,
Dr. Bill Mills
TRIUMF
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