A separate install lesson, because the lessons are already rather content-heavy, and searching within them for install instructions to email to students to have a go before coming in is confusing.
On 18 February 2016 at 11:16:34, Moreau, John (UMKC-Student) ([email protected]) wrote: > Matt et al: > Perhaps this is the crux of the problem. We no longer have installation > instructions > outside of the workshop pages. More experienced instructors may know to check > the workshop > template on GitHub. However, for newer instructors, potential workshop hosts, > and > drive-by site visitors, there’s no clear directions. > Thinking about the problem from the perspective of a novice learner, their > first instinct > will be to check the website. After coming up short, some people will become > frustrated > and abandon the search. Here’s where an expert might say “Why didn’t you > just* google > for {program needed}?” Because the novice learner lacks the mental models of > an expert, > they may not know what search terms to use. The Shell lessons suffer from > this problem > more than most: > > · Nowhere on the lesson landing page > (http://swcarpentry.github.io/shell-novice/) > do we mention the term “Bash” > > · The “Introducing the Shell” page > (http://swcarpentry.github.io/shell-novice/00-intro.html) > does not use the term “Bash” until the seventh paragraph > > · The intro page does not directly tell a novice learner that the standard > Git for Windows > installation includes Bash. > > · The intro page does mention that the Bash shell is the default shell on > many modern UNIX > implementations. A novice learner may not know that Mac OS now uses a UNIX > engine and uses > Bash for its command line terminal. They also may not know how to access the > terminal. > > · If a Linux user doesn’t know about the Unix command line, I really want to > ask them how > they got Linux on their machine in the first place. > > For these reasons, I suggest that we should add installation instructions to > either > the lesson pages or as a separate “lesson”. Before Greg (or anyone else) says > it, yes, > I know “Pull requests are always welcome”. Let me ask the community - Would > you rather > have: > A separate install “lesson” and links from the other lessons to that install > page > -OR- > Installation information within each separate lesson? > > John Moreau > * http://swcarpentry.github.io/instructor-training/05-expertise.html > > From: Discuss [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf > > Of Matt Davis > Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 5:05 PM > To: Markus Mueller ; [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Discuss] installation instructions > > Hi Markus, > > Our workshop webpages have software installation instructions. We used to > have those > on software-carpentry.org, but I couldn't find > them so here's the website of an upcoming workshop: > https://joshwaterfall.github.io/2016-02-16-NIH/ > > Best, > Matt > > On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 2:53 PM Markus Mueller > > wrote: > Dear listers, > > I am a new instructor (or soon to be one) and started having a closer look at > the software > carpentry lesson material. I first had a look at the instructor guide > (http://swcarpentry.github.io/shell-novice/instructors.html) > and only found some general tips and hints about which tools to use and how > to install them > (my interested would here apparently be how to get a unix shell to run on > windows). > > I apologize if I missed something, but otherwise would be glad if somebody > could point > me to the installation guidelines (that the page above somehow hints at). > > > Cheers, > > Markus > > ________________________________ > > Please consider the environment before printing this email > Warning: This electronic message together with any attachments is > confidential. If > you receive it in error: (i) you must not read, use, disclose, copy or retain > it; (ii) please > contact the sender immediately by reply email and then delete the emails. > The views expressed in this email may not be those of Landcare Research New > Zealand Limited. > http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz > _______________________________________________ > 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
