On Wed, Mar 2, 2016 at 7:48 AM Noam Ross <[email protected]> wrote:
> I learned to use git via the RStudio GUI. It is not the most powerful > interface, but it was enough for most tasks I needed as a beginner: > committing, reviewing history, pushing/pulling from Github, etc. As I > became comfortable with the concepts and had more advanced needs I switched > to the command line. > > For R-based SWC/DC workshops I have taught and seen, we often teach git in > the command line and then afterwards briefly demo the fact that similar > tasks can be accomplished in the RStudio IDE, which learners already have > installed. Has anyone attempted to teach with the GUI first, or somehow > teach them in parallel? I hypothesize learners might be more likely to use > git immediately with this approach. > Last June I taught a day-long (~6h) workshop on version control based on the SWC Mercurial lesson material. The workshop used both the command-line and the Tortoise-Hg GUI. The learners were free to choose either interface and I presented each section in both interfaces, using the repetition of concepts to try to ensure more understanding by the learners. Feedback from the workshop was generally positive, including several comments appreciating the choice of interface. The learners are from a national centres of excellent network that is spread across Canada and I have not had contact with any of them since the workshop, so, unfortunately, I can't comment on how the instructional approach correlates with uptake and continuing use of version control. I would not attempt to use the same approach in an SWC workshop because there is simply not enough time in 2.5-3 hr half-day segment. > > Two other thoughts on this approach: > > 1. While we aim to teach script-ability, scripting git commands is > rare/advanced use. > 2. I have gotten feedback that teaching the RStudio git GUI is hard to > follow. This seemed to be because (1) this was a less well-developed > lesson - more a demo at the end of the main git lesson, and (2) learners > could not follow along via SWC notes or the live command history we shared > via dropbox. So such lesson might require a screenshot-heavy set of > accompanying lesson notes. Guidance might come from the DC experience with > OpenRefine and Excel lessons. > > - Noam > > On Wed, Mar 2, 2016, 7:54 AM Konrad Hinsen <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> On 02/03/16 10:30, Juan Nunez-Iglesias wrote: >> >> > I hope we all migrate soon to UIs built on top of git, such as gitless >> > <http://gitless.com/>. But it's gonna be slow and painful, because of >> > the huge momentum that git has. >> >> I considered using gitless instead of git for my recent course for >> French PhD students >> (https://github.com/khinsen/FdV-Computer-Aided-Research-2016). The two >> main reasons I ended up sticking to plain git were >> >> 1) Gitless requires additional installation, whereas plain git was >> already available on all machines. >> >> 2) There is excellent SWC teaching material for Git, but not for gitless. >> >> So, yes, SWC is becoming a part of the "system inertia" for me! >> >> A problem I see with gitless is that it is technically compatible with >> git, but not operationally. For a given local repository, you use either >> git or gitless. For everyone who knows some git commands, that means >> unlearning. >> >> What I use myself is Magit (http://magit.vc/) within Emacs. It's a much >> more reasonable UI for git, but it's fully compatible with git (it >> actually calls git under the hood), so you can mix it with command line >> work. But I wouldn't consider Magit for teaching because I am not >> looking forward to doing "introduction to Emacs" first! >> >> Konrad. >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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
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