Thanks for starting this conversation. In my opinion, our lessons have three main purposes: 1. remind instructors what to teach (before/during a workshop) 2. remind students what they've learned (following a workshop) 3. help folks who haven't attended a workshop learn some basics
I think our lessons work pretty well as stand-alone learn-yourself materials. In fact, I use them as a starting point for graduate students, undergraduates, and even high school students get their feet wet with computational work. The most success I've had is with the R for reproducible science lessons, as well as the unix-shell lesson. Is working through the lessons alone as effective as attending a workshop? Certainly not. Usually, though, with a few one-on-one meetings with the student, I can fill in the gaps by showing them how I operate as a scientist with these tools, and then they're at least equipped to take code I've written and modify it to suit their own project needs. I've had students work with me and find success with our materials over those they've tried from other sources. This is certainly anecdotal information, but something I think often about as I'm faced with infrequent availability of workshops but a need to teach limited numbers of students how to code. I'm hoping to build critical mass within another year or so to start holding regular workshops at my institution, but I need at least a few helpers first! On Wed, Sep 28, 2016 at 10:52 AM, Daniel Chen <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi everyone: > > When people ask me about learning R/Python I tend to point them to the > Software/Data carpentry lesson pages. I think the lessons are great, and > I've used them myself to learn about concepts. > I'm also biased in my answer because I use the SWC/DC material when I > teach. > > It occurred to me the other day, that for students who attend a workshop, > they might understand the material better because they've seen it before > taught at a workshop. The lessons that we have essentially serve as a > reminder to the workshop they attended. Hopefully, any big questions were > asked in the workshop so they can continue with the lesson material on > their own. > > However, what about people who stumble over our lessons without attending > a workshop? > Do we know how effective the lessons are for people who have not attended > a workshop before? > I imagine the lesson would be just as good, if not better than most of the > material out there. > > Then again, I am extremely biased... > > > - Dan > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss > -- Kate L. Hertweck, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Biology The University of Texas at Tyler 3900 University Blvd., Tyler, TX 75799 Email: [email protected] Office: HPR 109, 903.565.5882 https://www.uttyler.edu/biology/
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