Hi Anelda et al., I've taught git a few times. The last time, I decided to do something different as I was never happy with the regular git lesson and I think I will try it again.
I start with an existing repository on github (in this case, the repo used for the instructors to coordinate their materials). We look at the history online and then the students clone the repo locally and check out some older files. Only later are they introduced to the "git init" command". The main issue I was trying to solve was that before I felt I was forced to say thing like "let's type all these commands and it will be useful later". Here I hope to say "look at how it's nice when you have the history of a project, now let's see how we can make it happen". I also immediately introduced repo sharing by having the students pair up and collaborate on a shared repo on github. Hopefully this makes the usefulness more salient. I use github extensively. I do explain that everything can be done on the command line, but (1) github itself is very widely used and (2) it's easier to show the concepts on the GUI rather than on the command line. I have slides, but they lack the guided exploration of the github interface: https://github.com/luispedro/talk-git-intro/blob/master/slides.html HTH Luis Luis Pedro Coelho | EMBL | http://luispedro.org My blog: http://metarabbit.wordpress.com On Sat, 8 Jul 2017, at 07:32 AM, Anelda van der Walt wrote: > Hi Steve, > > Thanks very much for sharing! > > I've been wondering how we can simultaneously give a broader exposure to > GitHub GUI as I (since I'm not a software developer but often collaborate > with others on GitHub) mostly use GitHub and haven't had to use git > command > line probably for a year now because I could do everything I needed in > the > GUI. Not that I am promoting not teaching the command line way of using > git, but for people who've never ever encountered version control it > might > be more accessible to first build a mental model by learning GitHub and > then going to the next step of learning the command line tool. > > Kind regards, > > Anelda > > On Fri, Jul 7, 2017 at 6:49 PM, Bond, Steve (NIH/NHGRI) [F] < > [email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi Anelda, > > > > We have stripped out the entire Dracula example from our workshop at the > > NIH, switching to a conversions script example (dollars to cents, feet to > > meters, etc). We have also chosen to focus heavily on the GitHub UI, > > instead of some of the terminal commands that GitHub otherwise hides. > > > > https://github.com/biologyguy/git-novice > > > > So it doesn’t tie in with gap minder, but we do have our attendees writing > > little programs. > > > > There are still some significant kinks though, particularly when we get to > > the collaboration and conflict resolution sections. The last time we ran > > the workshop a significant gap developed between the faster and slower > > paced learners that was difficult to accommodate as instructors. > > > > -Steve > > > > > > > > > > > > *From: *Anelda van der Walt <[email protected]> > > *Date: *Friday, July 7, 2017 at 12:07 PM > > *To: *Software Carpentry Discussion <[email protected]> > > *Cc: *John Poole <[email protected]>, Bryan Johnston <[email protected] > > > > > *Subject: *[Discuss] Git lesson alternative > > > > > > > > Hi all, > > > > > > > > We'll be running a Software Carpentry workshop later this month and was > > discussing the git-novice lesson again today... We would really like to > > show people how real code can be put under version control in git/GitHub as > > opposed to showing the Dracula story. I know this conversation has come up > > several times, and some instructors have started to teach git on the > > morning of day 2 so that in the afternoon, when they continue with the > > Python lesson, they can show how it can be used with git. Does anyone have > > an edited version of the git lesson that allows for integration with the > > Python gapminder lesson perhaps? > > > > > > > > Thanks! > > > > > > > > Anelda > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss
