On Tue, Feb 27, 2018 at 11:26 AM, Maneesha Sane <manee...@carpentries.org> wrote:
> I agree, I don't see a big difference in the two schedules Iñigo > proposed. > My intuition (supported by some anecdotal evidence) is that learners will be worn out on Python/R if they're taught in one contiguous block. I much prefer splitting the programming language across two days not only to give the instructor a break, but also so that learners have time to stew on it. Teaching shell and git on separate days has a similar effect, since the latter is a good review of the former. On Tue, Feb 27, 2018 at 11:26 AM, Maneesha Sane <manee...@carpentries.org> wrote: > [...] by the end of Day 2, instructors and learners alike are quite tired > making it harder to introduce an entirely new concept like git that > afternoon. [...] So I'd recommend against doing git the afternoon of day 2. > On Tue, Feb 27, 2018 at 11:55 AM, April Wright <wright.apr...@gmail.com> wrote: > I agree with Maneesha about not introducing git in the second afternoon. > Git can be challenging, and hard to understand in terms of the motivation > for use. > I'll argue for git as the last session; I'm a little bit surprised that no one else has. I like putting git last because: - it reinforces and complements the "reproducibility" thread that's implicit in all of the lessons; - you can refer back to the other lessons (writing code) to motivate version control; - you can calibrate the cognitive load based on how engaged learners are; - some of the alternative storylines have opportunities for humor, and collaboration is always exciting, both of which do a lot to keep learners' attention. We've used this schedule (shell, python, python, git) in almost all of the workshops I have been involved with. It's kinda interesting that I haven't overlapped with the other camps a whole lot. Not that we need to enforce one on instructors, but it's challenging to take an evidence-based approach to recommending a schedule. Few instructors have a large enough sample size to overcome the variability between workshops and confidently endorse one of the two. Can we do any assessment based on exit surveys? Which schedule gets the best ratings? -Byron
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