Bit late to this conversation, but thank you all for these perspectives! This was incredibly interesting to read through. :)
Christina On Sun, Mar 18, 2018 at 3:11 PM, David Martin (Staff) < [email protected]> wrote: > I make extensive use of videos in the courses I teach. I find the > carpentries method to be not suitable for novices (ie the starting from > scratch group) for the reasons given - there is no context on which to > hang the material they are given. The videos typically will be taking them > through the introduction parts - what is a list, how do you work with it > etc.) and they then have exercises ('labs') in iPython notebooks. They make > extensive use of the videos for reference during their labs which typically > are started in class and then homework to be worked through during the week. > > > This is mid undergraduate (Scottish level 2 and 3, level 4 is honours). > Postgrads are typically selected as being more able students so they are > better able to handle the intensity and use scaffolding better. > > > I like the carpentries approach but it is not suitable for all cases, and > I also like to see these developments springing up from it. The benefit of > carpentries is that they give the students two things - the knowledge that > a certain thing can be done, and the knowledge and confidence that it is > within their ability. These allow/permit/encourage a student to then take > the further steps in learning as they need to. > > > ..d > > > Dr David Martin > Senior Lecturer in Bioinformatics > College of Life Sciences > University of Dundee > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Discuss <[email protected]> on behalf > of Ethan White <[email protected]> > *Sent:* 16 March 2018 15:28:30 > *To:* Greg Wilson; Software Carpentry Discussion > *Subject:* Re: [Discuss] inverted carpentries? > > I think this is a really interesting idea and I tried this a few years > back in the university classroom in my Carpentries' style courses (i.e., > https://www.programmingforbiologists.org/ & http://www.datacarpentry.org/ > semester-biology/). I found that the classic approach of watching videos > in advance and then jumping straight into exercises in class was great for > the top 20% of students. They had basically processed things successfully > on the first exposure (the videos) and enjoyed getting to immediately apply > it. It did not work as well for the bottom 50% of students. Watching the > videos had given them a useful first exposure, but lacking the well > developed scaffolding to hang that information on it had already started to > fade and they couldn't immediately apply it. They wouldn't speak up about > not getting it quickly enough and would struggle. > > As a result I ended up switching to teaching my university classes on this > just like we teach workshops, but with just a little more assumption of > having seen the basic idea before in readings/videos. Students view the > material in advance. I then provide a brief overview of the first topic and > show one or two examples. The students then work on an example that builds > on what I just demonstrated and we iterate this way throughout the class > period. This feels a little slower to the top 20% of students, but I've > found it to be more effective for everyone else. > > This is also in a fairly ideal setting for this kind of approach in that > the students are graded so there is external pressure to come prepared and > the exercises we do in class count towards their grades. All of this is to > say that based on my (certainly limited) experience doing things both ways > in the university classroom that the I do, we do, you do, style of the > current workshops may end up being the best approach. > > That said experimentation is always good and I like Greg's idea of a > fusion as a possible approach to letting students move at different speeds > and potentially learn different material. We should just pay attention to > make sure that this doesn't end up leaving the folks behind that need us > the most. > > Ethan > > On 03/14/2018 07:39 AM, Greg Wilson wrote: > > I like the idea of flipping the Carpentry classroom as well, but I think > the first day or two should still use our regular approach: for many > learners, the biggest benefit of a workshop is the way it helps them get > over the FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) they feel whenever they try to > get computers to be useful, and I don't think that starting with videos > will accomplish that. > > An experiment I'd really like to try is a regular two-day workshop > immediately followed by the same people working side-by-side in the same > classroom through a series of video lessons, with the helpers still there > to assist them whenever they hit a stumbling block. Different learners > could go at different speeds, or even through (somewhat) different > material, but they would still get the social benefits of working alongside > their peers, and the instructional benefits of one-to-one assistance when > most needed. I haven't been able to find anything in the educational > research literature describing this hybrid model, but I'd be willing to bet > a dollar that it would outperform either of the pure alternatives, and I > believe that at least some learners would be willing to sign up for a > week-long hands-on workshop in this format between semesters or over the > summer. > > Cheers, > > Greg > > On 2018-03-14 12:21 AM, Kunal Marwaha wrote: > > This is a sweet idea. We already have a few videos up on the website: > https://software-carpentry.org/lessons/#video > > I often find (especially with free workshops) that many learners do not > prepare (a significant portion do not even install software beforehand). I > would not expect many learners to watch videos before they come to class. > > I find in-person Q&A/debugging and exercises to be very useful parts of > the workshop. When I teach the collaboration part of Git ([usually in > line with this](http://swcarpentry.github.io/git-novice/08-collab/)) I > have pairs of learners do a number of exercises (collaborator clones, > edits, commits & pushes; owner pulls; owner edits, commits & pushes; both > edit, commit, push at same time; both edit same line, commit, push) at > their own pace. The helpers & I check in with each group periodically and > debug / discuss concepts, conflicts in git, and so on. This takes 30-45 > minutes, and if some learners are advanced, I ask them to explore GitHub's > UI, merges, pull requests, and so on. This environment is most similar to > the "flipped classroom" that I've seen Software Carpentry taught. > > > > On Wed, Feb 7, 2018 at 2:07 AM, Peter Steinbach <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Hi to all, > > I was discussing the idea of an "inverted class room" teaching approach > with a friend of mine who is a high school teacher (he uses that based on > video recordings for his students ... just awesome AFAIK). I was hence > wondering, if people have tried to teach the carpentry lessons in this way? > > This would mean, that I record some of the parts of a carpentry lesson in > video(s) (10-15 minute each) and ask the students to watch these videos > before the carpentry bootcamp! The in-presence part of the workshop is then > used to do exercises and try to fortify the content of the videos. > > For me the biggest advantage of this approach is, that each learner can > overcome the initial steep learning curve given their own speed of learning > - which is a constant source of trouble when I teach. > > Looking forward to your feedback - > Peter > > -- > Peter Steinbach, Dr. rer. nat. > Scientific Software Engineer, Scientific Computing Facility > > Scionics Computer Innovation GmbH > Löscherstr. 16 > 01309 Dresden > Germany > > phone +49 351 210 2882 > fax +49 351 202 707 04 > www.scionics.de > > Sitz der Gesellschaft: Dresden (Main office) > Amtsgericht - Registergericht: Dresden HRB 20337 (Commercial Registry) > Ust-IdNr.: DE813263791 (VAT ID Number) > Geschäftsführer: John Duperon, Jeff Oegema (Managing Directors) > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing > [email protected]http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss > > > -- > If you cannot be brave – and it is often hard to be brave – be kind. > > > > The University of Dundee is a registered Scottish Charity, No: SC015096 > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.software-carpentry.org/listinfo/discuss > -- Christina Koch - Research Computing Facilitator, University of Wisconsin - Madison <http://www.wisc.edu/>, Center for High Throughput Computing <http://chtc.cs.wisc.edu/> Wisconsin Institute for Discovery <http://wid.wisc.edu/>; Advanced Computing Initiative <http://aci.wisc.edu/>; ACI-REF <https://aciref.org/> email: [email protected] // phone: (608) 316 - 4041 // calendar: tinyurl.com/ChristinaCHTC
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