search

UofTCoders / studyGroup

Welcome to the University of Toronto Coders!
https://uoftcoders.github.io/
Other
100 stars 124 forks source link

Software Carpentry - Call for Applications #63

Closed lcoome closed 8 years ago

lcoome commented 8 years ago

Hi Everyone,

We are trying to put together a group application for Software Carpentry instructor training.

Software Carpentry is a volunteer organization that runs workshops aimed at teaching scientists basic computing skills like automating tasks, programming in Python and R, and version control using Git.

Although there is currently a waitlist for instructor training, Software Carpentry has announced a call for applications for instructor training in December. They are requesting that interested instructors apply in groups of 3-8 (ideally). Interested groups must be able to commit to attend instructor training together on December 7th & 8th, and jointly run one workshop no later than April 1st, 2016.

They appear to be looking for candidates who are either on the current waiting list or demonstrate competence in the topics they will teach. It also appears that they will give preference to applicants who have attended a SWC workshop in the past, volunteered as helpers or instructors, or are involved in Python/R groups such as ours.

Application Steps:

The application deadline is November 18th. We plan to collaborate on the cover letter as a group. Madeleine has uploaded a template on Github that anyone can work on. If you’d like to be a part of the application, please e-mail Madeleine and Lindsay at m.bonsma@mail.utoronto.ca and lindsay.coome@mail.utoronto.ca so we can keep track of how many people are interested.

More information on the selection criteria and application process, including links to the application surveys, can be found here:

http://software-carpentry.org/blog/2015/10/call-for-instructor-training.html

Thanks!
 Lindsay

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

I'm working on reserving a room and will update the cover letter when it's finalized.

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

Also the cover letter is PR #62 - feel free to add your name and comment!

ghost commented 8 years ago

Great I'll do mine this week

dcwalk commented 8 years ago

Hiya, I've been a bit of a lurker but am keen to jump on this thread. I'm involved with a group on campus AIS, based out of the Faculty of Information and supporting professional grad students develop technology skills.

We had a SWC workshop last February run by Greg and would love to be a host again if you are looking for a place to run a session! There aren't as many students with research interests, but many plan on working with data in a library, records management, system design capacity (I believe there may be a Data Carpentry workshop on the horizon, but this seems like a potential opportunity to collaborate).

Further, since a few of us attended last session I could see if there are and AIS members who are keen to attend a training to become a volunteer if that would be appropriate?

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

@dcwalk, great to hear from you! Your group looks very cool, and it would be awesome to collaborate. Could we potentially add you as a host in our cover letter? (We're supposed to plan and hold at least one SWC session before April 2016.)

Training is open to anyone interested, especially if they're involved in a group like yours or ours or have attended / helped with Software Carpentry before. There's no cap on attendance, so the more the merrier. The only thing is that if we have more than 10 people, we'll need to hold at least two SWC workshops before April.

dcwalk commented 8 years ago

@mbonsma 👌 awesome, I've passed on the request about having us as a host group to the rest of the AIS exec, would it be alright if we gave you an answer by Nov 14?

Regardless, I signed up to attend the training! My background is more python/bash but have done some stuff in R and could brush up as needed...?

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

Yes, that'll leave enough time to add you to the cover letter for sure. Thanks!

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

@linamnt, @thesarahmeister, @lcoome, I added you all to the cover letter (and updated the room - we got one in OISE). If you want to change your description in the 3rd paragraph, that's totally okay.

pipitone commented 8 years ago

Hey @mbonsma, I was just talking with some folks at CAMH who would be interested in doing the instructor training as well. Can we pile in with you all? We could certainly host/help host the second instructor training at CAMH also.

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

@pipitone, absolutely! Feel free to line comment with names and brief descriptions on the cover letter.

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

So we just noticed there's a clarification to the training, and groups are now capped at 10 people. So it'll be first-come-first-served from this point on, so if you're interested, add your name to the cover letter (line comment) and we'll go from there!

QuLogic commented 8 years ago

I wasn't going to but I realized TAing finished the week before that, so I sent a PR over your way.

dcwalk commented 8 years ago

Just an update from AIS group participation: we are more than keen to add ourselves as a host organization. I think it'll just be me and maybe one more person looking to attend the training.

I've made a line comment with wording suggestions covering these facts on the cover letter, lemme know what else you need, and in terms of coordinating if you want to touch base off github! Look forward to working together.

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

Down to the last two days!

@lcoome, @linamnt, @thesarahmeister, @QuLogic, @ricardoharripaul, @derekhoward, @dcwalk:

If you have not yet fulfilled the individual portion of the application and your name is on the list, please do so here (I know most of you have!) . The steps are, to recap:

Also, please check the group cover letter (PR #62) to make sure that your description is to your satisfaction and add anything you think would help.

We now need to decide on which workshops we'd like to host next year, and who will teach what! We'll need to host at least 2, since we have more than 5 people. My vote is for Git and Python, but we can be flexible. What do you all think?

For reference: "Groups will be selected based on:

dcwalk commented 8 years ago

@mbonsma looks good!

I'm comfortable with both git and python, so happy to go down one either, though I'm not 100% on the distinction between Helper and Instructor -- both will be from those of us attending the training, yeah?

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

@dcwalk, I'm also not sure on the distinction. If possible it would be great to have everyone who attends training have a chance to be the bona fide instructor - maybe over the course of the workshop we could rotate. I think for now we should just list the people who want to be involved with either one, and we can work out the details closer to the workshop.

ghost commented 8 years ago

I can teach R for sure. Also you could add to the cover letter that I've taught a course on R through Graduate Professional Skills at U of T :)

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

I'll add it, that's great!

Do you think we have to teach only two workshops, or could we do three? If we do three, it would make sense to do a Python one, a Git one, and an R one.

ghost commented 8 years ago

I feel like we could whip out 3, depending on how many instructors we need per session

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

If we did Python, Git and R, these are the people I assume would potentially want to be involved in each:

Python: Madeleine Lina Elliott Ricardo Derek Dawn

Git: Madeleine Elliott Dawn

R: Lindsay Sarah

What are your preferences - anyone else interested in R or Git? (We could probably get someone else from UofT coders as a helper for R if it comes to that.)

linamnt commented 8 years ago

I could help out with R as well.

On Tue, Nov 17, 2015 at 11:38 AM, Madeleine Bonsma <notifications@github.com

wrote:

If we did Python, Git and R, these are the people I assume would potentially want to be involved in each:

Python: Madeleine Lina Elliott Ricardo Derek Dawn

Git: Madeleine Elliott Dawn

R: Lindsay Sarah

What are your preferences - anyone else interested in R? (We could probably get someone else from UofT coders as helpers for R if it comes to that.)

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/UofTCoders/studyGroup/issues/63#issuecomment-157425232 .

Lina Tran MSc. Candidate | Frankland Lab Department of Physiology University of Toronto

lwjohnst86 commented 8 years ago

If there is a lack of helpers, I could be a helper for any of the sessions (Python, Git, R)... Unless there is something in the application that prevents that.

On 15-11-17 11:38 AM, Madeleine Bonsma wrote:

If we did Python, Git and R, these are the people I assume would potentially want to be involved in each:

Python: Madeleine Lina Elliott Ricardo Derek Dawn

Git: Madeleine Elliott Dawn

R: Lindsay Sarah

What are your preferences - anyone else interested in R? (We could probably get someone else from UofT coders as helpers for R if it comes to that.)

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/UofTCoders/studyGroup/issues/63#issuecomment-157425232.

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

@lwjohnst86, I don't think there is, so that would be great! I think our numbers are looking alright for R and Python now, I'll add you to the Git one.

dcwalk commented 8 years ago

Looks good!

If you think it would be a benefit you could add that I've taught command line (bash) workshops before and organized/volunteered at sessions for open source, python & linux skills before.

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

Thanks @dcwalk, done!

Thanks everyone for the comments! Since the deadline is tomorrow, how about we say that we'll be done at 5 pm tomorrow? At 5 pm, I'll submit the cover letter to the group survey.

hgibling commented 8 years ago

Good luck guys!

Do you think we have to teach only two workshops, or could we do three? If we do three, it would make sense to do a Python one, a Git one, and an R one.

I'm curious... for the workshop(s) you're required to run in the new year, do they have to be full-sized SWC workshops? I.e., a 2-day workshop that teaches a programming language (R/Python), a version control system (git/mercurial), and bash (and optionally SQL)?

bkatiemills commented 8 years ago

Hey folks,

Thanks for getting this application together! To the last couple of questions, yes, they're expected to be full sized workshops; that means nominally half a day of git, half a day of shell, and one full day of python or R; optionally, half of the python or R can be swapped out for SQL. Git and Shell are mandatory components of all SWC workshops. Let me know any other questions, and good luck!

edit: or, yes, mercurial instead of git - but definitely one of those.

hgibling commented 8 years ago

Thanks for the clarification, @BillMills.

So you guys would have an R/git/shell workshop, and a Python/git/shell workshop. I'd be happy to help if needed!

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

Thanks @hgibling for catching that, and @BillMills for clarifying! I updated the letter to just the two workshops - one python, one R.

lcoome commented 8 years ago

Looks great everyone! I can definitely instruct for the R/git/shell workshop and be a helper for the Python one.

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

All done! (The deadline is 11:59 pm UTC, which is in just under two hours, just in case anyone still has individual stuff to submit.)

QuLogic commented 8 years ago

No, the deadline is UTC-12.

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

With the correction to UTC-12, the deadline is 7 am EST on Nov 19 (14 hours from now, not 2), by my calculation.

QuLogic commented 8 years ago

But best to get it done sooner than later :wink:

QuLogic commented 8 years ago

Based on our application, @thesarahmeister and @ricardoharripaul, please remember to submit your PR to the training repo today!

ghost commented 8 years ago

I did?

linamnt commented 8 years ago

Just a heads up, the file in your PR doesn't seem to be a .txt file on my end. Not sure if they even care/are strict about that though.

ghost commented 8 years ago

fixed.

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

We're accepted!! Just got the email 5 minutes ago. Here it is:

Hi,

The selection for Software Carpentry Instructor Training in December was very difficult and we are happy to inform you that the mentoring subcommittee has selected your group for Software Carpentry Instructor Training in December.

We like to introduce you to Greg Wilson that will be the trainer instructor for your group. In the next week we would like that you and Greg Wilson:

  1. agree on a time for the training and
  2. test the video conference room.

We also want to know if will be possible that two small groups from Ontario, one with 3 members and the other with 5 members, join your group in Toronto for the instructor training. Please let us know as soon as possible so we can contact the groups.

If you have question, let us know.

Congratulations, we look forward to meeting you and having you join our community.

Thanks, Raniere Silva

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

The rooms we got don't have projectors or video conferencing built-in, so we either would need a different room or to just use someone's computer. I'll reply and ask about that.

What do you guys think about having the other groups join?

ghost commented 8 years ago

I have no issues letting other groups join! I thought the days for training were Dec 7 & 8? Super excited!

abbycabs commented 8 years ago

If you need video conferencing, happy to host you in the Mozilla Offices. However, I can only host Dec 14 - 18 (out of town rest of the month).

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

@acabonoc, that would be amazing! Others, are you available at all Dec 14-18? I'll check with Greg, our contact at SWC, if we would be possible to switch the dates.

Otherwise, we'll need a good microphone, camera, speaker system, and projector.

ghost commented 8 years ago

Yeah I could do some but not all of those days (but the workshops are only two days, right?)

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

Just heard back, the dates are fixed for Dec 7-8, so we'll need to figure out our own A/V. I'll do some digging, but if anyone knows an easy way to get a microphone, camera, speaker system, and projector, let me know.

pipitone commented 8 years ago

We have a meeting room at CAMH that might do the trick. @lcoome was there yesterday so can speak to it's fit-ness. It has a projector, and video camera set up that I think y'all could use. I'll see if it's available those days.

On Nov 26, 2015, at 9:17 AM, Madeleine Bonsma notifications@github.com wrote:

Just heard back, the dates are fixed for Dec 7-8, so we'll need to figure out our own A/V. I'll do some digging, but if anyone knows an easy way to get a microphone, camera, speaker system, and projector, let me know.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

@pipitone, thank you!

Also, the group of 5 joining us from Waterloo has asked if we might have couch or floor space so that they can spend the night. I have a couch and floor, and is anyone else interested in hosting some travelers?

dcwalk commented 8 years ago

There is probably a space at the Faculty of Information (Bissell) we could use as well @mbonsma ... let me know if you need me to check once @pipitone gets back?

Also, I am relatively close to campus and could host 2-3 people on couch and floor if needed!

pipitone commented 8 years ago

@mbonsma @dcwalk The CAMH room I had in mind has teleconferencing equipment that only works on the Ontario Telehealth Network. :-)

So, I'm sorry, but I don't have a room with equipment for you to use at CAMH.

mbonsma commented 8 years ago

@pipitone thanks for checking! @dcwalk, would you be able to check on your space? I'm working on seeing if there's a room in Physics we could use, but I don't know if we can get both full days. I'm also looking into requesting A/V equipment to be brought to our currently booked room.