Alternative Schedules - 4 Day And Other Formats

zpainter commented 3 years ago

As requested by @karenword I am providing two alternate schedules for teaching this curriculum over 4 half days. Both of these were done by me and another individual. Personally, I really liked the 4-day event format, as it was a lot more flexible for getting in different time zones, felt like community building was a little easier, and allowed some continuity between some materials with the teaching process I'm happy to talk about both of these schedules; they are broadly similar.

With @k8hertweck (09:00 - 12:30 PDT)

With @arieldeardorff (09:00 - 13:00 PDT)

Day One

9:00 - Welcome (A)
9:30 - Building Skills with Practice (A)
10:30 - Break (10 min)
10:40 - Expertise and Instruction (A)
11:30 - Break (10 min)
11:40 - Memory and Cognitive Load (Z)
12:25 - Building Skills with Feedback (Z)

Day Two

9:00 - Motivation and Demotivation (Z)
10:15 - Break (10 min)
10:25 - Mindset (Z)
11:00 - Teaching is a Skill (A) (Break (10 min))
12:20 - Wrap up and prep (A)

Day Three

9:00 - Live coding is a skill (A)
10:20 - Break (10 min)
10:30 - Preparing to Teach (A)
11:20 - Break (10 min)
11:30 - More practice live coding (Z)
12:15 - Managing a diverse classroom (Z)

Day Four

9:00 - The Carpentries, how we operate (Z)
10:00 - The Instructor Checkout Process (Z)
10:30 - Break (10 min)
10:40 - Workshop introductions (A)
11:20 - Break (10 min)
11:30 - Putting it together (A)
11:45 - Wrapping up (A)

arieldeardorff commented 3 years ago

I definitely second the four day schedule! It takes some preparation and re-arranging of the homework but definitely lessons the zoom fatigue.

AlastairKelly commented 3 years ago

I literally just came to the Git issues to ask if The Carpentries would consider sponsoring instructor trainings that have a more extended schedule--so +1 for this approach being added formally to the trainings offered! I would suggest also adding an afternoon or evening variant to accommodate different scheduling needs. I'm not sure how many instructor trainings are sponsored each year, but since you seem to always have a wait list anyway, perhaps folks could indicate their preference/need for a particular option when they apply and you could plan how many trainings of each format you offer based on relative demand.

I want to add that such scheduling options are not just a convenience factor--they are really important to include those of us with disabilities that cause sleepiness, fatigue, and/or disordered attention & memory. "Bootcamp" or "hackathon" style events--designed to be long, challenging days for typical folks--are practically impossible for people like me. This kind of intensive scheduling seems culturally pervasive in programming culture, and it's been a real barrier for folks like me. Given that I have less physical stamina and more rapid cognitive fatigue than an able-bodied neurotypical person, I am not going to make it through anything designed to max them out multiple days in a row. When I saw there is apparently homework to do after that first 9 hour day, my heart just sank. That's an exceptionally hard ask for me on a good day, and impossible on a bad one. So, I would be very grateful if a less demanding schedule were available.

I'm sure many other folks would also appreciate it for various reasons. Parents with young kids at home during this pandemic come to mind. I'm not one myself, but from what I hear, there is a lot of unusual schedule shifting that might make a straight 9-6 day a lot harder to swing right now.

amyehodge commented 3 years ago

@AlastairKelly Thanks so much for this personal and very important perspective. It wasn't a very reasonable expectation during the best of times for the best of days. It's even less so now, and failed to be as inclusive as we truly aim to be.

AlastairKelly commented 3 years ago

No worries! It's impossible to anticipate all the ways people's needs vary, and the Carpentries' demonstrated commitment to inclusivity is what made me feel like it would be safe and worthwhile to explain my own.

MikeTrizna commented 3 years ago

I helped to coordinate a 4-day format Instructor Training workshop, and wanted to contribute the converted schedule here: https://smithsonianworkshops.github.io/2021-02-16-si-instructor-training/#schedule.

Perhaps I did the conversion wrong, but I think that doing a direct conversion gives an extra hour on Day 2 and Day 4 due to the lunch break being removed. We used the Day 4 free hour for an optional happy hour, where we invited current Smithsonian Instructors to meet the trainees.

ChristinaLK commented 3 years ago

Here is the schedule for Melissa Ko + I's training in early Feb: https://christinalk.github.io/2021-02-01-ttt-online-PST/

Denubis commented 3 years ago

Oh, I didn't upload my schedule here. Sara and I are running https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18GC2Tnbwp91CKbqCNa4RqZgvgfpa-pF8TIwbfiDfcLQ/edit#gid=1247869788 is my 8 session schedule for 2021 with timings included and https://denubis.github.io/instructor-training-8-sessions-2021/ is my fork of the syllabus.

Slides at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OH219-qVrRs7nLXy5B2ee-oGjN24XcdF

One critical thing I found was to advertise the time as 2 hour blocks rather than 1.5 hour blocks. That takes care of spinup, homework discussion and spindown.

@dvanic and I taught a 8 session one in 2020. Our first round of splitting up the class is at https://denubis.github.io/instructor-training-8-sessions-DV-BBS-2020/

I've got minute-card survey data by session on request for those doing a deep dive. Feedback on this second round is excellent.

angela-li commented 3 years ago

Here's @fmichonneau and my schedule for the 4-day workshop using the revised curriculum, which is currently underway: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZnaEGzq1ZCRbMvnGP4VvWOKb0y5oiXnrOgTk8vGar4U/edit#gid=0

brownsarahm commented 2 years ago

This relates to #1239

carpentries / instructor-training

Alternative Schedules - 4 Day And Other Formats #1177