Summary and Schedule
Welcome to The Carpentries Learner-Centered Teaching! Learner-Centered Teaching equips participants with the strategies and tools necessary to use effective, hands-on teaching practices in short-format trainings. This 8-hour interactive program introduces key principles of educational psychology and evidence-based teaching. Through a blend of short lessons and hands-on practice, participants develop their instructional skills while engaging with a cohort of peers who share their interest in teaching and learning.
The Instructor view has a few features that the learner view does not have:
- Instructor notes like this one where Instructors can provide guidance about how the particular episode is taught in practice
- Aggregated timing estimates
- A schedule integrated into the index page
You can enter Instructor view at any time by selecting the dropdown
menu at the top right of the page or you can edit the URL and place
/instructor/ before the html page.
Carpentries Learner-Centered Teaching Training has the following goals:
- Introduce you to evidence-based teaching practices.
- Teach you strategies to foster positive, inclusive learning environments.
- Provide opportunities to practice and receive feedback on teaching techniques.
- Prepare you to lead effective short-format training sessions.
Because we have only limited time, some things are beyond the scope of this training. We will not be learning:
- How to become a Carpentries certified Instructor and become integrated into the Carpentries community to teach Carpentries workshops. If you would like to learn more about becoming a Carpentries Instructor, you must attend Instructor Training. Please visit the Become an Instructor page on The Carpentries website for details on admission.
- How to program in R or Python, use the Unix shell, Git or SQL, or any of the other topics taught in Data Carpentry, Library Carpentry, or Software Carpentry workshops.
- How to create your own lessons from scratch (although you will have a good start on the principles behind that sort of work if you are inspired to learn more, for example, in our lesson development training).
Learner-Centered Teaching events are hands-on throughout: short lessons alternate with individual and group practical exercises, including practice teaching sessions.
- All participants are required to abide by our Code of Conduct.
- There are no specific prerequisites for this training.
- Participants are not required to have any specific programming skills.
Feedback on these materials is welcome as an issue on the GitHub repository that hosts this site.
These materials are freely available under a Creative Commons license.
The curriculum includes approximately 8 hours of instructional material and can be delivered either as one full-day training or two consecutive half-day sessions.
The material is organized into two parts. The point labeled “End of Part 1” marks the midpoint of the curriculum.
- In a one-day training, this point typically serves as the lunch break.
- In a two-day training, it marks the end of Day 1.
Each part of the curriculum includes a scheduled break. Instructors may optionally replace the single break with two shorter breaks, placed roughly one-third and two-thirds of the way through the section.
| Setup Instructions | Download files required for the lesson | |
| Duration: 00h 00m | 1. Welcome |
What is The Carpentries and how do we approach teaching? What should you expect from this training? |
| Duration: 00h 30m | 2. Building Skill With Practice |
How do people learn? Who is a typical Carpentries learner? How can we help novices become competent practitioners? |
| Duration: 01h 30m | 3. Part 1 Break | |
| Duration: 01h 45m | 4. Expertise and Instruction |
Does subject expertise make someone a great teacher? How are we (as Instructors) different from our learners and how does this impact our teaching? |
| Duration: 02h 30m | 5. Teaching is a Skill | How can I improve my teaching? |
| Duration: 03h 30m | 6. Building Skill With Feedback |
How can I get feedback from learners? How can I use this feedback to improve my teaching? |
| Duration: 03h 50m | 7. End Part 1 | |
| Duration: 04h 50m | 8. Memory and Cognitive Load |
What is cognitive load and how does it affect learning? How can we design instruction to work with, rather than against, memory constraints? |
| Duration: 05h 35m | 9. Motivation and Demotivation |
Why is motivation important? How can we create a motivating environment for learners? |
| Duration: 06h 35m | 10. Part 2 Break | |
| Duration: 06h 50m | 11. Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility |
Why are equity, inclusion, and accessibility important? What can I do to enhance equity, inclusion, and accessibility in my workshop? |
| Duration: 07h 30m | 12. Launches and Landings | How do you actually start a workshop? |
| Duration: 08h 10m | 13. Wrapping Up | What can we improve in this training? |
| Duration: 08h 20m | Finish |
The actual schedule may vary slightly depending on the topics and exercises chosen by the instructor.
Preparing for Your Training
- Please fill out our pre-training survey. Please refer to your pre-training email for a custom link for your event. Your responses will help your Trainers understand your background and customise the training appropriately. They also assist The Carpentries in understanding and reporting on our impact.
For Online Events:
Please ensure that your computer and internet are sufficient to connect
via Zoom for the full event. You will need to have the bandwidth to
transmit video during your practice exercises.
For In-Person Events:
Please bring a laptop powerful enough to teach on so that you can take
part in all of the practical exercises (a tablet will not be
sufficient).