Information: The Carpentries Instructor Training

Last updated on 2024-12-19 | Edit this page

General Information

The Carpentries is a community of practice centered around teaching foundational coding and data science skills to researchers worldwide. This Instructor Training event is designed to prepare trainees to certify and participate as Carpentries Instructors. However, much of our curriculum focuses on educational principles that apply across a wide variety of contexts. We also welcome participants who do not plan to certify but simply wish to become a better teacher.

Carpentries Instructor Training has the following goals:

  • Introduce you to evidence-based teaching practices.
  • Teach you how to create a positive environment for learners at your workshops.
  • Provide opportunities for you to practice and build your teaching skills.
  • Help you become integrated into the Carpentries community.
  • Prepare you to use these teaching skills in teaching Carpentries workshops.

Because we have only limited time, some things are beyond the scope of this training. We will not be learning:

Instructor Training events are hands-on throughout: short lessons alternate with individual and group practical exercises, including practice teaching sessions. This Instructor Training event is the first step towards certification as a Carpentries Instructor. For more details on the other 3 steps, see the Checkout Instructions page. For more information, see our Instructor Training Curriculum.

Code of Conduct

All participants are required to abide by The Carpentries Code of Conduct.

Where

Instructor Training is typically conducted using the Zoom video conferencing platform. No log-in is needed. However, if you have not used Zoom before, please click the link a few minutes early as it may prompt you to install the Zoom app or browser extension. If you have registered to join an Instructor Training event, you should have received a connection link in the information email about your training event. If you did not receive that email, please check your spam folder then email instructor.training@carpentries.org to request help.

If your training event will take place in-person, you will receive details about the location directly from your Trainers before the event.

Accessibility

We are committed to making this training accessible to everybody.

Materials will be provided in advance of the event.

We do not require participants to provide documentation of disabilities or disclose any unnecessary personal information. However, we do want to help create an inclusive, accessible experience for all participants. We encourage you to share any information that would be helpful to make your Carpentries experience accessible. To request an accommodation for this training, please fill out the accommodation request form. If you have questions or need assistance with the accommodation form please email us.

For in-person training events, organisers have checked that:

  • The room is wheelchair / scooter accessible.
  • Accessible restrooms are available.

How to Prepare for Instructor Training

Please review Preparing for your training for complete instructions. A brief summary of these instructions is as follows:

  1. Complete our Pre-training Survey. You will receive a custom link for your event when you receive your connection information.
  2. Select a lesson to use for teaching practice sessions and prepare a 3 minute segment, spending no more than 20-30 minutes to prepare.
  3. Please read the following:

Checkout: The Instructor Certification Process

After the training event, we ask you to complete three follow-up tasks to become a certified Instructor. These requirements are detailed on our Checkout Instructions page and will be discussed at our training.

What to Bring to an In-Person Event

Most Instructor Training events take place online. If your training will take place in-person, please bring a laptop that is Internet connected and has a functioning browser. If you have it, a device for recording audio and video (mobile phones and laptops are OK) is useful as we are going to record one another teaching in pairs or threes. It does not have to be high-quality, but it should be good enough that you can understand what someone is saying.

Attendance and Cancellation

Trainees who miss more than 1 hour of the training may be marked absent. Instructor certification cannot be completed without full attendance at an Instructor Training event. If you unexpectedly need to miss more than 1 hour of your event, please contact your Trainers using the details provided in the information email for your event or email us.

For events in which registration occurs through The Carpentries via Eventbrite, cancellation may be performed in Eventbrite up to the start of the event. Canceled seats cannot be filled after the 1 week registration deadline for these events, so we ask that you only cancel if absolutely necessary.

More information on our cancellation and makeup policy is available in The Carpentries Handbook.

Contact

Please contact your Trainers using the details provided in the information email for your event or email us with questions about Instructor Training.

Training Materials and Schedule

This website contains the curriculum for Instructor Training. Use the left sidebar to browse the content, and visit the landing page in Instructor View for a sample schedule. Most Instructor Training events take place over four half-days, and the majority of others span two full days.

Collaborative Notes

Trainers will share the link to an Etherpad that can be used for chatting, collaborating on notes, and sharing URLs and bits of code during the training.