Instructor Notes

Schedule


The curriculum is intended to be delivered in 2 parts over six half-days. Part 1 takes 4 half-days and teaches the theory of lesson design as well as implementing lessons using The Carpentries Workbench. At the end of part 1, learners are expected to have an outline for a whole lesson, and a detailed plan for some of its individual sections/episodes. Part 2 takes 2 half-days and teaches collaborating effectively on open lesson development projects. There is an extended break for lesson trial runs between parts 1 & 2, where learners are expected to conduct mini pilots of their lessons with the intended target audiences.

Below is a suggested schedule that can be used as a guideline to plan the content and timings for each teaching session.

Part 1

Day 1

Time Session Title
09:00 - 09:45 Introduction
09:50 - 10:00 Break
10:00 - 10:30 Lesson Design
10:30 - 11:05 Identifying Your Target Audience
11:05 - 11:15 Break
11:15 - 12:05 Defining Lesson Objectives/Outcomes 1
12:05 - 12:15 Break
12:15 - 13:00 Defining Lesson Objectives/Outcomes 2
13:00 End

Day 2

Time Session Title
09:00 - 10:05 Example Data & Narrative
10:05 - 10:15 Break
10:15 - 11:20 Episodes
11:20 - 11:30 Break
11:30 - 12:15 Designing Exercises 1
12:15 - 12:25 Break
12:25 - 13:00 Designing Exercises 2
13:00 End

Day 3

Time Session Title
09:00 - 10:05 How to Write a Lesson
10:05 - 10:15 Break
10:15 - 11:05 The Carpentries Workbench 1
11:05 - 11:15 Break
11:15 - 12:00 The Carpentries Workbench 2
12:00 - 12:10 Break
12:10 - 13:00 Adding Lesson Content 1
13:00 End

Day 4

Time Session Title
09:00 - 10:05 Adding Lesson Content 2
10:05 - 10:15 Break
10:15 - 11:05 How We Operate
11:05 - 11:15 Break
11:15 - 12:00 Preparing to Teach 1
12:00 - 12:10 Break
12:10 - 12:30 Preparing to Teach 2
12:30 - 13:00 Wrap-up
13:00 End

Part 2

From experience, half-days 5 & 6 can probably be delivered in less than the scheduled amount of time and could potentially be folded into 1 half-day of teaching, for learner teams that are more experienced in working with GitHub.

Day 5

Time Session Title
09:00 - 10:05 Reflecting on Trial Runs 1
10:05 - 10:15 Break
10:15 - 11:05 Reflecting on Trial Runs 2
11:05 - 11:15 Break
11:15 - 12:00 Collaborating with Your Team 1
12:00 - 12:10 Break
12:10 - 13:00 Collaborating with Your Team 2
13:00 End

Day 6

Time Session Title
09:00 - 10:05 Collaborating with Newcomers 1
10:05 - 10:15 Break
10:15 - 11:05 Collaborating with Newcomers 2
11:05 - 11:15 Break
11:15 - 12:00 Project Management and Governance 1
12:00 - 12:10 Break
12:10 - 12:30 Project Management and Governance 2
12:30 - 13:00 Wrap-up
13:00 End

Training Themes


Lesson Development as a Learning Process

A recurring theme in this training is the discussion of the benefits of piloting a new lesson and treating teaching as an opportunity to learn and improve the lesson. We have found it helpful to frame the discussion this way and to draw on our own experience when talking about the ways in which piloting a lesson can help to improve it. For example, when teaching the assessments or narrative section you might discuss a time when you piloted a workshop and realized there was a concept missing in the demo/narrative that learners needed in order to be able to complete the exercise.