Introduction

Figure 1

A graphical representation of the schedule and structure of collaborative lesson development training.
Collaborative Lesson Development Training is taught over three days (six half days), with an extended break between the first two days (“part 1”) and the last day (“part 2”). The training in part 1 focusses on good practices in lesson design and development, and the concepts and skills needed to build a lesson website with The Carpentries lesson infrastructure. Part 2 of the training begins with a reflective discussion of lesson deisgn and iterative development, before shifting focus to the skills required for effective collaboration on open source projects.

Lesson Design

Figure 1

A flow diagram presenting the process of lesson design and development used in this training.
An overview of the iterative process of lesson design and development, adapted from Nicholls’ five phases, that will be presented in this training.

Figure 2

Diagram of the life cycle of a lesson in The Carpentries ecosystem. A lesson is proposed at the beginning of the pre-alpha stage. It enters alpha when it is taught for the first time. In beta, it is taught by other instructors. A full release of the lesson is made when it is stable. Pilot workshops take place during the alpha and beta phases.
The life cycle of a lesson

Identifying Your Target Audience

Defining Lesson Objectives/Outcomes

Figure 1

An overview of the iterative process of lesson design and development, adapted from Nicholls' five phases, with step 1, 'Define desired learning outcomes' highlighted.
In this episode we will begin the first step of our iterative design process: defining the skills and knowledge we want learners to leave with.

Figure 2

An example learning objective, "import data into an indexed DataFrame with read_csv", with emphasis placed on the action verb ("import") and the specificity ("indexed") of the objective.
This diagram highlights the most important elements of a learning objective.

Figure 3

Bloom's taxonomy - a framework for categorising educational goals - represented as a pyramid with six levels of increasing cognitive complexity from the bottom to the top: remembering, understanging, applying, analysing, evaluating and creating
Bloom’s taxonomy - a framework for categorising educational goals, image from Wikimedia Commons reused under CC BY 4.0 license

Example Data and Narrative

Episodes

Designing Exercises

Figure 1

An overview of the iterative process of lesson design and development, adapted from Nicholls' five phases, with step 2, 'Design assessments for these outcomes' highlighted.
In this episode we move to the second of our iterative design process: designing assessments to measure learners’ attainment of the objectives we defined previously.

How to Write a Lesson

Figure 1

An overview of the iterative process of lesson design and development, adapted from Nicholls' five phases, with step 3, 'Develop relevant content' highlighted.
Now that we have designed assessments to measure attainment of the objectives set for the lesson, it is time to begin developing teaching content to give learners the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in those assessments.

Figure 2

Line graph of increasing carbon dioxide at the Mauna Loa Observatory from 1958 to present
Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide at Mauna Loa Observatory

The Carpentries Workbench

Figure 1

Directory structure of a new lesson repository created from a lesson template
Directory structure of new lesson repository created from a lesson template. Note that new repositories created from the R Markdown lesson template will include an additional renv/ directory.

Adding Lesson Content

Figure 1

Lesson prerequisite fenced div structural block as rendered in a Web page by the Workbench
A rendered lesson prerequisite fenced div

Figure 2

A rendered lesson episode page showing objectives, questions and keypoints fenced div elements
An example rendered lesson episode page

How we Operate

Figure 1

The life cycle of a lesson in The Carpentries ecosystem, annotated to indicate the platforms provided for lesson projects at each stage of the cycle. In the diagram includes the pre-alpha, alpha, beta, and stable stages described earlier, and icons showing that pre-alpha through beta development of lessons happens in The Carpentries Incubator, while The Carpentries Lab hosts peer-reviewed lessons and provides a platform for open peer review. Stable lessons may also be adopted into an official lesson program of The Carpentries.
The life cycle of a lesson, annotated to indicate the platforms provided for lesson projects at each stage of the cycle.

Preparing to Teach

Figure 1

An overview of the iterative process of lesson design and development, adapted from Nicholls' five phases, with step 4, 'Assess learner progress' highlighted.
In this episode, we will discuss how you can measure learner progress and gather feedback about the effectiveness of your content by teaching the lesson.

Part 1 Wrap-up

Reflecting on Trial Runs

Figure 1

An overview of the iterative process of lesson design and development, adapted from Nicholls' five phases, with step 5, 'Evaluate curriculum' highlighted.
In this episode, we will discuss the final step of the iterative lesson design process: how you can use the notes, information, and feedback you collected when trialling your lesson to identify ways that the design and content could be improved.

Collaborating with Your Team

Collaborating with Newcomers

Figure 1

GitHub's different notification settings when watching repository events with 'All Activity' highlighted
GitHub’s different notification settings when watching repository events with ‘All Activity’ highlighted

Project Management and Governance

Figure 1

Microsoft Planner project management board displaying TO-DO tasks, tasks being worked on, tasks ready for internal review and completed tasks
Microsoft Planner project management board

Final Wrap-up