Collaboration

Last updated on 2025-10-15 | Edit this page

Estimated time: 60 minutes

Overview

Questions

  • Why is effective collaboration important for lesson development?
  • When, if ever, is it best to establish structured project governance?

Objectives

By the end of this session, participants should be able to…

  • recommend tools and practices lesson developers can adopt to aid collaboration.
  • draw on their own experience to advise lesson developers on how to collaborate effectively.
Discussion

Discussion Questions

  • In your experience, what are some of the advantages and disadvantages of collaborating on a project (lesson development or something else), as opposed to working alone?
  • What strategies have you used to work successfully with collaborators in the past? Do those strategies change with the size of the group?
  • How confident do you feel about leading Pilot Workshop Debrief session for lesson developers?
  • How confident do you feel about leading a GitHub Skill-up session?
  • What questions do you have about the checkout process for Lesson Developer certification?
Discussion

Homework/Reading for Next Week

  • Read CLDT episode: The Carpentries Workbench and follow the steps in the episode, creating and configuring a new lesson repository, while you read through the content.
  • Note down any problems you encounter along the way, no matter whether they were minor (i.e. slowed you down or confused you temporarily, but did not stop you from progressing) or major (i.e. you had to give up or ask for help).
  • CLDT episode: Adding Lesson Content
Key Points
  • Good collaboration allow you to create better lessons, faster, and to have more fun while you are doing it.
  • Structured decision-making, especially among close colleagues and/or friends, can feel unnecessarily formal early in a project.
  • On the other hand, it is easier to establish decision-making processes early and before any substantial disagreements have occured.