zackbatist/carpentries-training-workshop.md

## carpentries-training-workshop.md

      
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              carpentries-training-workshop.md
            
          
Instructor Training
University of Toronto Libraries
July 18-19, 2019
9:00 am - 4:30 pm
Instructors: Greg Wilson, Cam Macdonell
Website: https://cmacdonell.github.io/2019-07-18-ttt-UTL/
Etherpad: https://pad.carpentries.org/2019-07-18-ttt-UTL
Code of Conduct: https://docs.carpentries.org/topic_folders/policies/code-of-conduct.html

Personas


Create a learner persona, think about who this workshop is for

Make them a 'real' person


Good learner persona has:

General background
Relevant experience
Their perceived needs (what do they think that they need, vs what you think they need -- explain it in their terms and based on their context)
Special consideration (e.g. single parent, mobility issues, language, etc)


You are not your learners
Post personas on the website, make it available for people to identify with
Use both visual and auditory methods; can be particularly useful for those with english as a second language
Rooting lessons in another type of software, like Excel, can be helpful when building lessons/personas (tied to mental model)
RStudio personas: https://rstudio-education.github.io/learner-personas/
Build personas into workshop logistics, communication with organizers who know their audience/learners more deeply

Stages of knowledge


Novices do things by rote, ask nonsensical questions, don't know what's relevant
Novices don't have a mental model
Goal is not to give novices loads of information, because they don't know where to put it yet

The information will be all over the floor
The goal is to give them a mental model, a useful one
Novices need tutorials, competent users need reference materials
How to tell when you're done: do they search for the right things? Do they recognise when things work?


How to teach a mental model: draw a concept map

Connections are labelled to describe relationships between perceived entities
Always label the connections, how things relate
Mental models represent views or perspectives


Novices have scattered, disconnected knowledge

Competent users have better understanding of relations between concepts
Experts recognise more connections, which are manifested as intuition


Expert blindspots

Intuitive relations can't necessarily be conveyed through a lesson
Need to identify gaps and assumptions that you have
The word 'just' is a passive-dismissive adjective, don't use it


Formative assessment


Summative assessment is the classic model of exams, testing, pass/fail
Formative assessment happens frequently and throughout the learning process
Reflective practice

Make mistakes and learn from them
The '10,000 hours' rule only applies if you assess your practice, identify mistakes, and focus on improving


Review what was just taught to learners, and get them to practice
Frequent, straightforward, quick activities
Don't just quiz, but try to understand why they might get it wrong

The wrong answers in multiple choice questions should reflect potential common mistakes, or the results of alternative ways of working through the question
Example:

Q: What is 27 + 15?
42: correct
32: didn't carry
312: treated it as two separate problems (2 + 1 = 3, 7 + 5 = 12)
33: carried the 1 back into the same column


Try to avoid asking learners to memorize facts, and instead opt for them to apply knowledge to a particular instance or example


Try to do formative assessments every 5-10 minutes, as frequently as possible

Colour-coded post-it notes can be used to indicate when people have completed the task, or whether they need help from a helper


Memory


Short term memory is very limited, long term memory is not
One strategy to overcome the limits on short term memory is chunking, which is drawing associations between concepts
Limits to short term memory should apply to shorter periods of time, units within the workshop

Limit the coverage of units to 5-7 concepts, before doing a formative assessment


Guided practice

Opposite of minimal guidance, also known as discovery learning and various other terms
Relates to the concept of cognitive load
There are three kinds of cognitive load:

Intrinsic load: things you need to keep in mind to carry out a task
Germany load: The desirable mental effort required to link new information with things that you already know
Extraneous load: everything else that extracts or gets in the way


The instructor can limit extraneous load and make learning more effective

Limit tangential anecdotes
Limit changes in fonts and style


When demonstrating commands: know where to click, limit interchangeable terms

These are more things that learners will feel the need to remember


Faded examples, or fill in the blanks, is a great kind of formative assessment that reduces the cognitive load by asking students to only account for relevant concepts

They do not need to consider the entire chunk of code, only the parts that are called for and that are deemed relevant to the particular concept that they are learning


Motivation


Intrinsic motivation: doing things for my own reasons
Extrinsic motivation: doing things because I have to
Three major factors for intrinsic motivation:

Positive:

Self-efficacy: I am in control of my own life

Putting control in the learners' hands


Utility: this will help me meet my goals

Give them the tools that they want to learn


Community: people I know are learning with me

Opportunity to hang out with friends, make it a place where company can enjoy themselves


Negative

Unpredictability: what I do doesn't seem to effect the outcome

Why should I try if I know I'll fail?


Unfairness: the teacher plays favourites

If people things the game is fair they will try, if they believe it is rigged in their favour they will try less hard because they know they will succeed anyway, and if they believe it is rigged against them they will not try because they know they will fail


Indifference: nobody cares

If the teacher and peers are enthusiastic, learners will be enthusiastic too


Pair programming

Two people working on the same computer
Socializes people
Motivates people
More efficient use of resources
Learners have to explain to each other as they go

Weaker students are taught by stronger students
Stronger students learn by teaching


Randomize pairs

People get to know people they don't already know
Impostor syndrome is reduced


Mistakes


Mistakes are things that you did wrong, as opposed to problems which may be out of your control
After a mistake has been brought to your attention:

Acknowledge it, apologize and correct them
Own the mistake and learn from it


Mindsets


We want learners to adopt a growth mindset, as opposed to a fixed mindset
Foster the perception that they are capable of learning new things
Convincing leartners to have a growth mindset makes them easier to work with
Praise influences mindset

Performance praise
Effort praise
Improvement praise


Pick out something positive when giving feedback

Code of conduct


Establishes a set of behaviours that are either acceptable or unacceptable
A set of rules that can be referred to when enforcing a supportive and welcoming environment
Helps people feel welcome within the community space

Live coding


Set up a separate computer account for teaching, set it up to have no notifications, software configured under default settings that are closer to what the learner has set up
When live coding, run two or more examples so that learners can track what is consistent or inconsistent across instances
No background image/desktop clutter
Set up a google hangout or zoom call to share your screen to make small text more visible (but may be limited by wifi infrastructure when working with large groups)
Take the open online material/content and make it your own

Creating a welcoming open project


How do you make people aware of meetings or sessions?

Mailing lists, or lists of administrators who can send things to their departments, include blind spots, so be aware of those and try to mitigate them


Make lists with things that are needed, and make them publicly accessible

Ensures that people are aware that they can contribute in meaningful ways


Make governing structure and rules explicit
Create low-cost ways for people to contribute, entry level contributions

Drawn from legitimate peripheral participation


Acknowledge all contributions
Follow up with both success and failure
More details at: https://github.com/gvwilson/10-newcomers

Learning strategies


Active learning vs passive learning
Active learning: use the information as it's coming in

Relations between causes, effects, expectations, etc are playing out in real time
Checks your understanding


Six strategies for active learning:

Spaced practice

5x2 hour sessions is better than 2x5 hour sessions
Allows material to be digested
Allows for real life to be handled


Retrieval practice

Practice using information and examples in the context in which they will be used
Practising an exam in the room where the exam will be held is more effective


Elaboration

Explain things in detail to yourself and to others
Take notes as a way to organise the information, helps develop short-term memory


Interleaving

Mix up the order of operations, doing things in a standard order makes learners dependent on the order
Example: I can only remember all four verses of the Canadian national anthem if I sing it out in order)


Concrete examples

Novices don't know enough to make generalisations concrete
Provide examples, and be specific about the general principles that each example embodies


Dual coding

Combine words and visuals
More effective when the messages complement each other
Less effective than when there is redundancy
Effort is wasted on trying to reconcile the dual streams of information


More info: http://www.learningscientists.org/downloadable-materials
Useful teaching patterns:

PETE

Problem
Explanation
Theory
Example


PRIMM

Predict
Run
Investigate
Modify
Make


Managing a diverse classroom


Avoid pop culture references, since recognition of these references varies and contributes to making feel like they don't belong if they don't 'get it'
Never call out introverts, facilitate participation rather than force it, create environments that enable them to speak up
Don't highlight people from under-represented communities

Reverse instructional design


Learner personas --> concept map --> summative assessment --> formative assessment --> lesson
For our purposes, summative assessment is how you can tell when the learners have achieved an adequate understanding of the content

A final assignment, concrete learning outcomes
Key challenge is establishing what order you want plan the formative assessments to meet the goals


More info: https://cdh.carpentries.org/
Some recommended works:

Lang: Small Teaching
Huston: Teaching What You Don’t Know
Major et al: Teaching for Learning
Brookfield & Preskill: The Discussion Book
Weinstein et al: Understanding How We Learn
http://teachtogether.tech


Tidbits


Sticky notes with learners' names on their laptops

They take them down after engagement to distribute attention among participants


After 45-90 minutes, your focus drops and information won't stick -- give learners a break
Helpers provide one-on-one assistance for people who are behind or struggling
3M brand post-it notes can be distinguished by people who are colour blind
Use sharpies, they are most visible
For questions that can't be answered right away, write it down on a sticky note and paste it on the wall as a promise to address it later on during a break
Drinking water is a good way to pause while thinking about how to answer a challenging question
Pair up intrinsically and extrinsically motivated learners, helps the extrinsically motivated ones catch the enthusiasm of intrinsically motivated ones