workshop-administration.md

Organizing a CodeRefinery workshop

Anyone can organize a CodeRefinery workshop and teach the CodeRefinery lessons which are licensed under CC-BY. However, making it a successful workshop requires careful planning and preparation. Here we will go through practical aspects of organizing a workshop.

Email templates

A collection of email templates:

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:glob: true

templates/*

When adding new ones, add to an existing page (make a new section) or. Try to avoid too much markdown formatting, so that a rendered version can be copied to plain text email easily still.

Select a workshop coordinator

One or two persons coordinate the workshop preparation and debrief. This does not mean that they do all the work - they are encouraged to delegate tasks - but they make sure that nothing gets forgotten.

Other documents and references

• Workshop organization overview: https://github.com/orgs/coderefinery/projects/4
• Instructions on how to set up a registration page in Indico (for NeIC affiliated staff): {doc}/indico/index
• Email templates for workshop communication:
  • 1-2 weeks before workshop starts
  • advertising workshop via private communication
  • looking for helpers

Before the workshop

First steps

• Recruit instructors - having at least 3 instructors is highly recommended.
• Find 1-2 workshop helpers with an appropriate background.
• Reserve dates (coordinate this with the instructors)
• Reserve room
• Select a workshop coordinator
• Workshop coordinator creates a ticket with a checklist on https://github.com/orgs/coderefinery/projects/4 and takes it (self-assigns)

Lecture room

• Start looking for an appropriate lecture room early.
• See this list of requirements for the lecture room.

Set up workshop page

• Import the template at https://github.com/coderefinery/template-workshop-webpage to your username or the coderefinery organization, and name it like "2019-10-16-somecity".
• Update the required fields in index.md and push the commits. The page should now be served at username.github.io/2019-10-16-somecity/.
• If the workshop will be customized to the needs of a particular audience, modify the schedule accordingly.
• If the workshop should be listed on https://coderefinery.org:
  • (Fork and) clone https://github.com/coderefinery/coderefinery.org
  • Under coderefinery.org/_workshops/, add a file named like 2019-10-16-somecity.md which contains the fields permalink, city and dates. For example:

    ---
    permalink: https://username.github.io/2019-10-16-city/
    city: Somecity
    dates: October 16-18, 2019
    ---
    

  • send a pull request with your new file.
• Create a registration form following {doc}/indico/setup.
• Open and test registration

Announcing the workshop

• Twitter
• Email persons who registered to notify-me form
• Use local mailing lists and all channels possible

For self-organized workshops:

• Write an email to [email protected] to get a pre-workshop survey link and registration form on https://indico.neic.no

Distribute the work

• Make sure lessons are distributed

Preparing lessons

• Go through the lesson material you will be teaching and think about how you intend to teach it, and how much time you will be spending on each episode.
• Are there any unsolved issues that you can fix?
• Go through the instructor guides of the lessons you will be teaching.
  • Review the intended learning outcomes, and try to keep these in mind while teaching.
  • Try to memorize the typical pitfalls and common questions.
• Go through the lesson presentation hints.
• Go through the helping and teaching guide, and request all helpers to go through it too.

Prepare practicals

• Order catering (coffee, tea, water, fruit, something sweet, etc.)
• Organize sticky notes
• Organize extension cables if needed
• Organize alternative wireless for those without Eduroam (if any)

Communication with participants

• Send out practical information, including installation instructions, around 2 weeks ahead. Here is a template.
• Emphasize that all software should be installed before the workshop starts, and point out the configuration problems and solutions.
• Remind registered participants that they are either expected to show up or to cancel participation
• Also ask those without Eduroam to speak up.
• Maintain waiting list if needed
• Make sure we have enough pre-survey answers
• Close registration on the workshop page

1-2 weeks before the workshop

• Workshop coordinator organizes a call with all instructors and helpers to discuss the schedule to leave no doubts about timing. Also discuss the survey results.
• Point helpers (and instructors) to the tips for helpers.

Right before the workshop starts

• Prepare a shared Google doc or https://hackmd.io with global write permissions, consider creating a memorable short-link (e.g. bit.ly)

Create exercise repositories

• The collaborative Git lesson requires exercise repositories to be set up. For this follow the instructor guide in the lesson material.

Workshop preparation checklist

• This checklist can be set up as an issue under https://github.com/coderefinery/coderefinery.org/ or on another repository to keep track of the progress

  - [ ] reserve dates
  - [ ] decide workshop organizer
  - [ ] (online) prepare Zoom link or (in-person) book lecture room
  - [ ] announce (twitter, notify-me, mailing lists)
  - [ ] team of instructors complete
  - [ ] workshop website up
  - [ ] lessons distributed
  - [ ] prepare lessons
  - [ ] create exercise repositories
  - [ ] (in-person) prepare practicals (coffee/tea, sticky notes, extension cacles)
  - [ ] (online) Zoom roles distributed
  - [ ] registration open
  - [ ] team of helpers complete
  - [ ] registration closed
  - [ ] enough pre-survey answers
  - [ ] install instructions sent
  - [ ] pre-workshop briefing held, helper training
  - [ ] survey results shared with co-instructors/helpers
  

As participants arrive

• Emphasize to participants that you need to sit with someone - don't work alone.
• Try to have participants sit next to someone with a similar operating system if they have no preference, since they will face similar problems.

Introduction talk

• See https://github.com/coderefinery/workshop-intro
• Have a 10 minute ice-breaker session where participants and instructors introduce themselves and either describe their research in 2-3 sentences or what they hope to get out of the workshop.

During workshop

• While teaching, keep these tips in mind
• Don't start off with tech details, say why this is important.
• Try to stick to the material, although some excursions are useful.
• Keep up interactive feel by encouraging and asking questions
• Keep time
• For presentations which have shell commands, create a cheatsheet/reference on the board in real time.
• Remind participants about sticky notes.
• Make sure we take regular breaks (at least a short break each hour)
• Give participants some time to also experiment (do not rush the classroom through exercises)
• Encourage optional feedback at the end of each day or end of each lesson on sticky notes. Process the feedback immediately and adjust your teaching (pace etc) accordingly
• Create GitHub issues for points which are confusing or problematic
• Take active part even in the lessons you're not teaching, e.g. by asking questions and (politely) interject with clarifications when you think something is confusing to the learners
• Wrap up, say what you taught and why, and what comes next.

At the end of workshop

• Give credit to those who contributed and helped
• Use https://github.com/coderefinery/workshop-outro

Post-workshop

• Process and distribute feedback to co-instructors and others (e.g. type up in shared document)
• Debrief with instructors
• Process certificate requests

Post-workshop survey

To measure the long-term impact of CodeRefinery workshops it's useful to send out a post-workshop survey. This survey can identify which topics taught in workshops are particularly useful and which have less benefits for the participants.