Think back to courses or workshops you really liked or didn't like.
How did those courses start on the first day? Were you confident in the instructors ability to teach the course? Did you feel like the instructor was enthusiastic about the course and invested in the students outcomes? Was it clear what you were going to be learning? Were you excited to get the chance to be learning about those things? Or did you leave that first day thinking the instructor was uninterested, that you weren't the students they wanted to be teaching or you had no idea what the course was supposed to be about?
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In Software Carpentry and Data Carpentry we're teaching not only a set of skills, but at least as importantly we're trying to empower learners and give them the confidence to use these tools and learn more on their own.
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Can help reduce stereotype threat by letting people think about their strengths at the beginning of the workshop.
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Helps the instructor get started and be less nervous
Things here are just slight revisions of information from Carnegie Melon Eberly Center Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation materials http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/teach/firstday.html
After the introduction
Students should:
- believe in your competence to teach the workshop
- be able to predict the type of instruction
- know what the learning objectives are (what will be taught)
- know what will be required of them
The instructor should:
- have an understanding of who is taking the workshop and what their expectations are
To meet these objectives an introduction should have 8 components
- Orchestrate positive first impressions
- Introduce yourself effectively
- Clarify learning objectives and expectations
- Help students learn about each other
- Set the tone for the workshop
- Collect baseline data on students' knowledge and motivation
- Whet students' appetite for workshop content
- Inform students of workshop requirements
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Classroom environment
- how the chairs and desks are set up conveys more formal or informal setting (you might not have options for this in your classroom)
- you can write some words on the board for people to see as they come in, like 'Welcome!' or 'Yay, data' or even a question for people to think about.
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Your use of the few minutes before class.
Greeting the students as they enter the classroom communicates approachability. Frantically arriving right on time or even late communicates disorganization, and so on.
You want to convey
- capability of teaching the materials
- your accessibility to learners
- your shared experience with the learners
- why you're excited about teaching SWC/DC
- don't want to come across as too 'expert' so that you can't relate to the audience
- even if it's your first time teaching, you don't need to say that :)
- let people know what the prerequisites are For Data Carpentry, no prior computational experience is required and for Software Carpentry it can vary.
- highlight the main aspects of the schedule
- highlight the learning objectives
- highlight the approach we're using - hands on! - and that all materials are open and freely available to use, develop or share
- code of conduct - basically be respectful
- how can people offer feedback or get help sticky notes, minute cards, formal assessment at the end
Share some advice for success in your course (give it a try!) and let them know you are confident in their success as long as they are trying new things.
"If you're not falling, you're not learning."
Foster a collaborative environment
Have students introduce themselves to each other.
One idea:
Have everyone turn to a partner and introduce themselves with their name, one word about their research 'microbes', 'dogs', 'vectors', 'stars' and a thing they're proud of that they made. What
they made could be a bookshelf, a curry, a 3D plot, a piece of software, their bed this morning, just
something they did that they're proud of. Studies have shown that encouraging people to think about their characteristics, skills, values, or roles that they value or view as important can help reduce
the effects of stereotype threat. (We have no actual evidence this particular exercise helps, but it
is along these lines)
The way you engage students at the beginning sends powerful messages about the level of involvement and interaction you expect from them.
- get in to introductions and interactions right away, since this is an interactive workshop
- establish a culture of feedback. Let students know you are interested in how they experience the course and in any suggestions they have.
- you will already have information from the pre-assessment survey on this, so you won't need to survey the audience, but look through the survey data before you arrive so you know who your audience is
They're already at the workshop, so it might seem unnecessary to motivate them to be there, but it is a great chance to stimulate interest about the workshop and to activate relevant prior knowledge students have about the material.
Let students know about any logistics for the days - lunch times, breaks, accessibility, etc.
Objectives for exercise:
- practice introducing yourself
- serves as an icebreaker - an opportunity to meet other people in the workshop
Get in a group of three with two other people you haven't met before. Each person do a video introducing themselves and get feedback from the other two in the group. Your introduction should be just around a minute or two.
Before your start, describe your audience to the other people to the group. e.g. researchers who are mainly biologists with little computational experience
Things to cover in your introduction
- Name
- A little about your background relevant to the audience to convey
- capability of teaching the materials
- your accessibility to learners
- shared experience
- Why you're excited about teaching SWC/DC