Software Carpentry and Data Carpentry's mission is to help scientists and engineers get more research done in less time and with less pain by teaching them basic lab skills for scientific computing. This hands-on two-day online course covers the basics of educational psychology and instructional design, and looks at how to use these ideas in both intensive workshops and regular classes.

The online course is a mix of lectures and hand-on exercises where you practice giving a short lesson using approaches learned and implement some of the teaching techniques which we will discuss. This is training for teaching, not technical training; you do not need any particular technical background, and the course isn't designed to cover that. This course is based on the constantly revised and updated curriculum.

Who: This online course is aimed at everyone who is interested in becoming a better teacher. In particular, this training is aimed at those who want to become Software and Data Carpentry instructors, run workshops and contribute to the Carpentry training materials. You don't have to be currently an instructor or a teacher to attend this course. But you do need to be willing and committed to become one and to improve your teaching techniques.

Where: Online (via Google Hangouts).

Requirements: The requirements for the course can be found on the already-circulated Call for Applications to December Instructor Training page. Please pay particular attention to the requirements on the 'What facilities will we need?' section.

Please also read the Preparation section below. You will also receive some further information before the workshop so please check your email.

All paricipants are also required to abide by Software Carpentry's Code of Conduct.

Contact: Please mail s.crouch@software.ac.uk for more information.

Schedule

Etherpad: http://pad.software-carpentry.org/2015-12-07-eu-instructor-training.
We will use this Etherpad for chatting, taking notes, and sharing URLs and bits of code.

Syllabus

• Introduction
• Mental Models
• Concept maps
• Teaching as a Performance Art
• Motivation and Demotivation
• Lesson Design

Preparation

1. Please read Porter et al's "Success in Introductory Programming: What Works?", which is a good recent summary of results specific to teaching programming, and Mark Guzdial's "Top 10 Myths About Teaching Computer Science", which is a nice overview of things that are not true, but are widely believed.
2. Please also pick up a copy of "How Learning Works", which is the best summary going of research in education. It is full of useful insights, and a lot of how we teach is based on the findings it reports.
3. Finally, please go to Software Carpentry's lessons page and Data Carpentry's lesson page to see what is currently taught by each.

If you are interested in doing more reading, Huston's "Teaching What You Don't Know" is a lot of fun - many will recognize themselves in these stories. Past participants have also enjoyed "Building a Better Teacher", which is a well-written look at why educational reforms in the past 50 years have mostly failed, and about what we should be doing instead.