Instructor guide
Detailed learning outcomes
After attending this workshop, learners should:
Know about ENCCS and the EuroCC project and why they exist
Have an overview of ENCCS lessons and their scope
Understand key pedagogical concepts that underpin ENCCS, CodeRefinery and Carpentry training
Understand the significance of creating a motivating and inclusive environments during workshops
Be familiar with backwards lesson design and be able to apply it to own lesson development
Be comfortable teaching in-person and online using an interactive teaching style
Be familiar with tools and workflows for collaboratively developing interactive lessons
Agenda for condensed 3-hour workshop
Time |
Episode |
Teaching/interaction, min |
|---|---|---|
14:00 - 14:15 |
Welcome and introduction |
10 + 5 |
14:15 - 14:30 |
ENCCS training |
10 + 5 |
14:30 - 14:45 |
ENCCS lessons |
10 + 5 |
14:45 - 15:10 |
Acquisition of skill |
20 + 5 |
15:10 - 15:30 |
Break |
|
15:30 - 16:00 |
Lesson design |
20 + 10 |
16:00 - 16:30 |
Good interactive teaching practices |
20 + 10 |
16:30 - 16:45 |
Teaching mechanics |
10 + 5 |
16:45 - 17:00 |
Collaborative lesson development |
15 |
17:00 |
Practice: teaching and giving feedback |
Agenda for two-half-day workshop
Day 1
Time |
Episode |
Teaching/interaction, min |
|---|---|---|
09:00 - 09:10 |
Welcome and introduction |
10 |
09:10 - 09:25 |
Training providers |
10 + 5 |
09:25 - 09:40 |
Available lessons |
10 + 5 |
09:40 - 10:10 |
First teaching practice |
0 + 30 |
10:10 - 10:25 |
Break |
|
10:25 - 11:10 |
Acquisition of skill |
20 + 25 |
11:10 - 11:20 |
Break |
|
11:20 - 12:00 |
Lesson design |
20 + 20 |
Afternoon |
Practice backwards design homework |
45 |
Day 2
Time |
Episode |
Teaching/interaction, min |
|---|---|---|
09:00 - 09:15 |
Recap and discussion on Practice backwards design |
15 + 0 |
09:15 - 10:05 |
Good interactive teaching practices |
20 + 30 |
10:05 - 10:20 |
Break |
|
10:20 - 10:40 |
Teaching mechanics |
10 + 10 |
10:40 - 11:20 |
Collaborative lesson development |
10 + 30 |
11:20 - 11:30 |
Break |
|
11:30 - 12:30 |
Practice: teaching and giving feedback |
10 + 50 |
Notes
For extended workshop (full day/ 2 half-days), good place to split is after “Lesson design” episode and subsequent practice on backwards design.
For extended or practical-first workshop, participants could also be encouraged to come up with a topic of a (short) presentation in advance, to be used in backwards-design and teaching/feedback practice sessions.
First two outcomes are related to ENCCS material, but even so it can be used (skipping introduction) as a good example implementation of the concepts covered. Rest of the content is generally applicable to any HPC-related training.
Addressing preconceptions
As noted in the Introduction, the workshop primarily targets competent practitioners and experts that might want (or need) to teach their knowledge to others. This implies that most of them already have their own ways of understanding, structuring and probably even presenting relevant material, as well as selected tools and usage habits. Several concepts of this lesson may appear unusual or overhead-inducing at first glance. It might be useful to prepare an example of unique advantage for each such concept/technique that distinguishes it from the alternatives. Some suggestions (feel free to come up with your own or tailor them to your needs):
Backwards design can significantly speed up initial development or major update of teaching resources, because it shifts focus from what to teach/present to what the participants are supposed to learn. This way individual contributors can choose the content that reflects their own expertise, easily exchange domain examples when preparing for specific audience, etc.
Interactive teaching combines best qualities of lectures and exercise sessions widely used in academic education: precise amount of content is presented by an expert and then immediately supported by demonstration or direct application while the knowledge is fresh. Constant feedback also allows to adjust teaching speed and fix small issues at once and not “next time”, after reading exit polls.
Even if you consider certain subject matter “your child”, collaborative development may allow you to reach larger and more diverse audiences at the fraction of effort, such as adapting setup and execution instructions for a local HPC installation by an on-site administrator.