Hi all… While it was not a SWC course, this summer Casey Dunn and I taught a 12-day Practical Computing summer class at Friday Harbor Labs. It was a great group of students — mostly somewhat beginner level — and we covered regular expressions, shell, python, R + ggplot, git, graphics, and bit of electronics. The centerpiece (which the students REALLY got into) was a personal project that was applicable to their own interests and which they solved with some combination of the tools we covered. Many of the students went from zero experience to having a script that actually gave them insight into the real-life research back home.
That part that might be relevant to SWC is that we just sent out a two-month-later follow-up survey to figure out what stuck and what didn’t. I collated the responses, and thought I would share them: http://practicalcomputing.org/fhl-feedback-2015 (Disclaimer: This is far from a formal evaluation and assessment system!) I found the results really gratifying. Given two weeks of their full attention makes a big difference in how effectively you can introduce and reinforce the lessons, and overcome mental blocks (dictionaries, for some!). There was also a lot of peer-teaching going on after the ~7 hours of planned lectures and exercises. Students would work into the night on their projects and teach/learn from their classmates. -Steve _______________________________________________________________ Steven Haddock, PhD : hadd...@mbari.org Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute 7700 Sandholdt Rd., Moss Landing, CA 95039-9644 831-775-1793 (office) 831-775-2095 (lab) 831-775-1620 (fax) * Practical Computing textbook: http://practicalcomputing.org * Scientific publications: http://www.mbari.org/~haddock/lit.html * Report marine sightings: http://jellywatch.org * Bioluminescence Web Page: http://biolum.eemb.ucsb.edu _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.software-carpentry.org http://lists.software-carpentry.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.software-carpentry.org