On Sat, 2010-01-16 at 23:09 +0000, Matthew Daubney wrote: > Hey All, > This was discussed at the last meeting, but I'm slow and should have put > this up sooner. One thing that was discussed was the idea of doing some > real life training for people who are new to Ubuntu, through to those > who consider themselves experts. > > I've put up an idea in the ideas pool[0], and started an etherpad[1]. > Does anyone else have any experience of running these kind of things who > would like to lend their expertise? What do people think would work best > in this scenario?
I've given technical training in the past and would be happy to help. The first question is what type of training are we aiming for? It may be easier to start with short sessions that can be done over a few hours, either in the evenings or at weekends, as it will require less commitment from trainers and trainees. The biggest hurdle will probably be to find locations and equipment to run the trainings. This can be simplified for training sessions that are done as part of a larger event, as we can piggy back on their organisation. On the other hand, talking to local community centres, it may be possible to get rooms and stuff for free, especially if we offer things like running sessions for their members (thus introducing them to Ubuntu at the same time). In terms of teachers, a single teacher who knows his subject and who has good course material should be enough. Assistants would only be necessary in larger groups. A simple way to help things out is to group trainees in pairs rather than let them all have their individual computer to play with: they can help each other out. Another trick is to ensure you have ample time for hands-on exercises, during which the teacher can come round and help the trainees with things they struggle with. In terms of material, I agree that there's no point in having a slide deck as trainees will promptly forget the content. Furthermore it requires a projector, which is more equipment to get hold of. On the other hand, it is essential to give comprehensive course material, including exercises, that they can take home and refer to at their leisure. This can take the form of a CD, the URL of a file to download, etc. One thing to consider as well is a printout of the core course material so that they can follow during the course and take notes. Computers will be essential. However, it may be difficult to convince whatever training centre we use to install Ubuntu on their computers so it could be worth having a number of live USB keys with a fresh install of Ubuntu and training material on them. > > Would anybody be interested in attending such a thing? Definitely! There are lots of things I'd like to learn about Ubuntu so I'd definitely be keen to attend as a trainee or as a trainer. > > This could be quite a large undertaking, so please get involved if > you're in the least bit interested! True but it doesn't have to be huge on day 1. We can test drive the concept with small sessions in a coffee shop between interested people bringing their own laptops. Bruno Girin -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
