Posted by a.pawlik on 29 May 2014 - 9:41am

By Aleksandra Pawlik, Training Leader.

I recently took part in the first face-to-face Software Carpentry instructors training event run by Greg Wilson, the founder of Software Carpentry, and Warren Code from the University of British Columbia. Unlike most of the 40 participants, I had previously completed the online instructors course which Greg Wilson regularly runs. I attended the face-to-face event to learn how we can run similar events in the UK.

Want to know more?

A lot of information from the event is now available online, because a number of attendees wrote about it. Greg Wilson summarised five things that need to be improved next time and collected good and bad points from the participants, Titus Brown, in his usual direct style, said what he liked and what concerned him,Phil Fowler wrote a concise report, andJennie Rose Halperin wrote a guest post for Mozilla Science Lab about her experience.

Learning how to teach never ends

I completed the second round of online instructors training in 2013. But over the course of three days at the Mozilla office where the training was hosted, I learnt a number of things that helped me reflect on my teaching.

I very much enjoyed the Jennifer Campbell's presentation on flipped classroom and the discussion that followed it. I finally have enough concrete examples and arguments to try to convince people who believe that simply posting materials and videos online isn't going to solve the educational problems of this world. And it won't, on its own, address the issue of unequal access to education. But it can be very helpful when used wisely.

Backward lesson design isn't the easiest thing to apply in practice when I'm trying to develop material (almost) from scratch. But this approach helps me a lot when I find myself in a mess of trying to teach everything at once not being able to priotirise and decide on the lesson layout and contents.

We used concept maps during the online training and since then I've developed ambivalent feelings for them. They were fun to create but pretty much useless when I looked at them a few days later, let alone a few weeks later. I also struggled with interpreting the maps that others created. But it was at the instructors training in Toronto that I learnt that the maps are mainly useful to facilitate the thinking process rather than be a reference material.

"Impostor syndrome stays with you forever"

That's what Greg said and at first it got me really depressed. But then actually, it made me feel more comfortable with myself. It means that the fact that at every bootcamp I feel like "I don't have the qualification to teach this" is just a natural symptom of the impostor syndrome. There are a number of ways to deal with it. But I realised that the more I feel like an imposter, the more motivated I am to improve my knowledge and skills.

"Those who can't, teach" is a lie

I've heard that statement a number of times - not at the training in Toronto. Sometimes it was said just as a joke. Sometimes, with a bit of a cringey smile, it was said by those who can actually do it - genius programmers and scientists. But the people I met at the training in Toronto, they can definitely do it! They want to teach to pass on the useful skills to others not because they are incapable of working with software and science. That sweeping statement is simply not true.

We need to work on Software Carpentry administration

Together with Giacomo Peru here at the Institute, I co-administer Software Carpentry bootcamps in the UK. Having the experience of being an instructor and an administrator allows me to move around the Software Carpentry infrastructure pretty smoothly. But the last session on day three in Toronto, when we discussed the practicalities of running a bootcamp, it became clear that the instructors may get lost​ even with the comprehensive operations guides. And indeed, as was discussed during the recent Lab Call, the work on improving the bootcamp management process will soon start.

Software Carpentry folks are a great bunch

That is something I already knew before I went to Toronto. I have taught at over twelve bootcamps and writing this blog post made me realise that I always worked with different instructors! I've never taught with the same people twice. The same applies to the helpers. And, apart from instructing twice at the University of Manchester where I work, I went to different venues in the US and Europe and met a number of different hosts. Software Carpentry people are fun, inspirational, impressive and very friendly. I'm really lucky to have an opportunity to hang out with them. As an co-admin in the UK, I get to work with an even larger pool of Software Carpentry folks - although, most of the interaction happens online. With Software Carpentry growing internationally, bringing people together in one place is always going to be a major challenge but it's well worth it!