Helpers needed 7-8th November
We need helpers for a Software Carpentry workshop on 7th and 8th November.
The workshop will be held in person in Walter Bower House between 09:30 and 17:00 each day and will cover the Unix Shell, Version Control with Git and Plotting and Programming with Python.
If you are interested in helping, either for all of the two-day workshop or just a portion of it, please email [email protected].
Helping at a Carpentries workshop
Anyone who has attended a Carpentries workshop, particularly an in-person one, will be aware of how important the role of the helper is. Helpers provide one-to-one support to learners when they encounter issues, whether it’s about installing software, understanding a line of code or an error message, or anything else encountered as they learn. A workshop with 20 learners requires 3-4 helpers.
While helpers need to have some knowledge of the subjects being taught, they don’t need to be experts. They do need to be:
- Inclusive, respectful, mindful and welcoming
- Willing to admit the limits of their knowledge
- Willing to work with learners to guide and encourage them to solutions
- Aware of their language, taking care not to demotivate or be dismissive
Helpers may well learn something new themselves over the course of a workshop, and it provides an opportunity to meet others engaged in computational research from a range of disciplines.
Helping at a Carpentries workshop can be a useful step on the way to becoming a certified Carpentries Instructor, providing a means to:
– Improve the working environment
– Build a reputation
– Practice teaching
– Expand/acquire technical and transferable skills
– Join a vibrant community
– Have fun
Becoming an Instructor involves attending a 2 day training event (in-person or online) and completing three short checkout tasks.
If you are interested in helping out an upcoming workshop, or at another in the future, please get in touch by emailing [email protected].