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+Lessons learned from running our first online workshop
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April 7-8, 2020, we gave our first online workshop on introduction to +Git (2 x 3 hours) with 22 +participants and we plan to deliver many more such workshops on a number of +topics based on our lessons.
+The workshop went well. Online feels slower, but has a different set of +advantages (we discussed later whether we actually covered significantly less +than during an in-person workshop and we were not sure the pace was actually +slower).
+Here we wish to share with the community our lessons learned: What worked well +and what we need and plan to improve. We use bullet point format for brevity.
+It's maybe obvious but aiming for less material at a calm pace is better than +trying to cover all material too fast. During the online workshop we will +manage to traverse less material than in-person and it's good to prepare for +that. For 1 hour session, plan for 30 minutes. The rest will be questions, +issues, and breaks.
+Breaks and ice-breaker
+-
+
- 5 minute breaks were too short, better 10 minutes or longer, at least once an +hour. +
- We have started with a demonstration of the tools (Zoom and HackMD) and this +was probably time well spent (thanks to Greg Wilson's excellent +presentation +and references therein). +
- The HackMD ice-breaker was for each participant to write their name, +operating system, experience with Git, and optionally what they are working +on. We found it useful to pre-fill the HackMD section with the participants' +initials to avoid that all cursors start from the same place and everybody +hesitates to write something. +
- We should have included a "ice-breaker" break-out room session where persons can talk +about something informally considering that the first time participants +possibly ever experience a breakout room is in the first exercise (they may not +know how breakout rooms work, they need to find the exercise in the material, +they don't know anybody). We want people to feel comfortable and to ask +questions. +
Solving technical issues
+Online, the initial problems can end up derailing the whole day's schedule, and +take longer to get resolved. Compensate by ensuring they are set up in advance, +which is also easier to do online.
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- On day 1 we spent some time debugging tech issues and for the next event we +plan to create a 5-10 minute video "setting up and configuring Git" and ask +all participants to show up at a session one day before the workshop to +demonstrate that all is set up to not lose any time during the actual workshop. +
- For solving technical problems we found it useful to move the participant
+into a breakout room with a helper where the participant can share screen and
+this way we could solve problems without disrupting the main flow too much.
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- However, if one has previously created groups for group work, the only way +to send helper-instructor pair to room is to delete all the existing rooms +or un-assign all participants. It's not possible to launch just a single room +out of several existing rooms. +
- We think that when pre-making the rooms, you have to create some empty +spares for this. +
+
Helpers
+Without limitations on distance, we can involve more helpers. With more use of +breakout rooms, they have a more clear job and it could be a great opportunity +to pay forward but also learn more for someone who finished CodeRefinery a +little while ago.
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+
- To keep a high quality of the workshop each group should have one +helper/instructor. But this places limits on scalability - we can't have too +many participants and must maintain a 1:5 helper:participant ratio. +
- Helpers were important for our breakout room systems to work. They don't have +to be the absolute experts: primary instructors can rotate between breakout +rooms and help with hard questions, also having typically more experience with the material +and exercise goals. +
- Helpers can be recruited from previous online workshops, and perhaps that +could even be a requirement: "price of workshop is to attend a later workshop +as helper" (not a direct lesson learned from this workshop). +
Breakout sessions
+Breakout rooms are pretty good, but as a host, the Zoom mechanics take some +getting used to. We found an interesting semi-flipped classroom mechanic.
+-
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- Fewer longer (15 min) breakout sessions were better than many short ones +(5-10 min). +
- This also means that we should group some exercises and not have them spread +out every 10 minutes. +
- On day 1 we tried to group participants according to operating systems but we +got better feedback and it felt better after grouping participants either +randomly or even better according to experience. +
- Groups with 4-5 persons seem to work well, with one helper. +
- In breakout rooms encourage participants to share their screen and other +participants to comment but also make sure that it's not only one participant +sharing all the time at every group session. +
- Some exercises can be done in driver-navigator mode, where one participant +who shares screen types in the commands and other participants in the room +discuss and recommend what to type. +
- Some people just wanted to work alone, that's OK too. +
- Method 1: group work
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- Most teaching done in main room (this is important for the most important +and delicate topics). +
- Participants are in breakout rooms, working independently, sharing +screen/asking for help when they need to. +
+ - Method 2: flipped classroom ("flipped classroom" isn't quite the right
+term though)
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- Initial motivation in the main room. +
- Switch to breakout rooms early to go through the type-along exercises. +
- This only works when things are clear enough that people can't get too lost. +
- (*) One learner shares screen, others follow along discussing, asking +question, and typing along themselves. Emphasize "it's easiest to share +the screen since you don't have to do the thinking". +
- (*) Instructor flips between the rooms every 1-2 minutes answering hard +questions and following progress. +
- Join the end for a wrap-up where best questions are discussed. +
- Helpers and instructors should write down the most important questions to +discuss afterwards. +
+ - In reality, use the best of both depending on your specific lesson,
+especially the asterisk (*) points!
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+
- Encourage the instructor to cycle through breakout rooms to watch +discussions and help out. +
- Many interesting questions were asked in breakout rooms but we did not +write them down, they could have been interesting for everybody. They +should be written down and discussed as a follow-up in method (2). +
+ - Host can lose host rights sometimes.
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- Host should not enter breakout rooms, at least if they are not the original +host because then hostship is transferred to original host. +
- In our case the person who created the meeting room transferred hostship to +another instructor who then organized the breakout room but we experienced +a technical glitch and hostship fell back to the first person and we lost the +room assignments and for a minute or two the room creator did not even notice +this (was busy helping out a participant). This means that ideally the person +who is the main host should also create the meeting room, if possible. +
- Richard: at least when I was main host in another meeting, I could join a +breakout room and not lose host. I think. Needs more testing. +
+ - Co-hosts seem to be able to jump between rooms freely after first joining +the room they were originally assigned to (i.e. can't select any group from +the main room). +
- At one point, Zoom dropped the whole meeting and everyone re-joined +(automatically). Pre-assembled breakout rooms got lost, which was annoying. +
HackMD
+HackMD was a vital resource, but you should have someone dedicated to watching it and keeping it organized.
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- We were impressed how well it worked, holding up with 25 persons editing +without noticeable lag. +
- If a question was too advanced or we had no time to answer it, we encouraged +to write the question in HackMD (or wrote it ourselves there) so that it +could be answered later. +
- Asking and replying question in HackMD worked well. It worked so well that +even in physical workshops we should use HackMD for questions that helpers +can answer! +
- It gives the possibility to answer at different levels of complexity in +successive bullets, so that each participant can read until satisfied with +the answer. +
- Students can come back after the course and find better researched answers, +if the in-course answer is unsatisfactory. +
- Make sure that the HackMD contents, without any identifying information, can +be made public after the course. +
- Instead of asking questions in a particular section of the HackMD and +searching and scrolling it was better to ask questions always at the current +bottom of the document. Add new section headings as you start new sections. +
- Some questions on HackMD were a bit off topic (but still very good questions) +and some answers probably looked confusing so some questions can be postponed +for after the video call and answered later. +
- Participants should be asked to give feedback after each day at the end of +the HackMD. One positive experience, one thing to improve, as usual. +
Chat
+The chat window in the Zoom client is useful because it can provide multiple +ways to get information for different learning styles. However, it is not +threaded and you have to keep it from getting out of hand. Better for detailed +questions to go into HackMD.
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- It helped to direct most questions and answers to HackMD and only short +administrative questions via chat. Participants should not be asked to watch +both the chat and the document. +
- The chat can be used for formative assessment questions where participants +are asked to vote for correct answers in a multiple-choice question. +
- Practical announcements/instructions should be provided both written and +spoken, to reduce chance they are missed. +
- The recommended signals (raise hand, \hand, red/yellow "sticky" notes) should +not only be communicated at the beginning but also written somewhere and +easily findable. +
Organization
+Online, there are more things to think about, but also more ways to communicate +(they go together). To compensate, have enough people and clear roles about who +does what.
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- We used a private chat as back-channel to coordinate among instructors and +helpers. We kept the chat private to not reveal any personal information we +may need to share but we noticed later that most/all of what we talked about +could have been and should have been public (though not necessarily to +students, but just for reasons of cognitive load). We never needed names and +the only sensitive information were room connection details. +
- On day 1 we failed/forgot to assign clear roles to ourselves; we were all a +bit overwhelmed with the chat, plus the HackMD, plus answering questions on +the microphone, plus some of us preparing and giving the lectures. Next time we +will try: +
- Roles during main lectures:
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- Host person in charge of overall schedule, timekeeping, breakout rooms and +Zoom chat/participant reactions, clearing feedback, balancing answering +questions, moderating, etc. +
- Instructor and upcoming instructors (they can't at the same time prepare +their material, follow questions, and do one of the other jobs). One of our +instructors managed to do both: teach and manage breakout rooms, so it is +possible, but easier if somebody else takes the charge. +
- One person watching and formatting the HackMD (but more persons might be +needed if there are many questions). +
- Backup expert helpers for problems that require intensive debugging (at +least needed at the beginning). +
+ - Roles during breakouts (this is more flexible):
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- Host in main room watching stuff. +
- One helper per room leading. +
- Lesson instructor hopping from room to room answering advanced questions +and also probing the general mood. +
+ - Host makes all instructors and helpers co-hosts so that they can move between +rooms. +
Screencasting
+The requirements and recommendations are roughly like in-person.
+-
+
- Showing history of commands via tmux or similar, coupled with displaying the +last commands +typed +really helps. +
- Gray/dark background terminal looked better than light background terminal. +
How to make this more scalable?
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+
- This time we did not plan to record or stream but we nevertheless asked the +participants in a pre-workshop survey: 2/20 preferred not to have the +workshop streamed, 1/20 didn't want it recorded. +
- The workshop was great, but we should think more about how to reach more +people. A small workshop where we can individually interact with everyone is +amazing, but the promise of digital technology is that we can reach everyone in +the world. How can we get the best of both? Can we also do something for +everyone else who can't attend but might want to watch later? This is +something to think about. +
- How can we make this more scalable? This workshop was quite labor-intensive. +You could probably do it with two instructors (instructor + HackMD watcher) + 1 +zoom expert (host + general helper) + a lot of semi-experienced helpers (1:5 +ratio) + a few debuggers to help with tech support the first hour (not +overlapping with instructor or HackMD watcher). +
- Imagine if we had main room recorded (or even streamed), but breakout rooms +not. People can still ask and interact with privacy in the small rooms - and +we take these comments/issues back to the main room. Other people following +along later can do the exercises at their own pace, and hear the +intros/conclusions in the main rooms, and it might feel a bit like a small +class. +
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