A starter task for using GitHub in Education with Raspberry Pi

##Introduction

Interested in innovative ways to assess students' work on Raspberry Pis in the classroom? Then GitHub in Education could provide a good answer. This tutorial will demonstrate how you could use GitHub to give students some starter code to adapt, and how you can assess their changes to the code. If you are new to GitHub then this could be a steep learning curve, so dedicate an hour to sitting down and following the steps below.

##Step 1: Do you have a GitHub account?

Make sure that you have signed up for GitHub here. You can do this on a computer connected to the internet. This GitHub cheat sheet may come in handy as a reference guide too.

##Step 2: Make a copy of this repository

A repository is a type of folder or directory on GitHub. Making a copy of a repository is called forking. Click on the 'Fork' button at the top of the screen on the right hand side, and a copy of everything in this repository called a-starter-task will appear in your account.

##Step 3: Locate the code!

To locate the code file, navigate back to your account. You can do this by clicking on your username at the top of the page. Now find the starter code file called code.py. The code will look like this but will be in a text file:

import random
import time

print("Welcome to my fortune teller")

question = input("Would you like me to tell your fortune?\n")
colour = input("What is your favourite colour?\n")

print("I will now select your fortune based on your selection of ", colour)
time.sleep(2)

fortunes = ["You win all the things", "Good things will happen if you learn to code"]
			
print(random.choice(fortunes))

##Step 4: Copy the code to your Raspberry Pi

Now that you have the starter task repository in your GitHub account, let's clone it to your Raspberry Pi to make the program better!

1. First set up your Raspberry Pi and log in. You can follow the Raspberry Pi quick start guide here if you are unsure how to do this. Once you have booted your Pi, log in.

   Note: You will need to be connected to the internet in order to clone the repository to your Pi

2. Either from the command line or from an LXTerminal window, type the following command to clone the GitHub repository on your GitHub account, and press enter:

   git clone https://github.com/user/a-starter-task.git
   

   Note that you need to replace 'user' with your account name. e.g. MissPhilbin

3. GitHub may ask you to log into your account with your username and password at this point.

4. Once you have cloned the repository, you will see a new directory added to the Raspberry Pi file structure; this is the repository, sometimes shortened to 'repo'. You can change directory into it using cd a-starter-task and then type ls to see the files contained within it. These will include the code file which you want to change, called code.py.

##Step 5: Change the code

With the starter code successfully cloned to your Raspberry Pi, you will be able to change it and add your own style/twist.

1. If you are comfortable with using the command line, then you can use text editors like nano to adapt the code. Otherwise, boot to the desktop by typing startx.

2. Open IDLE3 by double-clicking on the desktop icon.

   

3. Click on File and Open.

4. Naviagte to where you saved code.py and select it.

5. Click Open.

6. Now add some more fortune statement strings to the list at the bottom. Currently there are two; add at least 5 more.

7. When completed, test your code works by saving it and clicking on Run followed by Run Module.

##Step 6: Upload the changed code to GitHub

1. Open an LXTerminal window by double-clicking on the desktop icon.

2. Change directory to where your updated code file is located by typing cd a-starter-task.

3. Next, configure your email address and name on your Raspberry Pi, so that when you commit your changes you can see who made the commit. Type:

   git config --global user.email "[email protected]"
   git config --global user.name "Your Name"
   

4. Type git add code.py and press enter.

5. Then type git commit -m "my commit message". Note that the commit message acts as a reminder for you or your collaborators about what you have done to the file.

6. Finally, type git push to finalise the commit to GitHub. You will be asked for your GitHub username and password in order to complete this step.

If your Raspberry Pi is not connected to the internet, another method is to save your amended code.py file onto a USB memory stick connected to the Pi. Then log into your GitHub account with a computer or laptop, and open the file by clicking on the code.py file in your forked repository. (This is not our original file!) Click on edit; you can then paste your new code from the file on the USB memory stick. To save your code you need to commit it to the repository. You will notice that there is a comment box where you can describe the code that you have changed. Add an explanation here and then click on Commit Changes.

##Step 7: Share and comment

You can comment on the files in a student's repository, and give feedback, by navigating to their forked version of the repo and then clicking on the issues button on the right hand side of the screen. (The icon looks like an exclamation mark in a circle.) You can then fill out a comment box and submit it. This could be a useful way for you to mark a student's work.

You can also track the changes that students have made to the code in their repositories by clicking on the History button on their file within their GitHub repo. This is a great way to demonstrate progress without too much effort!

##Step 8: Learn more about GitHub in Education

You can learn more about how to use GitHub in Education here, including steps on administering accounts for students.

Follow Ben or Carrie Anne and anyone else from Picademy to learn more or get help with using GitHub on Raspberry Pi in the classroom.