Research IT delivers most of its training in the form of 1-day courses, which are open to applications from staff and PG students. The current list of courses is scheduled in advance for the whole year, but extra courses can be added throughout the year if required.
Courses are typically scheduled mid-week, because it doesn't interfere with anyone taking a long weekend, and anecdotally it gives better attendance.
Courses can run online (Zoom), or on campus, at the discretion of the trainer.
- set up a Zoom event / book a teaching room
- create new events in the training catalogue
- update the custom reminder email with Zoom/room details (this is sent 1 week before the course)
- move applicants from the waiting list onto the new event
- find helpers for the course
- create an Outlook calendar event and invite helpers and ResearchITNews@manchester.ac.uk
- check for last-minute applicants (< 1 week before the event) and email them the details from the custom reminder email
Research IT News is invited to the event for promotional and scheduling purposes. The Research IT News newsletter promotes training, so this is the easiest way to communicate the course details.
We teach mostly in the style of Software Carpentry i.e. live-coding / code-along see Instructor Training and Teaching Tips.
Helpers are encouraged to give (constructive) feedback to the trainers.
Feedback should also be solicited from the attendees, and where possible the trainer should aim to respond to it during the course.
A short feedback questionnaire is to be completed by attendees, which can also be used to record attendance for the course. This should be processed by the trainer in the training catalogue.
https://goo.gl/forms/jcldhMnnjaigAQFZ2
Marking those who haven't completed the feedback as 'failed to attend' seems to be the most reliable way to elicit a feedback form response.
This is the responsibility of the trainer and is done through the training catalogue.
Most courses are set for 'unmoderated online booking', but the waiting list is a misnomer. People can apply to the waiting list if the event is full, but if someone with a place cancels, the place is not filled automatically from the waiting list.
As such, when you receive an email alert informing of a cancellation, you should review the waiting list and manually transfer applications to a course event.
An overview of how to use the training catalogue is given in the guide, but the waiting list management is detailed below:
Click the participants tab, select waiting list as the event, and status as pending, then click on filter. Select the students you want to move to the event, and change new status to confirmed, and click the override constraints button. Then choose update status and set their event to the one you want to move them to.
- Collect and charge microphone the day before if it's an on-campus event
- Get some sticky notes if you're using them
- Check you have helpers, and that they are aware of this
- Fill empty places from the waiting list when you get cancellations
- Read the course material and ensure you understand the exercises
- Walk round the room --- learners will often 'grab' you for help if you're close by
- Look out for learners requesting help via sticky notes
- Give feedback to the trainer as required e.g.
- too fast/ too slow
- can't read screen
- can't hear them
- how long is the break
- Think about what went well and what didn't for post-course feedback
We no longer tend to use PC clusters, so learners will typically use their laptop.
As such, instructions on how to install software should be sent in the course reminder email.
I usually try to help with any setup difficulties on the day, but stress that the course teaches the tool rather than the setup, and they should submit a support ticket if it can't be resolved quickly or during a break.
Sometimes we have requests to accommodate external applicants. This is extra work because if the learner brings their laptop and can't access eduroam, this can be a deal breaker. A 'conference plus' temporary account can be requested in advance, which gives a log in for the training PCs. It's extra admin, so we only want to do this if the external applicant is paying to attend a course. This is currently being investigated as a thing.
Occasionally an external trainer will teach a course which Research IT will organise locally. Where possible we get the trainer to manage registrations. Previous such courses have been run by ARCHER and NAG among others.
Software Carpentry workshops are run occasionally. These are two-day training courses which can be a bit frantic. They need a central teaching room to be booked which is big enough for the number of applicants, plus a bit of extra space to move around. On top of a normal course, we need to remember:
- set up a workshop website
- trailing power sockets, so the learners can power their laptops
- extra helpers for set-up problems, compared with a normal 1-day workshop using training PCs
See also the official workshop checklist.