swcarpentry/assets — pull request #46 by jkitzes (2013-06-06 23:46:00+00:00)
Title: Three small changes and discussion questions

Commits make two small changes and a request for a reference.

Additionally, here are some larger points for discussion -

1. The history portion of the paper seems quite long relative to the rest of it - it seems that the history section is intended mostly as an interesting sidenote, but it takes up a good portion of the paper. Maybe shorten?

2. In the "It Adds Up" box - is this saying 5 mins per course is a lot of time or a little? 4 whole courses on any single topic actually sounds like a lot - I think this section is meant to imply that 5 mins per course is not enough or doesn't work, but the example seems to imply that it's a lot of time.

3. On the "typical bootcamp" schedule, a whole day on the shell? I would wager that most of the bootcamps not-taught-by-Greg do not do this. In my four bootcamps, for example, it's been a half day max on the shell Day 1 am, then Python Day 1 pm, then version control Day 2 am, testing/etc Day 2 pm. Where's version control in this list?

4. How about a challenge of standardizing curriculum amongst a large group of volunteer instructors with very different backgrounds and interests (ie, what you get in bootcamps can still vary quite substantially). This is a challenge, though not necessarily a problem. Too meta?