carpentries-incubator
Consider how instructor notes should be incorporated under Workbench format
The new Workbench format offers an nice opportunity to have an "Instructor View" for the lesson, and we will need to consider how to incorporate the content currently in our Instructor Notes into this. For example, it will be possible to highlight parts of the lesson that can and can't be skipped in terms of that state of the learner project.
Investigate the originating issue that noted there were not any instructor notes. Could be difficult to find!
I couldn't find anything from my searches. It is possible I imagined it 😅 Given lack of feedback, we need to determine how important we think this is ourselves and what sort of approach we will take.
Aha! I just remembered it was an email chain with Chris Wood from EPCC! It was merely a mention that the instructor notes were absent. We could follow up with him to see if there is anything in particular he would have wanted in those notes.
From Maintainers' meeting:
- Prioritise and identify the high priority parts of the lesson that need instructor notes
- Look at whether some notes from the slides can be brought over
Got in touch with Chris Wood from EPCC about his thoughts. His reply:
We taught this course at the end of last year. I think the comment was about trying to understand the rationale for some of the content we thought was a little opinionated (although it might not have been meant to be opinionated when it was written!) – e.g. some of discussions around OO design patterns, some extra material for some sections (e.g. some of the MVC I think) which had very brief descriptions (which we thought was a little confusing - no bigger picture idea about why things are done one way rather than another, or done at all!) and perhaps a some brief comments on potential pitfalls or common alternatives (e.g. conda env vs pip env)
As discussed at maintainers meeting on 23/09/2025, since this type of issue applies at multiple points in the material, the most straightforward way would be to add a general comment in the instructors notes that we teach things a certain way (based on established practices) but there are often alternatives. This could mean an extra slide in the welcome presentation, and/or encourage class discussion around this issue.