Reference Materials for workshop learners

[lixiao321]

There are rich reference resources on Carpentries website for instructors. But I was wondering since we teach the same topics and follow the same lesson plans, if we can create a section on the website where students can go for reference or review what they have learned? This will keep students continuously connected with Carpentries, motivate them to learn more and have a place to voice their opinions or suggestions? The material on the website now is from instructors' perspective. It would be nice to have a "students' area"

[brownsarahm]

since the carpentries uses terms in very specific ways i'll start with some definitions:

• instructor trainers: teach this lesson (instructor training)
• instructor trainees: participants in instructor training workshops who are working on becoming instructors
• instructors: people who have completed instructor training and checkout
• learners: people who attend a Carpentries workshop to learn a technical skill (eg a a DC-ecology workshop, a library carpentries workshop)

Now, I want to ask a clarifying question since I'm not sure what the suggestion is here.

• Do you perceive the instructor training material as being from the instructor trainer's perspective and want to add a view for instructor trainees? (if so this is the right place to raise this concern)
• Or is this suggestion about the technical skills (eg python, R, shell, etc) that you feel are catered toward instructors and want to add a learner view? (in which case, we can help route this to a better place, but that is out of scope for this repository)
• or both?

In any of these cases, this could be a case of expert awareness gap, because we treat the lessons as if they are written for trainees (instructor training) and learners (others). We call the default view the "learner" view as indicated in the top right of the IT lesson next to an eye icon. The new workbench includes a specialised "instructor" view, notice "instructor" in the top right corner next to an eye icon.

More detail on why you think the pages are catered to instructors/trainers could help us overcome this gap.

For suggestions, that's what issues on the lessons are for, like this idea you have shared, those are open to all.

[lixiao321]

Sorry for the confusion my terms caused. The students I meant were learners: people who attend a Carpentries workshop to learn technical skill. I believe the Carpentries website should have a section dedicated to these learners so they can find references of technical skills after workshops, provide feedback, engage with each other and propose ideas. The current website is great for instructor trainees and instructors. As a trainee, I can find clear information on it.

"For suggestions, that's what issues on the lessons are for, like this idea you have shared, those are open to all." Yes. They are open to all but I find it because I am an instructor trainee. It is less likely a learner will look at instructors' pages and look for a place to provide their feedback or suggestions.

So, I feel it would be nice for the website to provide a place on the website for learners to use. It will keep them engaged with Carpentries.

[annajiat]

@lixiao321 , Would the Carpentries Slack or other ways to connect as described at Connecting with The Carpentries serve the purpose where learners can discuss with others.

[brownsarahm]

This is not a suggestion for the Instructor training curriculum, @carpentries/core-team where should this go?

[kariljordan]

Thank you @lixiao321 for your suggestion. I am transferring this issue to our website repository so that we can make recommendations there.

[maneesha]

We are in the process of overhauling our websites and handbooks. I am moving this to our handbook repo to consider adding a "learners" section later.

[maneesha]

@danielle06 will plan this for 2025 Q4