What recommendations do you have for other facilitators who are using "Introduction to Python Programming"? Consider sharing additional resources you found helpful, activities that worked particularly well, and some reflections on who this course is best suited for. For more information, see this course on P2PU’s course page.
Here is my feedback after using this course. All of our participants said they felt the online course was good. One of our participants even did a background check on the presenter and found her credentials to be quite impressive.
While the course lists seven lessons on the overview, it is actually just Lessons 1-6. Lesson 7 is ‘Advanced Topics’ which are marked as optional, so as a group we decided that we would leave those for people to complete outside of class if they wanted to. We met 8 times for two hours each time, and we usually spent the first 10 and last 10 minutes doing check-in, Plus/Delta, as well as just getting set up or putting equipment away, leaving a lot of time to work on the coursework.
Our participants were definitely really focused and wanted to work through the course at their own pace. It was difficult to keep people on the same page, but that was due to the dynamics of the participants than the course itself. We had a couple people that were coding beginners (myself included!) and some that have worked as programmers for years in other languages. What I usually did was about halfway through the session to take a pause and see how everyone was coming along, then as a group we decided on a stopping point for the day.
There were two lessons in particular that we spent two sessions on, Lesson 4 and Lesson 6. 4 is just extra long, while 6 has really important concepts we wanted to spend extra time on. The rest we were able to more or less complete within our Learning Circle session. Some of our members still ended up completing a bit of the work outside of class - the quizzes and activities are the most time consuming part of the course, and I will say I personally wish we had paused more often to work through those activities together. It was an ambitious course to take on but luckily for me I had some industry folks in the class, so those that worked through quickly would help answer questions or prompt conversations once they’d reached the stopping point for the day.
I would definitely use this course again, and would check Udacity for other coding courses as I felt this one was very well laid out and the practice activities were quite good. One thing to note is that for the practices and quizzes, if they ask you to include a string like “You win [] prize!” you have to make sure that the quote/text is copied verbatim, otherwise it will mark the answer as ‘wrong’ even if the code and syntax is all correct.
I’m happy to answer any questions about this course if I can!
4 Likes
This course received a 3 star rating from a participant!
Is there anything else that you learned or achieved during the learning circle?
Working with others makes my struggles less daunting.Do you feel more confident about what you just learned in Introduction to Python Programming ?
3How do you intend to apply what you learned?
I will complete the Udacity course on my own.How well did the online course work as a learning circle?
3Why did you give the course 3 star/stars?
The course was short and the subject matter difficult for on-line collaboration.How likely are you to recommend participating in a learning circle to a friend or colleague?
5Why?
I love collaborative learning.course
Introduction to Python Programming
This course received a 4 star rating from a participant!
What did you hope to achieve when you joined this learning circle?
Learning new idea or featuresTo what extent did you achieve this?
3Do you feel more confident about what you just learned in Introduction to Python Programming ?
3How do you intend to apply what you learned?
TryHow well did the online course work as a learning circle?
4Why did you give the course 4 star/stars?
It did open my eyes about this languageHow likely are you to recommend participating in a learning circle to a friend or colleague?
4Why?
It opens the door for learning the languagecourse
Introduction to Python Programming
This course received a rating from a facilitator!
When you signed up, we asked what you hoped to achieve by facilitating a learning circle, and you wrote “To introduce everyone to coding (Python specifically) and foster communication throughout the group.”. To what extent did you achieve this?
5Did anything about the learning circle surprise you?
How knowledgeable some of the participants were.Do you have any stories from the learning circle you want to share with the P2PU community?
It was nice to have a few people from out of my country. I love to work with people from various different backgrounds and get their perspective.You recorded in your weekly feedback that 14 participant(s) attended the first meeting. Is this correct?
YesYou recorded in your weekly feedback that 7 participant(s) attended the second meeting. Is this correct?
YesYou recorded in your weekly feedback that 5 participant(s) attended the last meeting. Is this correct?
YesHow well did the online course work as a learning circle?
5Why did you give the course 5 star(s)?
The course is thorough and well done.How likely are you to recommend facilitating a learning circle to a friend or colleague?
5Why?
I like the format of these courses and it seems to foster communication and discussion in a group setting.