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Q-and-A-session.md

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Preparation

  1. Watch/screen the pre-recorded lecture.
  2. Gather all the questions that the trainees submit in the cohort channel on Slack. Divide the questions per topic, so you can cover them thematically. Have a look at the preparation exercise in the weekly assignment. All trainees try to solve the exercise before the class. During the class, you'll discuss their different answers and struggles.
  3. Open a Jitsi meeting (make sure your dropbox is empty).
  4. Start the Jitsi recording.
  5. Share the link to the meeting in the cohort channel on Slack.
  6. Make sure trainees have muted their mic and switched on their video. When someone has a question, they can use the chat-function or ‘raise a hand’ function.
  7. To increase interactivity, trainees can also ask their questions right away by unmuting their mic. Of course, only if their internet speed allows it. Make sure all trainees put their real name as their account name.

During the session

  1. A member of the core team joins to check if everybody is there, and will help you open the call / break the ice.
  2. Is it your first time teaching this cohort? Introduce yourself briefly (how did you learn programming, where do you live and work, what are your hobbies).
  3. Share the planning with the cohort:
  • Questions about last week's assignment
  • Discuss answers on Preparation exercise
  • Questions about this week’s lecture per topic
  • Have a look at next week’s assignment
  • The end
  1. As soon as you start explaining, make sure you share your screen.
  2. Ask about the assignment from last week (the deadline just passed). Are there any questions?
  3. Discuss the preparation exercise. You can do this in multiple ways.

(A) Do the exercise together with the trainees. They tell you what you have to write.

(B) Ask a trainee to show their solution (screen sharing) and discuss it in class.

  1. Go over all the questions that trainees have submitted per topic.
  2. If you prepared an exercise, this is the time to do it :)
  3. Take a look at the assignment for next week with the trainees. Don’t answer the questions, but give them some small hints.
  4. Before closing the call, ask if there are any questions.
  5. Share the recordings in the cohort channel.

How to respond to questions

As you know, the trainees must hand in at least one question. The quality of the questions differs a lot. Here are a few tips on dealing with the questions:

  • Let the trainee explain their question and why they struggle before starting with the answer. This allows you to get a better insight in what question they have.
  • If a question is unrelated to this week's topics or an earlier topic, either save the question for last, or solely say it’s a good question, but that they don’t need to know the answer for now. Such questions can be intimidating for trainees that are struggling more with the core concepts, and it is important to focus on the material of our curriculum and to not mix up weeks. If one trainee is ahead of the rest, you can help them after the call and optionally give extra exercises.
  • Sometimes, a trainee submits an easy and google-able question. You’re not there to answer those questions; on the other hand you don’t want to create an atmosphere where trainees are afraid to ask dumb questions. In a situation like this, you can ask the trainee how they would solve it themselves. As a joke, you can use this site (LetMeGoogleThatForYou).
  • Let other trainees try to answer the questions. First ask if someone had the same question, if not everyone replies with yes, there must be somebody that could help you out.
  • Ask if the question is answered before you move on to the next, and give a small summary of the lessons learned.

Creating trainee engagement

Trainee interaction in class is important to ‘stay on the same page’ and to make sure the trainees get attention in the lecture. A big challenge of teaching in general is trainee engagement. This challenge only gets harder in an online environment. In this paragraph, we gathered the best practices to help you make the Q&A more interactive.

Flip the classroom

You can engage trainees by asking them questions. Here you can see one of the HYF mentors, Wilgert, using this trick. This teaching method is very simple:

  • Find out what concepts trainees need to learn that week (check the lesson plan for that week). You can also choose a question from the “Exercises” sections of the lesson plan.
  • Ask a question about (one of) those concepts. Example: "Can you please explain subject X?". Or show a piece of code and ask “What would happen if I change this?”
  • Pick a random trainee to answer the question. If you taught the same cohort in previous modules, you tend to notice the trainees who need to practice explaining / English speaking.
  • Important note: Some trainees are very afraid to make mistakes. Keep emphasising that making a mistake is not bad.
  • Always start with a positive point, like “You’re doing great so far!”
  • Clap after they solve the problem. Perhaps also ask others to turn on the mic and clap. It is very motivating.

Summary at the end of the class

Another trick that you can use is to ask for a summary of the Q&A session itself at the end of the call. Please announce this at the beginning of your lectures, so the trainees know what they’re up for. It doesn’t have to be a detailed and complete summary, just a brief sum-up of the addressed in your lecture.

The expert in the class

When a trainee comes up with a question, always ask the cohort if someone knows (part of) the answer. Make sure you always compliment a trainee who helps out, even if the answer is wrong. Replying with: “That’s a good start”; “Interesting way of thinking”; “I can see why you might think that” or “Thanks for sharing your thoughts” helps to create a safer environment where trainees are more likely to open up. Interesting? Here you can read more about replying to trainees' answers.

Make an exercise

We know that practising is an essential part of the learning process. Especially in coding. Doing exercises during class not only helps the trainees to understand the subject, it will also create an more active engagement of the trainees. There are multiple ways to implement exercises into your online Q&A session.

ONE:

  • Make or find a small exercise that will take 10 minutes maximum to solve.
  • Let the trainees make the exercise on their own computer.
  • Trainees hand-in their solutions via a direct message to you on slack.
  • You can show a couple of answers anonymously and ask if the answers are (not) correct. Let the trainees point out the mistakes and how to solve them.

TWO:

  • Make or find a small exercise that will take 10 minutes maximum to solve.
  • Share the exercise on your screen and ask trainees what you should do to solve it.
  • Let them be ‘your hands’. Ask: ‘what should I type/do?’ ‘Should I delete/add/change this or that?’ ‘Will this code work, or is there a bug?’

Please share your exercises in the corresponding lesson plan on our GitHub, so other teachers can use it as well.