This week's Newcastle bootcamp, organised by the Digital Institute at Newcastle University with the Software Sustainability Institute and SoundSoftware, was the first Software Carpentry boot camp run entirely locally in the UK. For the organisers it was a slightly nervous experience, hoping we could get the material to hold together in presentation without Greg's experience at hand.
Feedback from the learners was generally good on the material, the venue and the structure. The most common complaint was that it was hard to follow along at times, and I think there are several areas where we'll be able to improve the "flow" for future events.
Notably, this was the first bootcamp I've attended at which nobody found the room too crowded or the wrong temperature. Result, Newcastle!
Here are the good and bad feedback points. Some points were close duplicates, and I've put the additional ones in brackets (e.g. Python was cited three times).
Good
Bad
Python (+ Choice of Python as easy scripting language) (+ Gives me confidence to start using Python)
Use of coloured sticky notes (+ coloured notes as an unobtrusive way to request help)
The "Bringing it together" section
Good mix of content
Version control (+ integration with Bitbucket) (+ version control tips e.g. archive, bisect) (+ use of recipes as version control material)
Coding along with the presenters
Lots of helpers
Good temperature in room, open window
Arrangement of room into groups for collaborative work
Self-guided exercises spaced out through the presentations
Easy to ask the helpers for help
Use of open source software
Test-driven development
Online lecture content to back up teaching
Lots of breaks
Good course description
Inclusion of general advice for coding (as opposed to specific syntax)
SQL
Felt like we ran out of time at end of first day
Would have liked more about testing
Cygwin
Sometimes problem material got in the way of the subject (more time worrying about overlapping rectangles than how to
program a test)
No handouts, and screens difficult to read as forgotten my glasses
Should have introduced Python lists and other structures earlier (presenters forgot to do this before using them in an exercise!)
Not enough window real-estate
Couldn't always follow material before it disappeared off screen
Presenters sometimes forgot we were not necessarily interested in software engineering
Pace too intense for non-expert programmers
Interrupted by fire alarm
Coloured notes would have worked better in the other order (that is, holding up "not OK" first — didn't always dare if everyone else had just held up "OK")
More use of microphones
Went a bit fast
Half the class was facing back wall!
Would have liked some harder exercises
More consistency of laptop presentation (i.e. always same laptop with same window layout)
Shell scripting section a little easy
Didn't always notice when a presenter had started typing, they should read it out
More pointers to additional material online please
Some exercises had too much literal typing
(from a presenter) Would like to have improved the presentation of functions