2025-02-07 online workshop

[SJaffa]

• set up a Zoom event / book a teaching room
• create new events in the training catalogue
• update the custom reminder email with Zoom/room details (this is sent 1 week before the course)
• move applicants from the waiting list onto the new event
• find helpers for the course
• create an Outlook calendar event and invite helpers and ResearchITNews@manchester.ac.uk
• check for last-minute applicants (< 1 week before the event) and email them the details from the custom reminder email

[SJaffa]

• What Zoom account do we use for teaching events? Just my own UoM account?
• Do we have an applicant waiting list or do they just get automatically approved?
• @douglowe set up the calendar invite so he needs to add @lasse-cs

[SJaffa]

Zoom details:

Topic: Programming with Python
Time: Feb 7, 2025 09:00 AM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/99440160246

Meeting ID: 994 4016 0246
Passcode: 676602

Set up with passcode and waiting room, not asking for UoM login.

We should email people on the waiting list and let them know the course is open for bookings.

[SJaffa]

@douglowe @lasse-cs @pricet1 any feedback from the course?

[pricet1]

any feedback from the course?

I thought it was a well-structured, well-delivered, clear and useful course - all round very good! The VMs with Jupyter worked well.

A couple of specific points of feedback:

1. For chapter 3 (Numpy and Matplotlib Essential), we had a discussion afterwards about whether to consider swapping out the exercise to create a Gaussian function for a simpler example - though otoh this example does work well for the section on masked arrays.
2. In chapter 5 (Defensive Programming), we agreed it would probably be better to revisit the recommendation to use assert statements in production as these are not guaranteed to run (e.g. if they are disabled for optimised code).

[SJaffa]

I need to transfer this feedback into separate issues on thebacklog, then this workshop can be closed.