If you are looking to teach a workshop to a group of people, it can be incredibly helpful to have a worksheet made up for the class. Unlike a traditional teaching environment (e.g. school, college), students in a workshop will often arrive with a wide variety of skill levels. Additionally, you are often limited to only a few hours to demonstrate a tool or impart a skill on willing minds.
I picked up a great trick from my friends at SparkFun: print out a worksheet for each attendee.
This handout serves a few useful purposes. First, it provides a sort of syllabus for what the students will be learning. Second, it gives them something to take home and reference, should they need it. Finally, and most importantly, it allows people with experience in the subject matter to work ahead.
At the beginning of the workshop, I always hand out the worksheet and say, “I will not be offended if you work ahead.” This gives the advanced students permission (read: empowered) to skip the parts they might already be familiar with. The trick to making this work, at least for the advanced students, is to put one or more challenges in the worksheet. the challenges will hopefully allow students to try new things with the technology while you, the instructor, are still covering the basics.
This past week, I spent some time at my alma mater, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, teaching a beginner workshop each evening and covering a variety of topics. I had a wonderful time visiting campus and teaching classes, and I had a few late nights putting together the workshops.
If you are interested in the handouts from the workshops, I’ve included them below. You are welcome to use them as-is or create your own based on them.
Worksheet – Robotics with Arduino
Worksheet – Python and Arduino IoT
Worksheet – Intro to Raspberry Pi
