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A TRF Community Lead Summer Course

A quick note from Moody


Hey Guys, thanks for signing up to become an instructor on our first ever TRF summer course. What I
hope to provide is a series of engaging and hopefully ongoing sessions, run by the community for the
community. You are reading this because you have a passion for a subject you want to share with
everyone. It can be anything from Science and Mathematics to the world of game design, and
anything in-between. Though its in early development, I am hoping with your guided support we
can set off to a flying start, and I am open to any ideas put forward about the overall structure and
progression of the courses. Once again, thanks for volunteering, and over the next few pages, Ill try
and give you the overall jist of what we can achieve.
Everything given below, is not so much a rigid structure, as it is a very brief guideline of how we
could run the courses.
1) So weve signed up, what next?
The next step is to get together and interchange ideas. What works for me may not work for you, or
you may have limited time or commitment. So we can plan something that works for everyone.
Hopefully, Ill try and set up a TRF Summer Course Super-Secret Group which only we can see, and
everyone who is part of it is free to post as they like.
2) How long is this going on for?
As long as you want! The idea is that each course is separate, so each instructor can go on for as long
they need until they have covered exactly what they want to cover. I suppose the question should be
Has my course long enough so that the members can leave knowing more than they came in with?
Though Id advise a minimum of about 6 course sessions.
3) Who can sign up to the courses?
Well there are two suggestions I would like to bring forwards;
a) Anyone can sign up, but must sign up prior to the start of the course, and can only sign up to a
maximum of three courses each. This has some benefits, the members actually feel involved with
the course, and could make the course a little bit more exciting. And one thing it may do is help with
progression.
b) There is no sign up, people are free to come and go as they please. Nothing is strict, and its just as
simple as clicking on one of the subject pages and getting involved. This is obviously a much
friendlier and welcoming approach, but be prepared for people coming and going halfway through a
course.
Or we can do something in-between, like having a formal sign up for people who think they will be
committed, and also allow people to get involved once a course is up and running. Do you want a
maximum amount of people on your course?
4) The planning stage.
I think its important to plan ahead a little bit. So part of having the super-secret group is to get
down any content or material that you wish to present, and then alter it as you think about it. This
can be done before the course begins, and in between sessions. Its also a good idea to map out the
entire course, so you know where you are getting to, and then roughly how many sessions you think
youd need. This could also be shared with the members taking part, so they know whats going
down. It doesnt have to be an entire replica of your course, its just so you know what you are going
to do
5) So what am I going to do, exactly?
Well again thats up to you! Your course, your style. You can discuss with us your plans, and we can
try to help you develop it. If you want uniformity across all courses, than that is something we could
also look into. It also depends on the type of course you are doing.
The main aims is to get your knowledge across to the general public, or the members taking part, so
your course should generally involve some form of activity/ worksheet etc. which you have put
together.
6) Should I try to make my course real time, or present the material in one go?
Its probably much easier just to heap everything up on the page at the beginning of the session, and
then sit and wait for replies. But again, depending on whether we have a dedicated sign up, and a
good structure and a timetable/ map, it could become more interactive then that. This also depends
on the type of course
For example, if you are doing a course on 3D modelling, you may decide that part of one session
involves following a tutorial you have created to design an object in 3DS max. It would be better to
post the whole tutorial in one go, and then wait for people to ask questions when they are stuck,
rather than posting each individual step and wait until everyone has completed it to post the next.
You could also set it after the session, and allow the members to complete it in their own time, and
the start of the next session could be dedicated to discussing any difficulties they had with it. A
similar workflow could be for a science based course, where there are questions to answer.
If you are doing something like history, you may want something a little more interactive, where you
put something that people read, and then have an open debate afterwards, where members are
allowed to put forwards their ideas. Of course, you would need to lead the debate, rather than try to
get involved in any arguments. (Remember if you are instructor, never say that anyone is wrong, just
offer an alternative viewpoint, and try to remain professional).
7) Homework?
Just dont give out detentions if people dont do it!
8) How does my course progress?
Again, this is different for each course. Naturally, its probably better to start easy and very
structured. Using the game design as an example, it could be comprised of simple tutorials with not
much room for freedom, and then move on to more diverse, creative and open ended tasks where
not everyone will end up with the same thing. So the difficulty should increase as you go on.
9) Is anything assessed?
Strictly, you dont have to assess anything, this is all just a bit of fun. Assessments are not that fun.
However, it may be interesting if everyone who sign up gets a point card, and you can mark any of
the assignments. At the end of the course, we tally everyones points. So there may be marks for
questions. Obviously, following tutorials shouldnt be awarded as many marks as doing something
more creative.
10) Do I get allocated my own slot, or am I free to post whenever
What I plan to do is create a timetable when everyone gets an hour slot each week and also their
own thread dedicated to the subject. This obviously means some form of commitment is needed.
You can to choose you own timeslot, and it can be the same each week, or it can vary. This is just the
session slot when members know you are free to help them, though you can post at any point within
the week. Ideally, posting new tasks and tutorials or anything interactive should be limited to the
hour slot sessions, but posting new material for general information, or something that may help,
can be done at any time. If you cannot do a week, just let people know, and well simply skip that
week out. If you can only commit on a fortnightly basis, then that is fine also.
11) Is there a theme?
Not formally, but we can decide on an overall theme (like TR) or you can create an individual theme
if it makes your course more interesting.
12) Some of the courses are very similar, if not identical, can we work together?
Yes you can! You can work together, or you can change your course slightly to look at a certain
aspect. Or you can create identical courses and allow members to choose which one theyd rather
do. Its up to you.
13) I have more than one idea for a course, can I run separate courses?
There is nothing to stop you from doing this, but then again, that means more than one set of
planning, executing and running, and youll have to find more sessions in the week you are free on. If
you are positive you can do this, go for it!
14) What should I call my course?
Try to think of something exciting and fun! You might also want to name each session something
related to the topic you want to cover that week. If you want to cover different topics each week,
that is fine, or if youd rather let the course flow more naturally again its up to you.
15) And finally
The last thing youll need to do before you begin is write a short abstract (yep another one sorry)
but this is generally to gain interest. You want people to be on your course right, so a short abstract
will hopefully make your course sound more appealing and entice people in. Basically, tell people
why your course is amazing and what you will cover etc.
Ok, so this is the starting point for the TRF summer course, I will distribute this around, and I highly
encourage you to give your thoughts and suggestions. Nothing above is set in stone, well need to
discuss everything and your ideas.
A warm welcome,
Moodydog

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