Involvement of senior instructors in the LDSSA teaching

[majkah0]

In this discussion, I'd like to draw attention to a problem that the Academy is facing in recent years and propose some solutions that stem from discussions within the taskforce group. I would like to hear your opinions on both the problem and the proposed solutions. This discussion has a lot of points, please provide opinions about as many as you can.

Deadline: 25. 9. 2023

Lack of senior instructors

Something like a generational change happened in the past two years in the LDSSA instructor base. Most of the founding and very experienced instructors are no longer actively involved with the teaching. Most active instructors are Academy graduates from last years and rather junior in their work experience as data scientists. Due to this, the Academy is no longer able to offer to students the sharing of experiences through direct instructor contact, a very valuable asset in the learning journey. At the same time, it is not easy to find people who could act as senior instructors because such people are likely to be very busy with family and work life. Below are a few proposals for ways to involve senior instructors with the least time investment from their side.

1. Leads and mentors in each specialization

Problem: The learning material development requires a certain overview of the field and sufficient experience to be able to identify the important topics. Creating and developing learning notebooks also takes a lot of time and therefore cannot be expected of a busy senior instructor.

Implementation: Each specialization should have one senior instructor to act as mentor and lead to a number of junior instructors. The senior instructor would read the learning notebooks and suggest improvements. The junior instructors would then develop/correct the learning and exercise notebooks. In case of doubts, they could consult with the senior instructor.

2. One hour AMA session in specializations S02 to S06

Problem: Students often have questions that junior instructors cannot answer due to lack of experience. Senior instructors don't have time to follow and answer questions on Slack.

Implementation: Organize a one hour AMA session with a senior instructor in the last week of specializations S02-S06. This is not meant as a regular office hour to help with exercise problems, but to answer advanced student questions about the topic, transfer practical data science knowledge, and broaden students’ horizons.

3. Advisors in hackathons

Problem: The last point in the hackathon is the presentation of an instructor solution. It is very good for the students if the solution is presented by an expert in the field who can provide insights and connections to practice and also provide feedback on the student solutions.

Implementation: The lead of the specialization should be present during student presentations and afterwards present the instructor solution. This might be tricky to ask for because it takes 1-2 hours on a Sunday evening.

4. Give bootcamp presentations

Problem: Junior instructors prepare the bootcamp presentations just based on the learning material and don't have a broader overview of the topic. They may also be less confident about the topic they present. Moreover, after the presentations, students often ask advanced questions both from theory and practice that junior instructors cannot respond.

Implementation: Presentations should be given by senior instructors. The SLUs can be grouped into six parts with related topics and each instructor can give a roughly 60 min presentation for one part. The presentations don't have to exactly follow the learning notebook, but transmit the concepts and give insights. It takes less time to prepare a presentation than to prepare a learning notebook which is an advantage for a busy senior instructor.

5. Advisor and mentor role in the capstone project

Problem: Good capstone datasets and problems are not easy to find.

Implementation: The senior instructor may suggest interesting capstone problems and give feedback on the capstone organization.

6. Incentives for senior instructors

Problem: To attract senior instructors, we need to offer a strong incentive. Experienced data scientists are likely to have little time and if they like teaching, they might find other opportunities which are paid. We need to find ways to profit from senior instructors that give us the most bang for the least buck.

Implementation: The proposed roles require little time investment. At the same time, if the recruitment of senior instructors will happen as a partnership with a company, we might ask the company to allow the instructor to spend part of their paid working hours with the volunteer work for LDSSA.

[Gustavo-SF]

1. Leads and mentors in each specialization

Problem: The learning material development requires a certain overview of the field and sufficient experience to be able to identify the important topics. Creating and developing learning notebooks also takes a lot of time and therefore cannot be expected of a busy senior instructor.

Implementation: Each specialization should have one senior instructor to act as mentor and lead to a number of junior instructors. The senior instructor would read the learning notebooks and suggest improvements. The junior instructors would then develop/correct the learning and exercise notebooks. In case of doubts, they could consult with the senior instructor.

We have been discussing this for a while, and I think we should do it! 👍

[Gustavo-SF]

2. One hour AMA session in specializations S02 to S06

Problem: Students often have questions that junior instructors cannot answer due to lack of experience. Senior instructors don't have time to follow and answer questions on Slack.

Implementation: Organize a one hour AMA session with a senior instructor in the last week of specializations S02-S06. This is not meant as a regular office hour to help with exercise problems, but to answer advanced student questions about the topic, transfer practical data science knowledge, and broaden students’ horizons.

I think we should be transparent with the students from the beginning and mention if we have senior instructors available to answer questions about a specific topic. If we do, for those we have senior instructors, we can do the AMA.

If we find senior instructors for every topic, I think we will be fine, and I agree that we should organise some AMA.

[Gustavo-SF]

3. Advisors in hackathons

Problem: The last point in the hackathon is the presentation of an instructor solution. It is very good for the students if the solution is presented by an expert in the field who can provide insights and connections to practice and also provide feedback on the student solutions.

Implementation: The lead of the specialization should be present during student presentations and afterwards present the instructor solution. This might be tricky to ask for because it takes 1-2 hours on a Sunday evening.

Well... I think this is what we should always strive for. I would make an action point when setting expectations with the Specialization Lead saying that they are expected to be in the hackathon helping present the solution. At least negotiate with the Senior Instructor—as you said, it can be tricky, but we should still ask.

[Gustavo-SF]

4. Give bootcamp presentations

Problem: Junior instructors prepare the bootcamp presentations just based on the learning material and don't have a broader overview of the topic. They may also be less confident about the topic they present. Moreover, after the presentations, students often ask advanced questions both from theory and practice that junior instructors cannot respond.

Implementation: Presentations should be given by senior instructors. The SLUs can be grouped into six parts with related topics and each instructor can give a roughly 60 min presentation for one part. The presentations don't have to exactly follow the learning notebook, but transmit the concepts and give insights. It takes less time to prepare a presentation than to prepare a learning notebook which is an advantage for a busy senior instructor.

I see this as two proposals:

1. Senior Instructors do the presentation
   This is an attractive offer honestly. Senior instructors like to pass knowledge, and if they only have to worry about presenting and guiding the topic (not developing the Learning and Exercises notebook), it might help us find more interested Senior instructors.
2. Merging topics for the presentation
   I would leave it as a suggestion to merge the topics or do separate presentations, with the awareness that they have 60 minutes (or whatever time it should be)

[Gustavo-SF]

5. Advisor and mentor role in the capstone project

Problem: Good capstone datasets and problems are not easy to find.

Implementation: The senior instructor may suggest interesting capstone problems and give feedback on the capstone organization.

I see this one as an action point when organising the Capstone, basically ask every Senior Instructor for ideas. We can then have a Slack channel or Gmail Group to ask people for feedback on the Capstone.

[Gustavo-SF]

6. Incentives for senior instructors

Problem: To attract senior instructors, we need to offer a strong incentive. Experienced data scientists are likely to have little time and if they like teaching, they might find other opportunities which are paid. We need to find ways to profit from senior instructors that give us the most bang for the least buck.

Implementation: The proposed roles require little time investment. At the same time, if the recruitment of senior instructors will happen as a partnership with a company, we might ask the company to allow the instructor to spend part of their paid working hours with the volunteer work for LDSSA.

I'm a bit lost about this proposal.

If we recruit from companies, sometimes they get paid, sometimes not. I don't think we will have much control over that, but we can ask.

If the proposal is to have Company instructors working with us to improve materials, for example, that seems a bit farfetched. First of all, I think we should find a Senior Instructor who would like to stay working with us, and then we can ask for it.