Reflection 2025-06-02¶
First hour¶
The first hour I was a teacher in the back, helping out with the Zoom chat and the shared document.
I was able to make an activity diagram:
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 0 | Lecture: Introduction |
| 7 | Lecture: Pipe |
| 11 | Start code-along |
| 27 | Start exercise, 1x interruption |
| 31 | Lecture: wc |
| 42 | Start exercise, 0x interruption |
| 45 | Answer question |
| 47 | Lecture: cut |
| 60 | Start exercise, 3x interruption |
| 65 | End |
- Time spent on exercises: 18%
Discussion from shared document, during the first hour¶
- Q: The
sortcommand doesn’t behave quite the same for me as in the example, could this be because I’m using a Mac? (see answer below :-) )- A: [Richel] Yes: different unix-like systems have slightly different
tools, with slightly different behavior. We’ll all have to live with
that :-). In the end, running ‘man sort’ to find how your
sortworks exactly is the only way to go.
- A: [Richel] Yes: different unix-like systems have slightly different
tools, with slightly different behavior. We’ll all have to live with
that :-). In the end, running ‘man sort’ to find how your
- Q: What is the difference between “| tee” and > ? I’ve been using > and it
seems to do the same thing
- A: [Richel] Well spotted! Besides echoing,
teealso produces a file as a by-product.teeis named after a T junction (imagine a river!), where ‘water’ (in this case: text) is going via two ways now.[Thanks!][Richel: You are welcome :-)]
- A: [Richel] Well spotted! Besides echoing,
Second hour¶
This session worked fine. The learners had 22 minutes for exercises. I put the learners in breakout rooms with 2-3 learners each. There were around 5 questions in total and around 10 other interactions.
Before putting the learners in breakout rooms, my colleague reminded them about the shared Q&A document. I did not want to use the shared Q&A document: although there are some advantages (anybody can post anonymously, questions by others may inspire others), I feel the disadvantages (divide attention or need an extra volunteer for answering, No direct feedback, no interaction) outweigh these. Us teachers discussed about what the literature states. (note that in the third hour, the Q&A document effects my teaching because of the feedback feedback! I will always be up for a place to post anonymous feedback)
After teaching, I’ve searched the literature and the books in my possession for some wisdom. I found the following:
- ‘Online teaching at its best’, page 169, bottom, recommends a ‘Question and answer space’, as it fosters student interactions. We do not use this document for learners to interact with each other.
- ‘Online teaching at its best’, page 170, middle, does recommend to collect questions and their answers, without specifying how. I do see how the Q&A document would shape my course. However, I also see how the same effect is achieved by talking to learners in a breakout room.
- All my other books do not even mention a shared or Q&A document
I conclude using a shared document for Q&A is not a thing, where having small group discussions is.
| Time scheduled | Actual time | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | Prior |
| 10 | ? | Present |
| 15 | 13 | Challenge |
| 35 | 35 | Feedback and conclusion |
| 45 | 43 | Break |
- Time spent on exercises: 22 / 45 = 49%
I expected the break to be 5 minutes earlier, because I mistook my time schedule for this session with the next one in my (paper) logbook.
- [ ] Use 1 session per page
Discussion from shared document, during the second hour¶
- Q: Is there any advantage to using egrep instead of grep –E etc.?
Why have both/teach us both?
- A: [Birgitte] they are equivalent, it is just personal preference. Some people would find it easier to remember/use egrep than grep –E
- A: [Richel] if you start using tools that check for style,
you will find out that
egrepwill be warned against.
- Q: Why do some of the options have more versions? Like, long recursive and
short r? Also some are really not very easily named,
like - - text is –a
- A: [Birgitte] I guess again personal preference. The long version is usually a better mnemonic in the way it is named, while the short version may (as you say) not be, but it is quicker to write.
Third hour¶
During the break before this hour, I noticed my computer getting slower, with camera images of myself being shown around once per second. I’ve seen this before and it causes Zoom to freeze. I decided to (1) use ethernet (I forgot!) and (2) restart Zoom. The Zoom was showing my camera well again.
Due to this, I lost my co-host status. I forgot to ask my colleague on time to make me co-host again. When I asked, she was not there (which is fine: I encouraged her to do work!). This meant that I could not use breakout rooms.
There is something joy in having 11 people work in silent in a Zoom room. However, there was no way I could see what they were doing. I was teaching in the blind and I missed seeing what they were doing exactly.
In the shared document, there is just one discussion (see its below)
in which two learners felt intimidated by the book.
One can see in the lesson plan that I think (and I still do!)
it is the best fitting book. But I am not too enthusiastic about it either.
Next time, do something else: either use the awk manual
or use material from my AWK course. Or (my favorite) drop awk
altogether.
- [ ] Use
man awkor use custom course materials or removeawk
| Time scheduled | Actual time | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | Prior |
| 5 | ? | Present |
| 10 | ? | Challenge |
| 30 | 30 | Feedback and conclusion |
| 40 | 40 | Break |
- Time spent on exercises: 20 / 40 = 50%
Discussion from shared document, during the third hour¶
- Q: Can you recommend a short online intro to awk (not a whole book)
just like a couple pages with the most important?
- A [Richel]: I think this book is closest to that:
it is not an AWK book at all. I have seen only one course that uses
the one-liner approach (which happens to be mine :-))
at https://uppmax.github.io/awk_course/ .
Does that answer your question?
- Thanks. I will read it! I meant something like what for the other
section with pipe and wc/cut.
- [Richel] I don’t make those cheat sheets on purpose:
it takes away your learning. You are encouraged to make one:
it is great for learning :-)
- Not sure that works for me. I’ll check your other course,
and do some googling. Thanks!
- [Richel] Great! Asking AIs is all the hype nowadays
too …
- Tried it. Got like 8 wrong of 10 so wasn’t cool :-(
- [Richel] Too bad it does not work! The book used, however, only shows 4 lines of AWK of which 3 are used. Maybe that is little enough…
- There is a cheat sheet here:
AWK cheat sheet
- [Richel] Well done!
- Thanks for finding this! I also get intimidated having to look in a book for a short course like this, so prefer a short text like that. Would have preferred one styled to the course so I know what we are expected to know
- Tried it. Got like 8 wrong of 10 so wasn’t cool :-(
- [Richel] Great! Asking AIs is all the hype nowadays
too …
- Not sure that works for me. I’ll check your other course,
and do some googling. Thanks!
- [Richel] I don’t make those cheat sheets on purpose:
it takes away your learning. You are encouraged to make one:
it is great for learning :-)
- Thanks. I will read it! I meant something like what for the other
section with pipe and wc/cut.
- A [Richel]: I think this book is closest to that:
it is not an AWK book at all. I have seen only one course that uses
the one-liner approach (which happens to be mine :-))
at https://uppmax.github.io/awk_course/ .
Does that answer your question?
Conclusion¶
In the second hour, I followed the teaching cycle well. Too bad I messed up the last minutes. Self-grade: 7
In the third hour, I feel bad about teaching in the dark, even though I agree with my choices in the moment. Self-grade: 6