SWC syllabus episodes out of sync with material and not using site.curriculum variable

[anenadic]

A couple of issues with the SWC syllabus:

• it is not using the site.curriculum variable to distinguish between Python inflammation and gapminder variants
• Python gapminder curriculum does not even exist in the syllabus page as an option
• Lesson module name and individual episode names are out of date/sync with the actual lesson (possibly the case with DC and LC syllabus too)
• Inconsistent style - in DC syllabus individual episodes are links where as in SWC syllabus episode names are not links but there is a 'Reference...' link at the end that links to the reference section of the lesson module (making it unclear for the learners where the actual episodes are).

I have seen a similar issue #648 and the RFC#4 discussion at carpentries/maintainer-RFCs#4.

I propose that we simplify the syllabus pages to simply contain the name of the lessons with links to lesson pages and to scrap the individual lesson episode lists/links (but utilise the site.curriculum and site.flavour (for DC) variables as planned). This will reduce the size of the workshop page as well as simplify maintenance and reduce potential errors that are introduced when lessons change and syllabus gets out of sync. While it is nice to have individual lesson episodes listed - I am not sure they bring much benefit to participants especially if they are wrong. In my opinion, linking to the 'home' of the lesson website where all episodes are clearly listed is a much better way.

I understand that this will require a discussion by the maintainers team. I am happy to do a PR with the proposed changes.

[anenadic]

As an aside, in 2 recent workshop websites I have set up - I have simply baked the links to lessons into the schedule and have completely scrapped the syllabus section to reduce the page size:

• https://softwaresaved.github.io/2020-10-13-ssi-online/
• https://softwaresaved.github.io/2020-11-10-ssi-online/

But I understand that having a separate syllabus section is beneficial as long as lesson titles in schedule match those in syllabus (which is not the case at the moment) and the links are all correct and match the selected site.curriculum.

[fmichonneau]

Thanks for bringing this up @anenadic. We'll be discussing this with the Curriculum Team next week and we'll get back to you.

[zkamvar]

• it is not using the site.curriculum variable to distinguish between Python inflammation and gapminder variants

• Python gapminder curriculum does not even exist in the syllabus page as an option

  • Lesson module name and individual episode names are out of date/sync with the actual lesson (possibly the case with DC and LC syllabus too)

For more context, this is due to the fact that these are baked into _includes/swc/syllabus.html and are present regardless of language:

workshop-template/_includes/swc/syllabus.html

Lines 15 to 24 in 87da500

	<h3 id="syllabus-python">Programming in Python</h3>
	<ul>
	<li>Using Libraries</li>
	<li>Working with Arrays</li>
	<li>Reading and Plotting Data</li>
	<li>Creating and Using Functions</li>
	<li>Loops and Conditionals</li>
	<li>Defensive Programming</li>
	<li>Using Python from the Command Line</li>
	<li><a href="{{site.swc_pages}}/python-novice-inflammation/reference">Reference...</a></li>

@anenadic, when you say 'reduce the size of the workshop page' are you referring to the physical length of the page on a computer screen or the size in bytes (that may affect how long it takes the page to load)?

[anenadic]

• it is not using the site.curriculum variable to distinguish between Python inflammation and gapminder variants

• Python gapminder curriculum does not even exist in the syllabus page as an option

  • Lesson module name and individual episode names are out of date/sync with the actual lesson (possibly the case with DC and LC syllabus too)

For more context, this is due to the fact that these are baked into _includes/swc/syllabus.html and are present regardless of language:

workshop-template/_includes/swc/syllabus.html

Lines 15 to 24 in 87da500

	<h3 id="syllabus-python">Programming in Python</h3>
	<ul>
	<li>Using Libraries</li>
	<li>Working with Arrays</li>
	<li>Reading and Plotting Data</li>
	<li>Creating and Using Functions</li>
	<li>Loops and Conditionals</li>
	<li>Defensive Programming</li>
	<li>Using Python from the Command Line</li>
	<li><a href="{{site.swc_pages}}/python-novice-inflammation/reference">Reference...</a></li>

@anenadic, when you say 'reduce the size of the workshop page' are you referring to the physical length of the page on a computer screen or the size in bytes (that may affect how long it takes the page to load)?

I mean the size on the computer screen - the page is already very verbose with loads of content on it and my fear is that loads of info does not get read or noticed by the workshop participants because of it. From my experience, installation instructions regularly get overlooked :-(.